Hey! They ripped that off from ST:DS9!

The Metalstorm system is much more fun for this sort of thing, and you don't have to worry about having to come back and dig the suckers up in the future.

http://www.metalstorm.com/

Why dig them up? A minefield this sophisticated can clear itself.

Am I the only one who thinks this doesn't make any real practical sense?

I mean shit, if mines are moving themselves, that means they can be detected. I thought the whole point of mines was you didn't know where they were.

Plus, it seems to me that the only time we'd use mines (effectively) in any significant manner would be if someone were to invade our contiguous 48.

But hey, I'm just a banker.

fat kid.

"if mines are moving themselves, that means they can be detected."

Logic failure. Submarines move, does that mean they can be detected? This is more of a "If a tree falls in the forest and no one blah blah blah." You just can't divert forces to watch every hectare.

Minefields that think, and shift around, thats neat. But scary. And that was under the DARPA "Completed" section of projects.

Besides, anything to get you freaks off your D&D jag. Gawd! I can't scratch that "Lightning bolt!" freak out of my mind!

Oh, and whoever-you-are, as a longtime fan of Metalstorm, my first thought was this would be the perfect for co-adaptation. WarPorn indeed.

fat kid:

Minefields are often used to deny the enemy use of an area, forcing him to take a seperate route into an engagement area you've already prepared. Also, they are used to slow the bad guys down long enough to hit them with whatever lethal means you have at hand.

Robert Crawford:
You are correct. The minefields we employ these days self destruct after a certain amount of time.

oh, and this new development is too damn cool.

There's nothing new in this concept. Making it work is the revolutionary part. Anyone who follows the DARPA scene knows that this has been going on for years. Just ask any infantryman what it's like to cross a mine field -- they'll tell you that it ain't fun.

Against the old Soviet WWII doctrine its probably worthless though. They would ignore minefields and simply advance through them accepting the losses as the cost of doing business -- which in reality came out to be about the same as if you tried to clear it or work around it taking more time and exposing yourself longer.

That was only true because the Soviet were willing to throw aways lives at any point. If there was a faster but potentially fatal for a small percent method to line up at mess, the Soviets would have done it. Summary execution has a way of making people compliant.