22 days till Christmas..... and this is teh pressie i want!

[Moo]

http://a1112.g.akamai.net/7/1112/492/2002091466/www.wired.com/news/images/full/talon_fm_f.jpg


ORLANDO, Florida -- Hunting for guerillas, handling roadside bombs, crawling across the caves and crumbling towns of Afghanistan and Iraq -- all of that was just a start. Now, the Army is prepping its squad of robotic vehicles for a new set of assignments. And this time, they'll be carrying guns.

As early as March or April, 18 units of the Talon -- a model armed with automatic weapons -- are scheduled to report for duty in Iraq. Around the same time, the first prototypes of a new, unmanned ambulance should be ready for the Army to start testing. In a warren of hangar-sized hotel ballrooms in Orlando, military engineers this week showed off their next generation of robots, as they got the machines ready for the war zone.

"Putting something like this into the field, we're about to start something that's never been done before," said Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos, waving to the black, 2-foot-six-inch robot rolling around the carpeted floor on twin treads, an M249 machine gun cradled in its mechanical grip.


http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65885,00.html?tw=w n_tophead_1

[dominatrix]

:D:D:D

i so want one of them!!! you can mount rocket launchers on them! :P

[radass]

that

is fucking awesome

[SnooP]

a few more years and we'll have mechs! think about it! damn cool

[radass]

they need megaphones

"ATTENTION! THIS IS AN ILLEGAL GATHERING. PREPARE TO BE SLAUGHTERED AS YOU FLEE"

[Peter]

lol with the americans that sounds preety much right :/

[Moo]

Originally posted by radass
they need megaphones

"ATTENTION! THIS IS AN ILLEGAL GATHERING. PREPARE TO BE SLAUGHTERED AS YOU FLEE"

until some cunt rocks up behind em in a blind spot and throws a bed sheet over em

[Peter]

lol that'd fuck'em' right up :P

but sif awesome robots have blindspots :rolleyes: :tg

[themunga]

Dude, awesome cars have blindspots, except for convertibles, but if someone DID try to do that, install self immolation devices on the robots

BURN THE FUCKERS :eek: :dead

[Joshu]

Immolation :D There's a word I haven't heard/used in ages.

[themunga]

yeah i have a pretty wide vocabulary, so i'll put a few long words in here and there, like acrimony. Yeah. Think about it.

[MR_PEA]

munga how old are you... you obviosly have not got your licence
to overcome a blind spot in your car you just turn your head!!!!
and the same goes for convertables.

[themunga]

dude, i know that, but if you ever drive in the city where there are heaps of motorbike riders, you'll know what im talking about. Try turning your head on the western highway in rush hour. Hoo boy.

Also, im 19, and have been driving for, oh, at least 5 years.
(10 bucks the next question is "how"?)

[Joshu]

My (fake) 10 bucks is on that most of the people from around Ballarat are familiar with paddock bomb lore. I was driving farm trucks at 6 or 7yo.

[themunga]

true dat, i was never into the farmwork and all that crap (in NSW) so I was a late bloomer with cars and tractors.

[Joshu]

I still can't drive for shit :d
"Don't press the accelerator, whatever you do."
*engine starts revving slowly*
"OK, let go of the brake... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

And I wasn't into the farmwork, just drove the farm truck up the couple of times we visited Nhill.

[MR_PEA]

actually im 23, live in dandenong and drive to melbourne every day

[themunga]

good for you. :D

[kingo55]

OI! what about those metal storm ones?! they have made some cool little tanks like that too! plus they have insane fire rates...

By the way, these things won't turn on us will they?

[SPOT]

none of these robots can have any sort of ai.
because then they basically are mines, which are prohibited by the geneva convention.
all types of arms must be command detonated, which is they must have a bloke pulling the trigger.
theres none of this proximity mine shit.

[Joshu]

What we can do is host an 802.11g network off each, and have nerds in a van who think they're playing Counterstrike at low FPS.

[Moo]

Originally posted by SPOT
which are prohibited by the geneva convention.

This is Americans we are talking about.

a draft memorandum from White House Chief Counsel Alberto Gonzales recommending that the Geneva Conventions not be applied to the conflict in Afghanistan and an urgent response from Secretary of State Colin Powell disagreeing with that recommendation and many of Gonzales' arguments.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=79532

Art 13. Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.

Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/filmmore/ps_geneva_2.html


Lawyers acting for British detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba yesterday
stepped up pressure for their release and attacked Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, for
saying that they could be repatriated only on condition that they were prosecuted here.
...
She said the prisoners were being unlawfully detained and there was growing evidence that they had
been interrogated in a vulnerable and distressed state. Mr Rasul's family had received a letter saying he
had lost three stone in weight. Foreign Office consular officials agreed at a meeting in London last week
that he was "very thin", she said.
http://www.ccadp.org/america-warcrimes.htm

Sorry, but it seems that the yanks are shitting all over the geneva recently, and really dont give a shit.

They havent signed the treaty stopping the use of landmines, so why would they give a shit about using these critters.

Doesnt really matter much anyways... they're just building them for their zionist masters to kill teh arabs anyways ;)

[radass]

I'm so glad we look like the americans

[Joshu]

I'm so glad we're Australia.

[SPOT]

yeah in know the amreicans haven't signed anything related to them not using land mines.
and that is why australian troops are still instructed on mine warfare.
we know how to do all that shit, its just that we don't do it.
and i have also done the australian army's LOAC (law of armed conflict) course both for the soldier and the leader as part of my promotion course.
we also did many different scenarios to test our knowledge of the LOAC. (one which i failed, but he was dead anyway, i just finished him off)

the american army shits all over the geneva convention whenever its suits them.
i mean for a start you can't even show pictures of POWS to the public.
and they have been doing it from day one.
the worst thing is there is always the argument of, if they don't follow it why should we.

a good example of this is in ww2 where the us would treat the japanese pows with no respect and really shitty.
so when the japs captured us troops they would behead them.
and when australian troops would capture jap troops they would release them and give them food and water and send them on their way, and the japs (mostly) returned the favour.

the geneva convention is a set of rules for war, WAR!!
i find it ridiculous to try to force rules on the most destructive thing known to man.

plus there are some rules which you see the americans breaking daily.
-no shotguns are to be used in war.
-bayonets are banned. (but combat knives aren't :P)
-proportionality!! where you can use a tank to kill infantry.
you sure see alot of that.
technically you can't use .50 cal on open infantry.

so just to clear up my above post about mines and etc.
i wasn't stating the US don't use mines, they do.
plus mines and robots are vastly different so i would assume they would be controlled, or at least have to be told to fire, after aquiring a tgt by themselves.


ps: yes i was in the army, before anyone has to ask.

[Moo]

Shibby.

no shotguns are to be used in war.
bayonets are banned


huh? any idea why?

(not picking on you dude, just curious)

[SPOT]

because they maim people rather than killing them.
same sorta shit as flamethrowers.

[Rathgar]

The japanese released prisoners ?.. here i was thinking they, you know, cut their heads off, or made them work of things like the burma-thai railway, and have like one drink of water and one little bowl of rice a day.

Weary Dunlop and guys like him got the rough end of the stick, but are they any cases of the japanese just letting them go ?.. not that i'm aware of anyway..

Rath

[Joshu]

Yay! I want to be an American Warrior™, incinerating and disrespecting other people's rights to be alive!

I don't get it, so what if there's a .50cal in battle? The other side can have them too, killing's killing.

[kingo55]

realistically, who are going to go by the rules?! Thats just stupid (Even though they're decent) at the end of the day, its who stays alive or not.

[SPOT]

most countries of the un go by the rules.
the us don't but then they say a war on terror is a diff type of war so they don't have to abide by the rules.

and i said it was known that the japs lets guys go, i didn't say they let everyone go.
a mate of mine's pop had all his finger/toe nails and teeth ripped out by the japs.

[kingo55]

Damn... that sounds nasty! What did he do to deserve that?

[SPOT]

got captured. and resisted their bullshit, while the yanks broke down.

[kingo55]

That guy has some balls...

[radass]

huge ones !!! i'd be all like 'here is the information'

[SPOT]

Originally posted by radass
i'd be all like 'here is the information and my balls'

david!!

[fuzzely]

in regards to the detainees and this whole stink about not following the conventions in relation to PW's. the yanks are able to fob it off as they are claiming, legitimately (if someone crudely) that the terrorists and suspected terrorist do not qualify for PW status and thus are not entitled to PW benefits (that came out funny but oh well) and can be detained indefinately...

its is tru that they dont meet the criteria of an 'ideal combatant' which is the term used for one who is a legitimate military target and who is entitled to PW status....

eh shrug.... bloody yanks and their toys.... they are still gunna shoot their own men and british planes... and we still gunna kick there ass every bloody wargame with em....