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DO YOU WANT SKYNET? BECAUSE THIS IS HOW YOU GET SKY NET.

SPUR AKA  SPECIAL PURPOSE UNMANNED RIFLE 

The SWORD Defense Systems Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle (SPUR) was specifically designed to offer precision fire from unmanned platforms such as the Ghost Robotics Vision-60 quadruped.  Featuring safe, chamber, clear, and fire capabilities that allows for safe and reliable deployment of the weapon system – providing the operator an ability to load and safe the weapon at a distance. These features also provide the operator the ability to clear malfunctions, and safely unload the platform prior to recovery. Chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor allows for precision fire out to 1200m, the SPUR can similarly utilize 7.62×51 NATO cartridge for ammunition availability. Due to its highly capable sensors the SPUR can operate in a multitude of conditions, both day and night. The SWORD Defense Systems SPUR is the future of unmanned weapon systems, and that future is now.

VIA KA-CHING!

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  • Freddo October 26, 2021, 3:41 PM

    Are we allowed to say “robodoggies with guns don’t kill people, leftwing actors kill people” or is it still TooSoon(tm)?

  • TN Tuxedo October 26, 2021, 3:58 PM

    Looks like someone hasn’t heard of the Winter War. (Hint: It’s where the phrase “Molotov Cocktail” came from)

    • Mike Austin October 26, 2021, 7:14 PM

      Yep. That thing is as vulnerable as a whore after a hard day’s night.

  • John A. Fleming October 26, 2021, 4:05 PM

    Great, just great. Now we have to waste vast amounts of American ingenuity in coming up with all the ways to destroy these malevolent creatures.

    (“Creatures” is not quite right. We need a new word to describe these evil machine zombie beasts.)

    A few examples of flanking sniper fire to take out one or more limbs, and these species-traitor treasonous engineers will realize the fragility of quadrapeds, and turn these into mini-tanks or six or 8-legged arthropods. Also, their front face looks fragile, grazing fire should damage it easily, the beast will slow down and can then be dispatched.

    Four-legged animals can run fast, but they don’t make a good gun platform unless they mimic the unique stable gait of the Mongol archers’ horses. These don’t really work for mass assaults, better for scouting through uneven terrain.

    Another way to take them out is to hit them on the side and tip them over, then pour in lead to the surely lightly armored underbelly.

    Anybody remember the “Battle Los Angeles” movie? What’d the Marines do when they captured an alien carcass? They cut it up to find the one weak spot. Somebody needs to go to the traitors’ trade shows and get a look at the internals.

    What a frikkin nightmare. All the engineers and business folk that create these machines should be the test subjects with live ammo, all these Miles Dysons working for Cyberdyne Systems. Scum of the earth they are.

    • Mike Austin October 26, 2021, 7:17 PM

      “All the engineers and business folk that create these machines…” Want to wager that none of those eggheads ever served in the Marines? Their little apps are cute enough, but not at all militarily viable.

  • gw October 26, 2021, 4:32 PM

    Nothing to worry about. Corporate will take care of all the glitches.
    https://youtu.be/ZFvqDaFpXeM

    • Mike Austin October 26, 2021, 7:21 PM

      Kind of like Elon Musk’s “self driving” cars. They work until they don’t.

      • gw October 26, 2021, 8:33 PM

        Agreed. Although, I worry more about the Terminator than the Tesla.

  • jwm October 26, 2021, 4:54 PM

    Hey, they’re on our side, right? So, only the good guys will have them. All for our own protection, and all that. Not a single thing to worry about. Our democracy will be safer.

    JWM

  • Dirk October 26, 2021, 5:07 PM

    Been tracking the progress on these gun ships for some time. . It’s a matter of time before this big dog will be hunting free bloods. Follow the progress over on TheDrive.com. Other direct links to DARPA related sites.

    Like the auto gyro tank turrets, I’m reading the ability to run and shoots, baked in. And these dogs can right themselves if knocked over. I to thought that knock ‘em over, was a viable solution.

    Maybe side hills? Just don’t know.

    Many firms are creating these beasts, theirs money to be made.

    Imagine firing 400.000 American soldiers, sailors and airman, implementing/ dialing in these literal Dogs Of War.

    Seems to me, only solutions breaking the data link, or killing the operator, which will be problematic. DARPA links to hardened war satellites, encrypted, a tough nut to crack.

    Sounds like insurmountable odds.

    Yet we just watched a primitive culture kick the shit out of the finest military in the world.

