On Feb 8, 2008 9:12 AM, Binhan Lin <
binhan.lin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The original analogy was trying to extrapolate ground weapons and infantry into the future - how would future technology change the arms race in terms of range, LOS etc. Are ranges of 1000 m reasonable for a hand-held weapon? Are LOS ranges of 100-500m reasonable? or will technologies such as hyper-velocity projectiles combined with x-ray sensors make anything less than 10 feet of granite ineffective as protection or camoflauge? Will there be an arms race in detection and counter-measures - chamelon clothing (IR/Visible) vs. new detectors? Will weapons be automated? Will UAV's for individual soldiers be common?
How on any terrestrial planetary surface are you going to get xray sensors to work?
Passive is right out, there are no useful natural sources. Active requires an xray emitter which will be much easier to detect than backscatter off of an armored vehicle. They are also devilishly hard to focus. It would be easier to bathe an area with lethal amounts of xrays and then survey the ground to find out what you killed.