I mentioned this before, but I thought you guys should opine. The US has several lasers and microwave weapon programs, while the Europeans only have a handful.

In fact they've yet to fire a laser at all that can do any physical damage unlike the:

THEL
which fired a laser and did this to a Katyushka 122mm rocket



They don't even have a field deployable prototype similar to the Active Denial System, :


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System

BY the way, before anyone mentions BaE (British Aerospace), I've excluded their work since I've got the feeling that they're closer to the US than to Europe in regards to military ties.

Maybe I've missed something, but I've got over 5 years of Janes' Defense magazine plus my annual visit to AUSA (Association of US Army) conferences I think give me a headsup as to what the unclassified state of directed energy weapons research is in Europe.

The one weapon that could fit this bill is the microwave weapon prototype that the German firm Rheinmetall AG is working on. Here's a pic

and some info: http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:nzhUg5Hd3r0J:www.rh...n&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

If M. de Plater is going to give this to the Europeans can he please consider giving the US the PEP, or Pulsed Energy Projectile?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/pep.htm

coz it's their specialty??? what i don't understand with their weapons focusing alot on incapacitating what happens to ur men at the end that were incapacitated, do they die? become pow's? or do u get them back if u win???

It's probably to keep the game balanced, but that's just a guess. Hopefully they'll tell us at Leipzig.

quote:

Originally posted by KJ_White:
what i don't understand with their weapons focusing alot on incapacitating what happens to ur men at the end that were incapacitated, do they die? become pow's? or do u get them back if u win???

That's a good question. I would hope that Ubisoft had some sort of system set up for it. I would have them treated as battlefield casualties that can be evac'd by allies or taken prisoner/executed by the enemy.

quote:

Originally posted by pointandlaugh:
It's probably to keep the game balanced, but that's just a guess. Hopefully they'll tell us at Leipzig.

quote:

Originally posted by KJ_White:
what i don't understand with their weapons focusing alot on incapacitating what happens to ur men at the end that were incapacitated, do they die? become pow's? or do u get them back if u win???

That's a good question. I would hope that Ubisoft had some sort of system set up for it. I would have them treated as battlefield casualties that can be evac'd by allies or taken prisoner/executed by the enemy.

I'm sure it's to keep it balanced, but couldn't they have found something that the Europeans REALLY have an advantage in rather than giving them the US advantage. Of course then it might seem lopsided that we have robotics, stealth AND directed energy and non-lethal weapons BUT the truth is we do have the lead. That's not to say there aren't areas that the Europeans would have a lead, but it's not DE or non-lethals, I can tell you that.

Sure it's a game, but I'd have liked to see the full arsenal of capabilities that the US is researching rather than see it on the Europeans. Europe for example could have gotten a lead on electronic warfare and cyber warfare.

Come on Ubisoft.

It has been previously mentioned that the Europeans WILL have an edge in information warfare. So at least that fits the bill. But I agree, I don't want to see weapon systems transfered around to other countries just for the sake of balance. Its too easy to go overboard and give everyone slightly different versions of the same equipment like in C&C3.

Maybe a better way to achieve balance would be to adjust the amount of platoons a player can have control over. Russians get the most, Europeans have second most, and US has least since they have to deploy overseas.

Since Europe had a recent lead by establishing GSM norms to all cellular phone comunication, in the game they could have the best information/inteligence system enabling them to make ambushes and antecipating every enemy's move.

Just a idea

lol what have nokia making war machines now haha woot

quote:

Originally posted by KJ_White:
lol what have nokia making war machines now haha woot

I can see it now. As my soldiers are walking down the street one of them will scream "Oh dear lord, its T-Mobile!!"

lol

Here's a link about new developments in the US advantage in DE weapons
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Army_Selects_NG_For_...apon_System_999.html

quote:

Originally posted by KJ_White:
lol what have nokia making war machines now haha woot

You jokin' once I was so pissed that I tossed a Nokia 3210 at the bed and it bounced at the floor the bloody thing totaly blew itself apart. Then I picked up the pieces assembled the thing again ... and it worked fine. only a line of cristals in the screen was missing but a few times playing Snake and some constant messing with the constrast that missing line came to life. In the end I got 20€ off when returning the old one and buying a new one... It was so simply designed that you could de-assemble the thing and exchange damaged parts with other good phones. That thing lasted me 5 years! Some guy in africa is now having all the fun...