    VI

    • ghostsniper October 26, 2021, 5:44 PM

      Head over to Horror Fright and get a couple dozen 36″ bungee cords and some spools of annealed wire and learn how to make self retracting snares that you install along the perimeter of your compound. Prior, establish the perimeter ground cover to direct traffic through narrow egresses for snare placement. Also, having your own drone swarm on constant patrol wouldn’t hurt. If the snare wire is connected to an electric fence transformer you can cause a dancing light show.

      • John A. Fleming October 26, 2021, 7:24 PM

        Now that’s what I’m talking about. They go hi-tech, we go low-tech. How do you defeat a box of electronics and sensors with an attached gun and legs? With our strengths and their weaknesses.
        1. Our weaknesses: we don’t have anything larger than civilian firearms. But we know our terrain, and we know how to improvise, adapt, overcome.
        2. The emzbees are noisy when moving. Our dogs have good hearing and smell. When the emzbees go into quiet mode, they are slow, but still louder than a dog or a person.
        4. What’s the electronic equivalent of cayenne pepper powder? Maybe there’s a soot delivery system to blind their sensors.
        5. Emzbees can see good at night ir/lowlight, blind them with a strobe or laser to get a reaction so you can pinpoint their position.
        6. People and dogs not so much, I bet emzbees have a good radar return. Use the radar systems they put in cars, or get cop radars, and find them. The turrets look like they are trying to be radar-stealthy, but the legs and body not so much. Put that radar on a drone, looking down, it doesn’t look like the emzbees are meant to look overhead for threats. 2D-thinking designers.
        5. They are not going to be able to run very far without running down and overheating. Make them run and tire them out, then pick them off.
        6. Set up long-distance decoys for them to shoot at, lure them in and flank attack them. I’m not sure which is better: a projectile that fragments their internals, or transfers all the momentum to the case and tips them over. We’ll need to try both and see which works best.
        7. They might become a spotter for a sniper team. Or a sniping platform with a human spotter/controller. Sniff for an active bluetooth-style radio link. Batteries and power is a weakness.
        8. Tripwires might be a good one, that will stymie the emzbee, their handler will have to stop and cut the wire or lift it over. In fact, just put up a fence. They can’t hop a fence yet.

        So many possibilities …

        • Tommy Tabasco October 26, 2021, 9:46 PM

          Paintgun blast right in the camera. Bigger loads with mini-launchers. Sand in the paint.

    • John A. Fleming October 26, 2021, 7:38 PM

      Finest military maybe. But careerist generals hyper-attuned to politics, winning wars with economy and despatch, not so much. At least we don’t have officers like in China, where you have to buy your next rank. I hope we don’t.

      The proof exists. You can’t call your army “finest in the world” if you can’t conquer the Afghans and then keep them conquered.

      • Dirk October 27, 2021, 6:51 AM

        Morning John, great points you make. Wasn’t dinging you, mentioning what I’ve been reading.

        As for Finest army in the world…. Our guys were lead down the Looser road. Afghanistan was never going to be won, was always about The Money.

        Couple making money to piss poor leadership, lack of a clear defined mission, and the lack of will to win. Unfair to blame boots on the ground.

        But after reading your well written post for awhile now , suspect your well aware of the mis steps, the fact that this is history repeating itself.

        Regional wars are about ungodly amounts of money being made by. The theft of regional resources.

        Anymore when I here the US policing action, I understand it’s code, for big business has an interest in the region.

        VI

  • Lagman October 26, 2021, 6:32 PM

    Forget “boot knives”. One need carry “super magnets” in actual “tin foil” (or better) wraps. …
    But, of course the alternative is to remember – aluminum foil or galvanized wire mess (best – 1/4 inch) – all one need accomplish is interfere with the radio (and battery). Then cut the “whatever” … And, save the electronics and weaponry. …Wait for the “recovery team”. … Watch – Galvanized trash cans and mess will disappear from all the “hardware” and “rural supply” stores (Don’t wait.). … Dose in flammable liquids and ignite. … Wire or rope – restrict movement; sledge hammers or rocks. … Destroy the engineers and techs in your family who think this “cool”. … All the Best. Much Continued Success in Perpetuating Life.

  • Michael Anderson October 26, 2021, 6:48 PM

    And y’all laughed at me when I was a kid reading Magnus, Robot Fighter comics.

    • John the River October 26, 2021, 7:47 PM

      By Russ Manning! I was always pissed that his girlfriends semi-transparent dress was never transparent in the right places.

      • Sisu October 27, 2021, 8:22 AM

        You didn’t have access to “OH, Wicked Wanda” comic strip ?

