Re: [FT] SOF Insertion

Los spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

> 
> 
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
> 
> > That was one option. But maybe the drop cap has enough stealth caps
> > and anti grav that it makes a quiet 'hole-in-the-sky' landing with
no
> > detection. In which case it is just as good. But I think the drop
cap
> > would work well if you had PA. Meteors hitting the ocean (even if
> > near shore) don't merit attention. Your PA SF guys then walk ashore
> > under water.
> >
> 
> I don't feel that you can always count on meteor showers hitting when
you want
> then, thus plan on using them for cover. If they even hit at all. The
method
> Heilne makes famous  using multiple caps or cap parts to include
spoofs or
> decoys works great for a regular drop when you want to spoof
targetting but the
> point is not being seen. It has to be one capsule (or one per guy).
Also I
> imagine grav drives leaving some sort of DF-able signature that a
> parachute/foil wouldn't so maybe they are used at the last moment
before
> landing.

Maybe. I guess if you can control grav, you might be able to detect 
anti-grav, but I'd think limited in range hence if no detectors were 
near you, you'd be okay. 

As for the other matter, I wasn't waiting for a meteor shower. Today 
we track about 1-3% of celestial bodies that will intercept Earth's 
orbit. In the future, this may rise. But how high? I don't know. How 
much tech does it take to support this - probably a fair bit. How far 
will the range be? I don't imagine all that far. And things will 
avoid detection (smaller meteors and such) because alarming every 
time a small meteor came would be silly. 

So your insertion is not covered by a meteor shower, but to the 
outside world, a couple or six little hot things falling from the sky 
(from the cloaked insertion vessel) into the ocean are not worthy of 
notice. Heck, the Greys could be inserting guys like that on Earth 
today, with a population of five billion, and we wouldn't know. In 
the future, this kind of insertion is dead easy on colony worlds and 
feasible (probably) even on capital class worlds (for small teams).
  
> Assuming the enemy is as intelligent as you (and of a similar Tech
level) are
> they would very soon be analyzing meteor showers in an attempt to
increase
> their target discrmmination. I would.

I think you'd find 
1. They are randomly distributed with little pattern
2. They are inherently unpredicatable in density
3. Monitoring every small object in nearspace is prohibitive
4. You'd tend to have your monitors (even if you could watch for 
them) only pay attention to things that are either big enough to be a 
problem wherever they hit or any sized object aimed at a population 
centre. Well your SOF knows this, and they insert into the water (for 
cushioning and dissipation of heat from the drop).  

> Good idea about the water, but screw the walking along the ocean
floor. Just
> have a submersible porpulsion attachment for the PA.

Well, whatever. And maybe small subs like the Seals use. They could 
be pod-dropped. 
 
> We should also discrimminate between between a clandestine insertion
and a
> stealth insertion. Clandestine (in our book) means that no one. Knows
your
> presence ever existed in the operational area.

That's what I had in mind. 

 Stealth mean you were not
> tracked coming in. So  for a Stealth enterance, you could negate a
small window
> of the enemies defense coverage (Say over half the North American
continent) by
> jamming or the destruction of orbital or ground based systems. The
hole only
> hasn to last for insertion. The bad guys know something happened,
butit's sucha
> huge area they can't pin point who or what.

Sure, that coudl be done, but isn't as good. Then he knows to be wary 
(in general).  

> 1. Clandestine Example: Canada and US are at peace. Tom's unit
secretly
> infiltrates the US posing as Montreal Canadiens fans heading to a
Colorado
> Avalanche Game.

Never happen. Ottawa Senators fans. 

 Their misison is to destroy the Budweiser corporate headquartes
> for the blight they've left on the name of North American beer.

Don't use the word Beer in that Context. It insults real beer.

 Once they blow
> the palce up They exfil in a similar fashion. Noone in the US knows
who did it,
> just that Budweiser blew up.

(Except for the suspicious presence of slogans like "Remember the 
White House" scrawled on bits of the rubble). (And an apology note, 
unsigned but polite and using real English spelling, left to the 
workers). 
 
> 2. Stealth Example. We are at War with Canada over fishing rights. The
Canadian
> Navy and RCAF wild weasel units negate all sensor coverage of the new
england
> coast for 4 hours.

(This is Fantasy...)

 Tom's unit conducts a SCUBA insertion into New Bedford and
> blows up the New Bedford Dried Cod processing plant on Lisbon avenue.
Then tehy
> are extracted. We know it was the Canadians and we know it was
probably
> Barclay's rangers, but we were powerless to prevent them from doing
anything.

Historically, they'd quickly be afforded the nickname Barclay's 
B*st*rds. Such as phrases sometimes heard at the gaming table "Tom, 
you lousy B*st..." (you get the idea). 

> > Or maybe you have some sort of impact foam or bladder that you can
> > use to encase yourself for such High G pickups. Better odds than
> > today of survival.
> >
> 
> Well ships and fighters have inertia dameners. Maybe there is a small
version
> that'll work in a pick up capsule. Same principle.

Good idea. 
 
 
/************************************************
Thomas Barclay		     
Voice: (613) 831-2018 x 4009
Fax: (613) 831-8255

 "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes
 it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
 -Bjarne Stroustrup
**************************************************/