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Smart/Secure Stinger Missile

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{Sorry if I offended anyone. I'm new and hit the wrong button.} So put a reporting unit in the missile itself which only activates upon arming & firing, and it blows up if you futz with it.That would surely get a good signal out in free flight. You wouldn't be able to track the shipment of the unit, but you'd at least know when and where it was used. And when & where it stopped reporting due to hacking and when it reappeared and was fired. ps: they already wonder if their TOW will fire, and these additions could be made as fail-safe as the missile itself. The added bits could be deactivated before patrols by "partners," or eliminated from friendlies' units. pps: The good guys and bad guys are all in the same place: yup. But remotely knowing the range and bearing from the firing point of a stolen or black market missile when it's fired at you could be very valuable intelligence. And if they were used by only one side of a conflict between rogue groups, it might be valuable to know which side has the Stingers.
minoradjustments, Oct 22 2012

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       If maintenance can extend the service life before it borks itself the bad guys can do the same thing. Otherwise you're hurting yourself ten times worse with the added logistics load and complications. you do NOT want your guys at the front wondering if their TOW will actually fire.   

       As for GPS that's just silly: the good guys are, by definition, in about the same place as the bad guys when battles happen. Do you really want your officers saying "you can't maneuver that direction because two years ago it was an enemy-occupied position"   

       overall I rate this idea five bones.
Voice, Oct 22 2012
  

       But the good guys usually know where their own weapons caches are. Heck, they typically even know where their patrols are. A clear indication of heavy weapons outside of those caches is worth investigating.
MechE, Oct 22 2012
  

       My average size brain predicts a booming market in hacker tools for weapons of this nature, although I like the concept.   

       I've authorized strikes against the deletionisas using SIMs (Surface to Idea Missiles).
normzone, Oct 22 2012
  

       I have an idea. Lets just start selling all of our weapons to anybody who wants one. Then we can track where those weapons go by waiting for them to turn up in battle. Wait, is that baked already?   

       GPS seems easy to disable in a lot of different ways. The easiest would be to stand under a large tree that the signal won't penetrate. Also we can rest assured that if we ever lose any satellites due to solar flare/EMP/alien mothership that tons of stinger missiles are in enemy hands with no way to disable them.
DIYMatt, Oct 22 2012
  

       1) Add one more feature so the control circuits will not launch or track a target if it doesn't have a good GPS signal that indicates that it is inside the appropriate borders. If it leaves the territory after lauch, make it self-destruct.   

       // you do NOT want your guys at the front wondering if their TOW will actually fire. //   

       2) Obviously we wouldn't handicap our own, just the ones we give away. To make it slightly better for our friends, there could be a GPS status indicator light so they know if they can depend on it working, and there could be a timer so it will keep working for a few minutes after the GPS signal is lost so it won't fail too suddenly.   

       3) Put a "Warranty* void if removed" sticker over the access hatch to prevent tampering or modification.   

       *this product is warranted against spontaneous explosion. Liability is limited to the replacement cost of the device. Warranty paperwork must be submitted by operator at time of failure to assess failure conditions.
scad mientist, Oct 22 2012
  

       // Why not build a secure GPS chip into Stinger missile systems... //   

       Because it would take a smart kid with an iPhone about six seconds to hack into it, that's why. Giving remote proprietary access/control to any weapon on the battlefield is a monumentally stupid idea. Those few 'smart' weapons that are not controlled by a LOS targeter (like the Stinger) or a physical link (like the TOW) or are not completely autonomous when activated (like virtually any self-guided missile) are given point-of-use overrides to prevent somebody from simply commandeering the signals.
Alterother, Oct 22 2012
  

       Did it again. Replaced instead of annotated.
minoradjustments, Oct 22 2012
  

       // it might be valuable to know which side has the Stingers. //   

       Chances are that both sides do. Everybody has Stingers. All a country has to do is ask for one and the US will probably gift-wrap it for you. The CIA handed them out like party favors during the Cold War. Even I have a Stinger I've been saving for a particular Borg Cube.
Alterother, Oct 22 2012
  

       "Let's make this weapons system critically dependant on software and EMP-vulnerable electronics".   

       Now, what's wrong with this picture ?   

       Simple is GOOD, particularly when placing the device in question in the hands of anyone with the term "Marine" in their job title. Not that we would ever say anything against such a bunch of hair-triggered violent vicious amoral psychopaths, you understand. Lovely people, all of them. Never fail to be kind and caring to children and small furry animals .. it's just humans they have 'issues' with ...   

       // Even I have a Stinger I've been saving for a particular Borg Cube //   

       Come on then, chummy, if you think you're hard enough ... we will kick your head in.
8th of 7, Oct 22 2012
  

       You'd be a little touchy, too, if you'd had every trace of human emotion driven out of you and replaced with enough TNT to snuff out the Sun.   

       Aside: you're all talk, Borg. You could never sustain a concerted operation against my guerilla forces and you know it.
Alterother, Oct 22 2012
  

       Aside: "Classic case of the inverse ratio between the size of the brain and the size of the mouth ..."   

       You lookin' at us ? Eh ? You lookin' at us ?
8th of 7, Oct 22 2012
  


 

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