        • John the River October 28, 2021, 5:50 PM

          To young to buy it, I think.
          Or too poor.

  • Mike Austin October 26, 2021, 7:26 PM

    These deadly toys will be fun to engage in combat. Any Middle School boy well versed in computer games—and who among them is not?—can kick this thing’s ass.

    But remember: the toy might be deadly enough, but the guy working the joystick is not. Sucks to be him. And anybody near him.

  • Mike Austin October 26, 2021, 7:37 PM

    Gee, I wonder how that gizmo would fare if a few rounds of an AK plowed into it? From several directions? All at once?

    Just wondering.

    Making such a toy is one thing. Making it near invulnerable is quite another. Depending upon such a plaything to keep you safe reveals a childish mind.

    Good: guns. Better: guns and dogs. Best: lots of guns and lots of dogs.

    • Whitespace October 26, 2021, 9:34 PM

      Do dogs have the sensitivity of electronic sensors? An expensive boston dynamics version is nothing like 10 cheap chinese knockoffs. Just putting it out there.

      Of course, there will be no shortage of people willing to work for a paycheque and an opportunity to be sadistic. But the land an air drone weapons systems, when they go generic, will be adopted by every country capable of producing or purchasing them.

      Best: Lethal tiny insects and tunneling dormant monsters which have no scent.

  • John the River October 26, 2021, 7:51 PM

    After more ten months todays the day! I received my LTC from the State of Massachusetts.
    And immediately went out the bought a SW 9mm semi-automatic. And two boxes of 9mm; $43 for 100 rounds.
    Now to find a range.

    • ghostsniper October 27, 2021, 4:54 AM

      Next: Move to a place where you can shoot your guns in your own yard.

      • James ONeil October 27, 2021, 8:57 AM

        Did that over 50 years ago, one of the best decisions I ever made for many reasons. One being I can give my savage teenage home schooling granddaughter her ballistics lessons.

  • Casey Klahn October 26, 2021, 10:50 PM

    It’s the OODA loop. I have practiced it on coyotes for years.

    One must get inside the decision-action process of the predator robot (think of a diminishing radius arc; interdict his closure of the arc). With a coyote (also true for deer) you observe his actions and predict his thoughts. You get inside his mistakes. He can be fooled by alternate sounds, camouflage, wind direction. The coyote can smell and see and predict at great ranges (it’s spooky how good he is at using his senses). When I was just a little younger than I am now (ugh) I could walk up on coyotes and deer, and also crawl up near them. There is a certain walk you can adopt (yes, just like in the movie Dune) that will bring you in tight with deer. Deer will not tolerate the presence of man when he is predating them, however you can get inside the deer’s game with multiple tricks.

    Do dogs have better senses than machine? Yes, if they use them to survive or use their senses constantly then absolutely they have the best senses. I would hazard that even an AI predator robot would still be less adept than a man at navigating battle space (mental and physical). Until some point in the future when they can develop better machines. In my estimation, the pimple-faced engineers at BD and elsewhere have never hunted a coyote. For all I care, they can lick my balls.

  • ghostsniper October 27, 2021, 4:58 AM

    Those things are designed for urban environs, won’t work at all in a rural setting.
    Note: Everything hollywood has showed you about walking in the woods is wrong, ie., it’s very noisy and littered with obstacles. Even flying drones are at a disadvantage in a rural setting, hanging branches, etc.

    • Casey Klahn October 27, 2021, 6:23 AM

      My stories of walking up on deer and predators are all open field stories; the woods will increase the time factor by a large multiple. It’s a near impossibility to best an animal in the woods. The trick is to take 1 to 3 steps and then impart a silence for about the same amount of time. You will mimic the deer’s sounds, and not the loud and aggressive sounds of a human walking. It works, however when a coyote bumps almost at your feet, you need an ACOG site to hit him on the run. Something with a 1:1.

      Where will the first robot vs. human war occur? Ukraine, probably. It would be interesting to watch.

  • Jack October 27, 2021, 6:52 AM

    Couple of things. These bots are incredibly expensive and would likely be more suited to crawling around in large buildings with stairs or tunnels or going from room to room looking for targets. I’ve spent a great deal of my life in the woods and most of the stuff I’ve grown up in is thick, dense with lots of downed timber, water hazards and poor visibility. The woods are not a place for a leisurely stroll or ‘creep’ by some offensive minded robotic dog. There is no way these creach-tures (an Ernest T. Bass expression) could be or remain operational in that environment, particularly with targets that can move.

