#include <reply_to_everyone.h> I don't think that I should clutter up
the board with a dozen posts in response ;) 

On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 22:21, Aaron Nowack wrote:

First off, let me just say thank to everyone for their comments.

Now, I freely admit that most of the discussion about various weaponry
is over my head, so I won't comment on that stuff.

I am pleased, though, that most of the comments seem to agree with my
gut aprasial of the matter - that once they have a good grasp of what
enemy they're fighting, a First World military would be able to fight a
youma force on fairly even terms, but that teleportation is a very big
advantage for the Dark Kingdom.

Teleportation is a massive advantage -- they have mobility unmatched by
any of the technological militaries. If Metallia has good intelligence,
she may be able to wreak havoc with the First World command and control
systems. 

One thing typically overlooked is that the individual component of the
military (the rifle, the machine gun section, the tank platoon, etc.)
isn't so important. It's the *system* that's important, and the United
States has a massive advantage over the rest of the world. Take down
that system and we lose massive force multiplier. To the best of my
knowledge, Youma invasions are typically poorly coordinated -- an
undisciplined mob of super-soldiers running amok. Well-trained,
disciplined armies should not have *too* much trouble. 

On the other hand, arming everyone -- while useful, may not be so
effective. 

Hmm... at least assuming that the weapons systems on a jet would be able
to target slow-moving, low-flying (semi-)organic opponents without a
major overhaul.  Since I have absolutely no idea on that issue, any
experts care to comment?

It'd be difficult. I will assume that youma do generate heat
(thermodynamics and all, magic notwithstanding) and would be trackable
via some sort of FLIR/IRST sensor. Even with magic, their "muscles"
should be producing enormous amounts of heat just to move the way they
do, lighting them up on anyone's thermal imaging sensors. 

If it could be done, that would be extremely useful, yes.

My basic thought, though, is that technological methods won't be able to
detect or block teleportation.

Ah, well, it was a hope. I'm something of a fan of the fusion of science
and magic, though ;) 

Once again, my thanks to everyone for their comments!

Not a problem; you've managed to get me out of "lurk" mode on the FFML
:) 

On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 23:54, W. Suika Roberts wrote:

Supersonic fighters tend to have really high stall-speeds, and aren't 
good for loitering.

Correct, though subsonic aircraft do not. Things like the Su-25 and A-10
are generally optimized for this role. Perhaps we could convince
Fairchild to re-open the A-10 line (and give it the extensive avionics
upgrade that was planned, and cancelled, in the 1980s). 

ISTR ME-262s had difficulties engaging prop-driven fighters because of 
the speed difference -- the prop-planes were more agile, but the ME-262 
could run away better, and more easily set up an attack vector.

"Boom and zoom" beats "turn and burn." The A6M Zero fighter suffered
most heavily once American fighter pilots figured that out. Flying youma
are unlikely to be able to even get a bead on fast attacking aircraft. 

A-10 Warthogs, or any of the AC (AC-47 through AC-130U) side-firing 
gunships would be effective, but probably messy.

Airborne gunships would be effective, yes, and messy. One evil though
I've seen brought up would be an "AB-36" ;) However, the AC-130 series
is somewhat vulnerable, as it flies around in circles. A good youma
should be able to engage one if his magic has the range to travel that
high. 

I think, though, that it was radar-guided SAMs that pretty much spelled 
the end for the prop-driven ground-attack plane, rather than the 
shoulder-fired stuff.

Not necessarily. It was the superior performance available with jet
engines that spelled the end for piston-engined aircraft (and even then,
the A-1/AD1 was in service well into Vietnam).

On Sat, 2004-01-03 at 03:43, Chris Nasipak wrote: 

1) Composition. Do they have a noticeable body heat? If this is not 
significant, IR guidance systems (such as used by many short-range 
air-to-air missiles) will be useless.

Correct, however some SAMs may not be badly affected. In particular, the
latest (though not procured) bloc of the Stinger MANPAD can see the
ultraviolet "hole" in the sky. In daylight, youma will still have the
problem of the sun, so they won't be completely transparent to [imaging]
infrared sensors. 

1b) Composition 2. What sort of radar cross-section do they have? As mostly 
organic objects, one might suspect that they would be fairly small, but 
radar picks up flocks of birds, clouds, all sorts of things that aren't 
metallic.  It would take some time for military analysts to adjust 
procedure and programming of the sensor packages, however, which would 
limit initial response.

Too much clutter to try a "search" radar track, but something like
milimetre-wave radar for fire-control should work. Many attack
helicopters have that. 

3) Vulnerability to "soft kills". Air to air missiles rarely actually 
directly strike the target. Instead, they explode within a few feet of it, 
sending shrapnel through control surfaces, hydraulics, and cables. Again, 
depending on the vulnerability of your average youma to such an attack, it 
might require some adjustment in seeker programming and engagement tactics.

They're not really optimized for skin-kills, though. Various SAMs and
ABMs have been designed for that, though. 

4) Confined spaces. A lot of youma attacks are going to be taking place in 
a city -- with streets flanked by tall buildings, lots of civilians, and 
not a lot of room for high-speed maneuvering. This is not an environment 
fighter jets excel in. The aircraft that will do best here are your Apache 
type helicopters, with the maneuverability, speed, and armament to go 
toe-to-toe downtown.

That's not a fun place to fly helicopters, though, they may well fly
above the buildings and rain down death on the evil invaders from above.

Does the teleportation displace air? One could 'seed' a large area of a 
city with thousands of mass-produced sensors to detect that sort of thing. 
Add in traffic-control surveillance cameras to get a human eye on every 
incident (you're going to have false alarms), and you have a moderately 
reliable detection system. Eventually, the youma will clue in to this, and 
start appearing in buildings and such, at which point you hope that you've 
sufficiently expanded your surveillance network.

IMHO, such a system is going to be remarkable *unreliable*, there's too
many things that can trigger false alarms. You're going to be swamped,
unless youma have some sort of distinctive thermal image that can be
quickly identified. 

-- 
Phong Nguyen <pnguyen7@mail.usf.edu>

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