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USAF F-15E verse War of the Worlds Tripod

Solid! :-)

One quible, it's the Smithsonian, so there's only about a 60% chance that it's our tax dollars at work.

F-15E is solidly the middle of TL7. Keeping within the thought experiment confines of "today," I wonder how much difference the scenario would be if we knew we were up against alien invaders instead of the commies, and made specifically designed fighters with cutting edge weapons tasked to the purpose.
 
Boo-Hiss!

First off the Heat Ray was a tentacle held weapon, not internal to the tripod.

Second, what numbskull only sent two crappy fighters to engage this thing? Also, I make use of the AWACS and have it coordinate more salvo fire because I read the book and they'll smoke just two fighters. Overwhelming salvoes win the day. It's Goverment ammo, Uncle Sam paid for it, you spend it!
 
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The late 1950s & 1960s would have been the most spectacular era for the comparison - F-89/F-101 Voodoo/F-106 Delta Dart with AIR-2 Genie missile (1.5kt fission warhead).

Unjammable, as it was a "fly in straight line until motor burn-out then explode after X seconds" weapon. M 3.3 speed, 6 miles (9.7km) operational range.
 
seems unlikely that a Sparrow (with it's ~50 lb fragmentation warhead) would harm an armored target like a Martian Tripod....scrub it's sensors maybe

However, a Hellfire missile from an A-10 warthog or Apache.....
 
Travellerspud said:
seems unlikely that a Sparrow (with it's ~50 lb fragmentation warhead) would harm an armored target like a Martian Tripod....scrub it's sensors maybe

However, a Hellfire missile from an A-10 warthog or Apache.....
Click to expand...

Ehh...

After some quick googling, the Hellfire anti tank missile has about 20 lbs of explosive in its warhead. A sparrow... Has 88 lbs.

Admittantly, the hellfire has the advantage of being a shaped charge, so it may be better. Unless you know someone with some free missiles and a leftover tank to test them on, its all we got.
 
Gosh, I can't remember my engineering too well, but I seem to recall that AA missiles have a chain wrapped around them, such that when they explode it's the chain (more like an accoridan like lattice) gets pushed out around the center of the explosion, and thus slices into the target's fuselage.

Ergo the Hellfire is probably the better weapon. But I would think a Maverick or even a Harpoon or Silkworm missile would be the weapon of choice.
 
Depends on what we're trying to do. Is the actual target a hardened, spallation-resistant crew compartment (shaped charge)? Explosive engine fuel (same?)? sophisticated equipment (squash head explosive maybe)? Just blow the thing across the battlefield with high explosive?
 
Pop-up for the win.

How about that Exocet or a similar weapon? That might be a nice attack profile and it is anti-ship so should handle its armor shell.
 
I'll really date myself...

Nothing can beat the valiant attack of the HMS Thunderchild, a 1890s ram battleship, on several Tripods attempting to stop steamers carrying refugees from trying to flee England in the musical version by Jeff Wayne. Here is the music score on youtube, I believe its titled the death of the Thunderchild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb4BWSUV8mM

4183K7A7MGL.jpg


I believe the Thunderchild managed to kill two Tripods before being destroyed.

Oh here is a cool old 1900s illustration

250px-Correa-Martians_vs._Thunder_Child.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thunder_Child
 
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I use the Thunderchild as the name of a Bureau 13 team. Their motto is "Defense of the innocent-No matter the cost!"

And in D&D a ocean side city has a Dwarven built casemate style ironclad ram named 'Thunderchild' that one of my characters is captain of.
 
Air-to-air missiles are designed to fragment, not blow stuff up. Why waste a missile when the plane clearly has a laser guided bomb? The F-15E could have stood at range and just dropped da bomb on Mr. Tripod.

Essentially, the video uses a grenade when it should have used a demolition charge.
 
It was very much rule of cool. Tripods are surface vehicles, and armor/cav as far as the weapons to use, but what fun is watching artillary and cruise missiles fired from over the horizon slam into it/get shot down by its beams?
 
The video doesn't do the Martians justice, its been 117 years sinces Well's book was published and Humans have gone from steam driven battleships at that time to the F15E, what new weapons have the Martians developed??? Perhaps those Tripods are just as antiquated as the HMS Thunder Child?
 
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