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Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:42 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
We keep reading these stories of weapons and armaments - rifles, tanks, helicopters, Humvees and the like - falling into Taliban hands since the US decision to abandon Afghanistan to its fate.
Without going into the debate about the decision and its execution, how difficult would it be to have some sort of microchip in every piece of kit which could be switched off from Washington in the event that it gets taken by the enemy? I can see the problems say at the rifle level - it's a fairly unsophisticated item - but I think it could keep advanced weaponry such as helicopters and tanks out of action for long enough to be useful.
The obvious danger is that the enemy could get hold of the disabling code and use it: but I think that's a problem with a solution.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:22 pm
by Crackpot
Any back door created can be exploited.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:54 pm
by Bicycle Bill
How long would it take for an enemy to capture something like this and reverse-engineer it so that THEY could turn it off when and if they wanted to also?? Just imagine how Desert Storm would have turned out if someone could have flipped a switch and shut off the microchip that enabled the GAU-8 cannon on the Warthogs, or turned off all the weaponry on the tanks?
Best thing would have been to strip the equipment of anything lethal, assuming they had time to do that. Otherwise, a walk down the flight line with a bagful of grenades, one per helicopter, and those suckers wouldn't be any use to anybody.
And it wouldn't be like it was the first time we did something like that either....
-"BB"-
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:03 pm
by BoSoxGal
I have no doubt whatsoever that plans are already in the works in the bowels of the Pentagon to bomb the shit out of the armaments we left behind. I also have no doubt that our Afghan misadventures aren’t really at an end.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:22 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:42 pm
Without going into the debate about the decision and its execution, how difficult would it be to have some sort of microchip in every piece of kit
Easy. Just inject 'em with Moderna.
yrs
A Loonie
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 6:46 pm
by Big RR
ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:42 pm
We keep reading these stories of weapons and armaments - rifles, tanks, helicopters, Humvees and the like - falling into Taliban hands since the US decision to abandon Afghanistan to its fate.
Without going into the debate about the decision and its execution, how difficult would it be to have some sort of microchip in every piece of kit which could be switched off from Washington in the event that it gets taken by the enemy? I can see the problems say at the rifle level - it's a fairly unsophisticated item - but I think it could keep advanced weaponry such as helicopters and tanks out of action for long enough to be useful.
The obvious danger is that the enemy could get hold of the disabling code and use it: but I think that's a problem with a solution.
If I'm not mistaken, that was used by Captain Kirk against Khan's stolen starship (in the second Star Trek movie), where they used the access code to disable all the weapons and defensive systems on the ship (of course, Khan later changed the code to prevent it from happening again). But I am sure it's some that can be done.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:39 am
by Burning Petard
Silly Me, I thought this thread would be about less-than lethal weapons for law enforcement.
In the bad old days of the cold war, when I wore spit shined black boots and AG44 in Germany, every crew served weapon and major equipment had a thermite grenade as part of the normal load and anybody using that equipment knew where to put it if the equipment was to be abandoned.
snailgate
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 4:08 am
by datsunaholic
Even in 2002 we had a destruction plan for our patrol boats when I was in the Navy. The M2 Browning was too heavy to carry but the firing pin wasn't. I was in charge of destroying the crypto radio. With a shotgun.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 1:25 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
If I understand correctly (often not the case) the bulk of the US weaponry which has come into Taliban hands was not abandoned by US military, but surrendered by the Afghan forces who had been expected to use it.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 1:58 pm
by Big RR
That's my understanding. I'm sure there are some pieces of abandoned equipment from US forces, but most of the weaponry came from the Afghan forces who just threw them down and turned them over to the Taliban. But we're nation builders and know better; that weaponry was supplied to the Afghan army to keep the Taliban in check, but it looks like they changed their mind and decided to make another US invasion much more difficult.
Re: Disabling weapons
Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:08 am
by Burning Petard
That's two saints in the USA military pantheon: Sam'l Colt and John Browning 2002 and you were using a slightly modified design from the War to End Wars. And the best USofA long range sniper rifle is a version of the Browning .50 Machine gun stripped down to fire single shot.
snailgate.