    Secondly, a well placed rifle shot would dismantle it, might even blow it to smithereens and most certainly the violent shock of a rifle bullet would destroy its electronics or disable it to the point of being ineffective.

    Nonetheless, the idea that our military would spend time developing weaponry like this makes me think that these jerkoffs grew up behind fantasy games that inspired them to think that joystick robots are the wave of the future. Sure, they can kill a shitload of us with Hell Fire missiles delivered by flying drones but I seriously doubt their ‘sic the dog on them’ approach will satisfy their taste for blood.

    • ghostsniper October 27, 2021, 1:54 PM

      He said Ernest T Bass. lol

  • gstaud October 27, 2021, 7:04 AM

    Better things for better killing…..through cybernetics. Another fine product from the folks at DARPA.

  • Dirk October 27, 2021, 7:07 AM

    Gentleman, NEVER EVER underestimate one’s enemies. While these dogs of war are crud right now, just a matter of time before their full time operational.

    Think drones, these are walking drones. Require an individual operator, not antonymous? Yet.

    With AI they will hunt, seek, select and eliminate targets of their choosing. Once the platforms perfected, weapons selection will depend on what’s in the armory. While limited to round amounts,,,,how much ammo can one carry.

    I can see these things resupplied by literal drones, flying, landing on and depositing ammo in a mag of some sort. Likely a rotary launcher smaller but similar to rotary aircraft launchers.

    Sky’s the limit, this DARPA stuff, the amounts of money being pumped into the projects is staggering.

    VI

    • ghostsniper October 27, 2021, 2:03 PM

      “While limited to round amounts,,,,how much ammo can one carry.”
      ========
      Think of “rounds” differently.
      Consider no shells, just explosive material and projectile, then you can carry a lot more.

      Also, does it require a carefully placed .308 to kill a man, or will 100 fragments of sand delivered in 1/10th of a second do it better? (instead of one bullet hole you have 100 bleeding – impossible to stop all of them before bleed-out happens) And how much explosive material is required to propel a gain of sand all the way through a person?

      What if it sucks air in through it’s asshole and blows it back out through it’s snout after it instantly compresses it 10,000 times. Mini-gun air-cannon.

  • Andrew R October 27, 2021, 8:44 AM

    1) Is it just me or does the top section look like Doctor Who’s K-9? There’ some whovians working at DARPA/S.W.O.R.D.
    2) All it’ll take is just one of the development geeks to develop a conscience and spill its weaknesses, or someone to kill one drag it off and do a “necropsy” on it, or observe the things long enough to figure out their weaknesses. It’s been that way since we first started making sharp sticks and stones.

  • James ONeil October 27, 2021, 9:43 AM

    Pan it all you want but I’m impressed. Actually I’m impressed with most of what comes out of Boston Dynamics and how far they’ve come since their early days.

    Having said that I see very limited usefulness of their boomdog and a number of counter measures.

    & having said that; pull the shooting head off the dog toss the rest and it would provide an interesting firepower addendum to an infantry rifle squad. Mount it on a tripod or boom, stick it up over the rim of a foxhole or, on the boom, around the corner, there’s a rock solid firing platform, itself a rather small target with the shooter out of sight and protected.

    Now when Boston Dynamics comes out with version 333.7 of their boomdog with spent uranium armor, a fusion power plant, frictionless bearings, all controlled by the pigeon in the internal skinner box, I’ll be really impressed. 😉

  • Occasional Commenter October 27, 2021, 1:17 PM

    The first generation of any new technology is largely proof-of-concept, plus a demonstration that someone has brought the manufacturing and integration costs down to a point where such is marketable, although likely pricey. Expect future generations to cost less and do more.

    I don’t think the early generations will be useful “on the hunt.” The sensors described are like looking through a soda straw or the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. That may change in the future, but wider-angle sensors will require more development and processing capability.

    Based on current sensor limitations, I think these will be more useful on the defense, extending a perimeter out quite a bit. Have these beasts hunker down behind a log or other obstacle, or behind the brow of a hill, with only the sensor peeking over. This will force an attacker to deal with a challenge further out, and will thus provide the defended camp or facility with more warning as the attacker deals with it. It will be harder to take these out if they’re fighting in a pre-prepared position. Perhaps working in concert with overhead drones, a person could move these doggies toward an approaching threat, perhaps parking them behind previously prepared positions.

    • ghostsniper October 27, 2021, 2:05 PM

      Good points.
      For every measure there is a counter measure.