From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Sun Jan 19 2003 - 17:05:04 MST
No no no... if you want to do it this way, try to have your lasers powered in orbit, by solar power (probably inadequate) or nuclear power, or anti-matter engines; and try cameras in small disposable automated planes circling cities and countryside in vast numbers. Satellite search is always limited by the number of cameras. Strikes are limited by power sources, as mentioned above.
Of course, satellite lasers are exposed to ground lasers with greater power sources (at least until space towers come in). So they can be shot down by super Saddam. Super Saddam keeps his lasers and other beam weapons on mountain tops or towers on mountain tops, with a defensive circle of secondary lasers outside of line of sight. Super Saddam's laser is bigger on the mountaintop than any satellite laser (or combo) or any fast plane or missile's onboard laser system (and Super Saddam has a huge power source in situ and available). Giant speeding tanks with lasers are also of course still tiny compared to the mountain system. All lasers of course fire automatically via computing so none of this involves slow-plodding human beings who don't have time to blink while squillions of aiming decisions are made. Shells or showers of shells are of course are damn slow.
Super Saddam even shoots down your little automated planes. Oh no. Without them or satellites you can't see anything (at least without nanotech or MEMS, and even then its problematical unless advanced). How do you nuke Super Saddam? The missile gets shot down some distance away if the mountain is tall enough. Super Saddam is ruthless and zaps unlicensed trucks and personnel approaching the mountain. Super Saddam has armour and mirrors and shielding and can retract or protect his laser temporarilly if necessary. Guess the best you can hope for is to build that space tower real quick (and then outbuild Super Saddam in lasers or drop a rock on him) or use an anti-matter bomb whose kill zone is a bit stronger and wider than a fusion bomb so it still affects him despite being out of line of sight (this might be a bit problematic).
> Michael Butler wrote:
>
> >> "Project Thor" was described by J. Pournelle, among others,
> >> quite some time back (20 years ago?). A bolt from the blue.
> >> A real cream dream--*if* your target is complacent.
> >> ["No Pax Americana is complete without it! Order yours *TODAY*!"]
> >>
> >> Imagine something shaped rather like a Sidewinder missile, of a
> >> size somewhere between that of a crowbar and a telephone pole.
> >> Dispatched from orbit, employing purely kinetic kill, time to
> >> target measured in minutes.
> >>
> >> Terminal guidance would be a bit tricky--possibly you'd have to trade
>
> >> off terminal velocity for footprint, or snap out larger control
> >> surfaces after reentry--but you ought to have really high kill
> >> probabilities going after, say, a vehicle driving on a highway.
> >> Armored SUV or schoolbus, take your pick.
> >>
> >> But of course, Saddam digs tunnels and has several "doubles". Gosh
> darn it."
>
> A laser from a satellite is much preferable for several reasons.
>
> Much less time lag for beam hitting the Earth. So stepping out on a
> balcony or making a speech is sufficient time to target.
>
> Target cannot be alerted to approach by radar.
>
> Surgical strike prevents bystanders from being killed.
>
> Saddam probably does not have doubles deliver speeches for him but if he
> did it could get almost comical. Damn it that's the third double I've
> lost this week!
>
> But still I think the real beauty of this is as a psychological deterent
> to behaving like a manic!
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