Iran unveils new 'stealth drone'

[Bigfella]

Welcome to every system.



The USAF controls air and land based nukes. As far as I know, the last nukes the Army controlled were the nuclear artillery shells (Davey Crockett?).

Unfortunately the Davey Crockett was not an artillery weapon - which at least lands a fair way from troops - but an infantry weapon with a launch range about twice as large as the radius of its blast radius.

Davy Crockett (nuclear device) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Doktor]

The whole thing smacks of propaganda tricks, aimed at the "unwashed masses", both at home and in the imediate vicinity. The uneducated and the fanatics will be impressed and suitably moralized; any local that tries to say something like "those are phony" better shut up fast, or they'll be branded as enemies or spies or something like that...

Infidels.

[Stitch]

I am a bit confused on why the drones seem to have canope-shaped fronts.

Maybe because of the aerodynamics, but are there any other reasons?

Well, on the MQ-9 Predator, the bulge in front is for the communications array:

[Pedicabby]

Why do they bother? Do they not realize the existence on on line forums like this one where people who are experts in their fields are gonna sit around and take the piss outta their 'drone'

So we have a shopping cart wheel rollin, wings attached with rubber bands flyin, artillery shell launchin, crock pot droppin, seam down the middle open, drone made from lego right? Cos thats what the experts have led me to believe.

The colours are pretty though.

[Zinja]

The colours are pretty though.

Really? Dress like that on the streets and you will be struck by lightning.

[Jimmy]

Sir can you answer my other doubt about bomber nuke release control please?

I don't know anything about it professionally, just what I've seen in movies or on tv.

Unfortunately the Davey Crockett was not an artillery weapon - which at least lands a fair way from troops - but an infantry weapon with a launch range about twice as large as the radius of its blast radius.

Davy Crockett (nuclear device) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ok that's insane. This is what I was thinking of.

[Bigfella]

Ok that's insane.

Yes, it was. Can only imagine what the troops trained to fire it thought. Pretty sure not even the Russians were crazy enough to develop something like that.

This is what I was thinking of.

Yeah, I figured. Better range, but I wouldn't want to be downwind.

[Monash]

Well, on the MQ-9 Predator, the bulge in front is for the communications array:

[ATTACH]32980[/ATTACH]

Whereas on the Iranian drone the bulge houses the steering mechanism and seat used by the trained monkey who pilots the craft - following radioed instructions to go "up' "down" "left or right". But only when spoken in Farsi of course.

[Stitch]

Someone was mentioning airmen sitting on that seat? Why airmen? These are ground based nukes right? Like in submarines they have the captain and some other guy do the tandem key thing, on land wouldn't it be someone from the army?

The history of the struggle between the Air Force and the Army over who controls the ICBM's is fairly long & complicated; the Air Force ended up winning that decision back in the '50's, mostly because they were getting the funding at that point (they were the newest service at that time, and the "golden child" of the President, much to the chagrin of the Army and the Navy), and they've had control of ICBM's ever since. Their argument is anything that flies that far and that fast should be controlled by the Air Force.

And in bomber based nukes, just one guy presses the button, or is there a second guy on land as well linked by some method? Sorry for the lay questions.

IIRC, there are nuclear release codes that are required to be entered into the weapon's arming system before it can be enabled; the only person with the release codes is the POTUS (and, I think, the VP in times of emergency), which are in that "football" that goes with him everywhere (in pictures of the President, you can sometimes see an Airman with him who has a briefcase shackled to his wrist; it has all of the nuclear release codes for all of the strategic weapons systems under the President's control, and they get changed on a regular basis). You can drop a nuclear weapon whenever you want, but nothing will happen unless the enable codes are entered (and that has happened accidentally on a couple of occasions).

[Pedicabby]

you can sometimes see an Airman with him who has a briefcase shackled to his wrist

They really do that? With all the security around the president I just don't see how anyone could get away with nicking the football briefcase.

[Chogy]

IIRC, there are nuclear release codes that are required to be entered into the weapon's arming system before it can be enabled; the only person with the release codes is the POTUS (and, I think, the VP in times of emergency), which are in that "football" that goes with him everywhere (in pictures of the President, you can sometimes see an Airman with him who has a briefcase shackled to his wrist; it has all of the nuclear release codes for all of the strategic weapons systems under the President's control, and they get changed on a regular basis). You can drop a nuclear weapon whenever you want, but nothing will happen unless the enable codes are entered (and that has happened accidentally on a couple of occasions).

That's a good explanation.

Google PAL (permissive action link) for some interesting reading.

These devices are some examples of pretty extreme technologies...

Permissive Action Links are powered by low-maintenance radioisotope generators. Instead of a conventional battery, these generators produce electricity based on the heat evolved from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238. Although half-life of 238Pu is 87.7 years, these generators have shorter lifespans. This is due to the pressurization of the generator from helium produced by the alpha decay of the plutonium fuel.[11]

PALs are also linked directly or indirectly with a number of security measures, which together form a comprehensive security package. In general, elements of PAL systems are located deep within the nuclear device. This makes it almost impossible to bypass the system.

Bypassing a PAL should be, as one weapons designer graphically put it, about as complex as performing a tonsillectomy while entering the patient from the wrong end.

—Peter D. Zimmerman, nuclear physicist and weapons inspector[12]

PAL devices have been installed on all or nearly all nuclear devices in the US arsenal, including the Minuteman ICBM, MGM-13A Mace Tactical Ballistic Missile, CGM-13B Mace Tactical Ballistic Missile, Sergeant, Pershing, and WAC Corporal missiles as well as the Nike-Hercules, Honest John rockets, the Davy Crockett system, and artillery-launched howitzer rounds.

[Doktor]

They really do that? With all the security around the president I just don't see how anyone could get away with nicking the football briefcase.

They just don't trust the airman enough. He might forget it somewhere

[tuna]

They just don't trust the airman enough. He might forget it somewhere

That's because by "airman" they are referring to an officer in the Air Force and not a lower enlisted...:whome:

[Minskaya]

Actually, the nuclear football briefcase is carried by a commissioned officer (pay-grade O-4 or higher) who has undergone a Yankee White security check. This task is accomplished on a rotating basis by officers of all five US military branches.

[Monash]

They just don't trust the airman enough. He might forget it somewhere

Que mental image of Airforce One taking off for parts distant on a Presidential visit to some 3rd world shit hole while back at the airport on some random carousel theres a lone briefcase going round and round and round...... :)