mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
There are many different triggering mechanisms that would only work if it is a hovercraft rather than an unlucky animal.
Hovercrafts and mines
- Thread starter McPerth
- Start date
A good wind or rainstorm may have the entire minefield go up! but as noted in a later post, there would be ways around that.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
The pressure threshold of an air cushion vehicle (ACV) is going to be low enough that I can easily imagine that the overpressure produced by a single mine detonating can/would be sufficient to trip other mines in the ACV minefield in a chain reaction ... meaning if you trip one you might trip them all if they're all using pressure detonators.
The problem you run into is basically a question of engineering tolerances. If the tolerances needed are too tight, you start running into problems of False Positive that will cause mines to detonate either at the wrong time or for the wrong reason(s), rendering them sub-optimal.
The problem you run into is basically a question of engineering tolerances. If the tolerances needed are too tight, you start running into problems of False Positive that will cause mines to detonate either at the wrong time or for the wrong reason(s), rendering them sub-optimal.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
You wouldn't use a pressure switch there are much better options.
BackworldTraveller
SOC-13
Right. We need volunteers to lay anti-hovercraft mines.
They go up if you waft air at them, have over large explosive charges, and cause catastrophic chain reactions when subjected to blast effects.
You will find the items in boxes on the far side of the field, over there.
Good Luck.
They go up if you waft air at them, have over large explosive charges, and cause catastrophic chain reactions when subjected to blast effects.
You will find the items in boxes on the far side of the field, over there.
Good Luck.
BackworldTraveller
SOC-13
P.S. If you want to kill hovercraft, run them over limestone pavement. The Air-Cushion relies of the bottom of the pressure bubble being sealed by the ground/water surface. The cracks in the pavement cause it to leak horribly and the bubble collapses catastrophically. Lift useless pillbox off the terrain with a crane.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
1. Probably deactivated automatically, length of time depending on how ethical the combatant is.
2. Likely artificial intelligence gathers data from various sensors, and decides if a suitable target is within range.
2. Likely artificial intelligence gathers data from various sensors, and decides if a suitable target is within range.
Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
Just train gentically modifed pigeons to carry bomb and fly into the air inlet. I personal us snail. You can plant allot of explosives into those shells.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Frozen.
Turbines are rated for live fowl.
Turbines are rated for live fowl.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
That's odd since the one we built for a physics project worked just fine, and it was a single seater powered by a leaf blower. Ran just as well on a tarmac car park, cement paving, grass, lino and carpet. No "seal" is needed, quite the opposite in fact.
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BackworldTraveller
SOC-13
Yep, all of those are basically flat surfaces. The clints and grikes in limestone pavement (geological rock formation not concrete sidewalk) can be very deep and thus it's like the hovercraft attempting to fly with the bottom of the skirt 1+ metre off the ground. It lowers itself until the skirt traps the air...fine on grass, but by then it's hitting the tops of the pavement slabs on the limestone. It's a similar effect to dragon's teeth with tracked vehicles.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Which is where machine learning comes in.
Though the number of objects driven over the sensors to discern the difference, may become somewhat disconcerting.
Though the number of objects driven over the sensors to discern the difference, may become somewhat disconcerting.
Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
I don't know if they are real? But I seem to remember reading an articles about warhead tracking systems that could take a picture of, let's say a tank, create a 3-D image and track it no matter what angle it was fired from or when it was fire after acquiring the target. Given a few decades to maybe a century from now, such a system could 'see' it's target and know it was a hovercraft, tank or jeep and act accordingly?
It may also prevent the neighbor's cat with the studded collar from activating a magnetic sensor on a mine?
It may also prevent the neighbor's cat with the studded collar from activating a magnetic sensor on a mine?
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
First, remember the nature of the target. Hovercraft are not cheap.
Second, they are noisy. If not in a grassy area, an acoustic detonator should work nicely. If in a grassy area, a simply rod-actuated detonator should be fine. Personally, I prefer the rod detonator and about 10 or so 40 pound ammonium nitrate cratering charges. That destroys the hovercraft, and really will get the attention of the ones not blown up. Also, hovercrafts do not work well in reasonably wooded areas, so a command detonated batch of ammonium nitrate charges on a road or inside of a culvert should work nicely. For that matter, if the hovercrafts are leading the charge, a strong fish line set about 3 feet above the ground, if in a wooded area restricting hovercraft operations would work as well. After a couple of hovercraft go bang, the infantry get out and start looking for traps, which really slows the rate of advance down.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Unless there's a specific reason, I'd like the mine to be able to take down other enemy combat vehicles.
I would use something like a simple light sensor set at about 1.5 meter level, break the beam and you could have a daisy chain series of detonations. Unless the vehicle has a some sort of infra red sensor to detect a visible beam, it could work.
Already in the system with the Remote Anti-Armor Mine System (RAAMS). Mines basically float down and detonate on high metallic items like the deck or turret of a tank. I would also think the kamikaze drone could already be readily programmed to visually track a shape or an acoustic signature.
Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
@Drew After giving it some thought and doing a little research, I still couldn't find find what I thought I had read. What I do remember from the article is, it could be used by infantry, static emplacement and fired at anytime after the vehicle's signature was within the warhead's memory. Where it starts getting fuzzy is whether or not it need human oversight or could do it all by itself. Also, the 'mine' was intended to be remotely fired and there was something about a time delay, where as, a platoon of 'hovercrafts' could pull into concealed position, shut down and its crew would go to sleep before launching the missile at zero dark thirty ruining their night.
Now, I don't know how much of the 'fuzzy' description is real or not. I tend to look at a weapon system like Cluster sub munitions and come up with all sorts of devious ways of using them. Example: In artillery roles, both Orbital and modern battlefield and in space combat where they deliver mutli-warhead on target. Hell, railguns and guass rifles are nasty little weapons in my TU because, they might not be nearly as silent as Sci-fi wants them to be in the early days, but they pack one hell of a punch.
All I can say at this point is, I know there is a system out there but what is real or my head canon is, I don't know...
Now, I don't know how much of the 'fuzzy' description is real or not. I tend to look at a weapon system like Cluster sub munitions and come up with all sorts of devious ways of using them. Example: In artillery roles, both Orbital and modern battlefield and in space combat where they deliver mutli-warhead on target. Hell, railguns and guass rifles are nasty little weapons in my TU because, they might not be nearly as silent as Sci-fi wants them to be in the early days, but they pack one hell of a punch.
All I can say at this point is, I know there is a system out there but what is real or my head canon is, I don't know...