I swear...SUV's are getting bigger and bigger these days...

[Darth Vader]

<img src=http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/mlrs_05.jpg>

I passed 24 of these heading from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa yestarday. They're called MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) Based loosely on the Bradley armored vehicle, they are GPS-guided artillery pieces, carrying a dozen medium range, unguided rockets, that are precisely aimed by satellite. In each rocket, are 644 cluster bombs, each with a blast radius of 4 meters, and capable of piercing four inches of armor. This rocket will burst over its target, causing its cluster bombs to rain over an area the size of a football stadium, utterly devastating anything around it.

Do the math. 24 MLRS vehicles, times 12 rockets a piece, times 644 submunitions per rocket.

Needless to say, don't cut these guys off in rush hour traffic :x

[Reborn Dark Jedi]

Bloody hell! judging by your statistics, if I were a football player I'd make sure I'd ket their team win. :eek

[Lord Gue]

Bah, we see things like that on the road down here all the time. They say the old air force base is shut down, and they do lease the space to whoever needs it, but still see the army vehicles travelin down the roads, stuck in the same traffic as everyone else

[Admiral Lebron]

Meh. Worst thing I ever saw was a couple of dozen tanks driving on a road to the side. Although...seeing C-5's landing over your friends house is pretty creepy as a kid.

[Khan Surak]

Indeed...too bad they didn't build the Crusader, eh? I'd like to see those crusing down the street.

http://www.army-technology.com/contractor_images/general_dynamics/gd3.jpg

[Admiral Lebron]

I saw acouple M-1's cruising down the street once... I was at a friends house and he lives on an Air force base. They we're being shipped out. It was cool.

[Morgan Evanar]

Crusaders are an awful idea... they're nearly impossible to deploy quickly, and we need rapid reaction.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Like to see someone reverse park one of those things

[AmazonBabe]

>_<

Oh man, parallel parking would soooooo not be cool in that monstrousity! :lol

[Darth Vader]

Gue...no, you didn't see MLRS going to or from an air force base. Wrong branch of service.

At any rate, a military convoy isn't uncommon around here. I see them every week or so. The unusual thing was that it was blatant weapons platforms that were being transported this time, instead of hum-vees and other military trucks.

[AmazonBabe]

Wonder if those missles were anything we (as in where I work) sent em?

[Darth Vader]

No...these are dumb-fire rockets. Nothing so sophisticated as the stuff you guys do.

[Chase Starwalker]

Woah.

[Kelt Simoson]

And incase some people dont know "Dumb" fire have no guidence systems aboard itself, its a large enough rocket to just aim and fire and the explosion is wide spread so it does not have to be guided into a perticuler spot.

[Darth Viscera]

The V-1 had a 50% chance of landing within a target 12km radius, soviet cruise missiles in the 60s were 50% for 2km.

[Navaria Tarkin]

I saw a bunch of army pick up trucks passing through my town about a week ago ... gods only know what was in the rest of the cargo O_o

[Jedi Neo]

LOL, thats nothing, remind me in about six months to tell you a story about campsites and tanks.

[ReaperFett]

No...these are dumb-fire rockets
So easy to fire even I can? :)

[Charley]

Considering the amount of GPS guidance it requires in order to be accurate, you should stick to the smart bombs ;)

[ReaperFett]

Nah, they might get wise, and plot against me. Could end up with them firsing me :)

[Sanis Prent]

Soviet torpedoes have been known to do that :lol

[ReaperFett]

But then, a reasonably-smart bomb could cause that :)

[Sanis Prent]

only an evil smart bomb >D

[Saakaarruu Marrjeesso]

Interesting. We have trains going back and forth in my town hauling army and military supplies. Just now are they pulling weapons...

[ReaperFett]

hijack one and found out :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

I think the air base near me is doing a live fire exercise this morning. It's a bit noisy here today

[Darth Viscera]

You lit off that big of a sparkler bomb, and you live near an air base?

[Marcus Telcontar]

Ummm...... now you put it like that, it does sound rather dumb

[Darth Viscera]

You coulda blown up the world, too.

1. Aussie explodes 150-round sparkler bomb.
2. Aussie war machine goes on high alert-reservists and militia called up.
3. Aussie Stevedore gets called up into militia-doesn't show up for work.
4. R.M.S. Boat, bound for first Texas, then Maryland, USA, doesn't get loaded with Aussie exports due to absenteeism among Aussie stevedores.
5. Enron, Worldcom go down the drain, my Nvidia stocks go from 38 points to 23 points and keep sinking.
6. Worldwide depression.
7. Aussies buy more fireworks.

See, it's just like that time in '29 when the soviets were both unwilling and unable to pay back that loan to Hungary, and then the stock market collapsed. You look at this worldwide economy sideways, and it'll collapse.

[Marcus Telcontar]

So my sparkler bomb was the cause of Enron and Worldcom?

[Darth Viscera]

not really, just citing an example based on what logic I can muster. :)

Still, you look at this worldwide economy sideways, and it'll collapse.

[Marcus Telcontar]

How about I just ignite another sparkler bomb?

[Darth Viscera]

Go right ahead, but it damn well better not make my cable company go out of business! :lol

[Marcus Telcontar]

I've got a better one - I rigged the mower to backfire when it's started. 9am on a Sunday is a good time to mow the lawns, yes?

[Darth Viscera]

So long as your airbase's SPs are 1. Not trigger happy and not a veteran of any conflict and 2. Not equipped with M60s or M249s.

[Jedi Master Leia Solo]

OMG !!o_O

Are those the trucks you were talking to me about the other day, when we were talking and you were going thru traffic??!

YIKES!!!O_o