Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Anubis Tactical MAV For Time-Sensitive Fleeting Targets
The Anubis Tactical MAV [Micro Air Vehicle] for Time-Sensitive Fleeting Targets is an Aerovironment project intended to produce a small missile that is able to proceed to the area in which its target can be found, loiter until the target is spotted, and then take out the target. It is described as a "non-line-of-sight munition with man-in-the loop target ID with very low collateral damage."
Anubis is apparently a Phase III program, which is military argot for a project that is close to maturity. It apparently is intended to instantiate a truly science-fictional scenario in which a would-be assassin need not even get within miles of his target. Once set into motion, the tiny missile would be able to loiter for short periods of time until the targeted individual appears.
This kind of technology meets Philip K. Dick's highest military standard for weaponry, which he described as N-e weapons in his 1965 novel The Zap Gun. "N-e" stands for "needle-eyefication", a weapon that is so precise it can take out a single individual.
This kind of weapon was called a loitering micro-missile in Philip E. High's 1968 novel Invader on My Back:
Fans of sci-fi movies will also recall the smart bullets, five-inch fire-and-forget self-tracking bullet-missiles from Michael Crichton's 1984 movie Runaway.
...needle-eyeification was the fundamental direction which weapons had been taking for a near half-century. It meant, simply, weapons with the most precise effect conceivable. In theory it was possible to imagine a weapon - as yet untranced of by Mr. Lars himself, still - that would slay one given individual at a given instant at a given intersection at one particular given city in Peep-East. Or in Wes-bloc, for that matter...
(Read more about PKD's Needle-eyeification)
As the troops left the city, the top guns of the leading guilds took a hand, and they knew their business: weapons with curved or variating trajectories, weapons which fired around corners, micro-missiles proceeding at walking pace until within ten feet of the target.
(Smart bullet dissected (see more pics))
"Jack, look at this. The back half is all solid propellant. Valves for directional control ... look, it's all electronic.""You've heard of a bullet that has your name on it. Well, this one really does. And you can program it to go after a specific person."
If you'd like to know what it would feel like to be chased by an Anubis missile, take a look at this excerpt from a well-known sf movie.
From The Register; thanks to Winchell Chung at Project Rho for the tip and a great reference.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/5/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 4 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...' - Hal K. Wells, 1942.
China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...' - Richard Morgan, 2003.
Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade?
'It ain't a vibroblade. It's steel. Messy.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