LOL those nokia's are some tough little mothers. Those finns can plan decent hardware!!!

Hum and now that you mention... Several tech companies developed, develop and are developing technologies for armies, why not nokia? This could be a neat inspiration for the creators, besides some advertising could help pay some game developing bills...

lol yeah i had an old nokia it was indestructable i through it at my bean bag once when i got pissed off and it bounced of and put a hole in my wall the thing took the biggest beating, the new ones with all the fancy gadgets don't even survive being dropped in the toilet during a boozy night haha

Here's another reason why the US should have the lead in DE weapons. Ok I understand the ABL has had some delays for about 5 years or so, but there have been quite a few advances in the past few years and I'm pretty sure the Europeans are further behind. As I've said before they've yet to have any kind of tests where an actual laser shot anything down unlike the THEL.

So here's a link for new info from Boeing http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3013316&C=americas

and an excerpt: Airborne Laser (ABL), a U.S. Air Force program aimed at destroying enemy ballistic missiles as they rise off their launch pads, could be deployed against conventional aircraft and even ground targets, according to prime contractor Boeing.
During a Sep. 4 teleconference, Greg Hyslop, Boeing Airborne Laser vice president and program manager, said the Air Force is developing operational concepts for the beam weapon that could include “other missions and targets.”
“The Air Force is looking at our effectivity against aircraft; this is on the cutting edge of directed energy,” Hyslop said. “We could also use [ABL] for air-to-ground, but at this point we lack the appropriate level of sensing capability and would need to receive target coordinates from somewhere else. In air-to-ground mode the ranges are a lot shorter, so we’d have to determine how lethal we are and at what ranges. This is something we’ll probably look at after the lethal demonstration.”

A laser version of the Phalanx CIWS close in weapon system is being built. Who's working on that, oh the Europeans, really?

NO!

It's the US. Here's the link
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/a-laser-phalanx-03783/#more

Now some might say that some links I get my info are inherently only going to discuss US weapon developments, not so, and definitely not Defense Industry Daily as it tracks ALL weapon developments worldwide.

I haven't seen many if any developments on directed energy by the European firms, so what gives with giving the Europeans this niche?

Oh waah wah I'm sure if u ask real nice they'll swap . Surely the U.S get something just as good.

sure, the thing is, the European Union does not LIVE FOR WAR, they are interested in defense of course, but not spending loads of money in new extreme weapons (at least for what we know)

but most European countries have reasonable weaponry plus high skils, dont deny that i've seen some do things quite insane...but, it worked:P

quote:

Originally posted by Jimjemael_796:
Oh waah wah I'm sure if u ask real nice they'll swap . Surely the U.S get something just as good.

Ok enough of the waah wah, I'm just trying to present a factual case for why the US should get DE and non-lethals, that's all.

I just hope that the gameplay is solid enough that things like this are the main things we have to complain about.

quote:

Ok enough of the waah wah, I'm just trying to present a factual case for why the US should get DE and non-lethals, that's all.

u kno why us doesn't want non-lethals it's coz they just want to kill and show no mercy anyways apparently the us will have stealth so that sounds way better than non lethals and us is supposed to have man held mini-gun also so hoorah!

I believe the US should have non-lethal weapons to avoid animosities among civilians in countries outside the US. That would be the materialization of a valuable lesson. The US can very easily afford research in both fields. Lethal and non-lethal. It is thanks to the US police force needs that the defense industry developed many non-lethal stuff (Taser, zapers, propeled nets and mace, etc...) to capture suspects so it makes sense that they get those.

Only see the devs giving these to the euros due to some sort of anti-animosities policy adopted by the EuroEnforcers politics (bosses)... The devs should gather some scatered inventions and extrapolate them by using their imagination to the year 2025... or they could for story efects , make them buy the patents to the americans in exchange for cash to fund the most advanced mil-defense industry of the world. Or they could give the euros Israeli defense stuff as well as Canadian and any other exterior to the US to balance the scales in a more realistic way. Just my tought...