Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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AA Cloud

Use murcury to down enemy aircraft.
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Use traditional AA guns to launch canisters of murcury and a chemical that actively breaks down the protective aluminum oxide coating which then enables the murcury to come into contact with the exposed aluminum causing the plane to rust away in a matter of minutes.

The canisters would be fitted with a bursting charge to create an aerosol cloud which would have several advantages over traditional flak systems:

1. It would linger in the air. 2. It would by virtue of its lingering be cumulative. 3. Would probably require less accuracy on the part of AA gun operators. 4. Much higher probability of a kill.

There of course are some obvious downsides to it the most obvious being the murcury poisoning of the land that was being defended and only really effective against squadrons of aircraft such as China might use against America if they ever went to war.

This might be better employed as an offensive weapon to be used against air bases, aluminum armored vehicles and aluminum infrastructure.

Spaceman Spiff, Feb 12 2009

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       If this is true, and I guess i don't doubt it that much, my hope for humanity weakens. War is bad enough without fruitlessly poisoning future generations. I suspect that the people who advocate such abominable tactics have already huffed their share of heavy metals and should be kept in close supervision.
WcW, Feb 12 2009
  

       Mercury fulminate detonators; depleted uranium ammunition; lead from paint and batteries of destroyed vehicles. There are enough precedents for release of heavy metals by the military. Graphite also enhances corrosion of aluminium, but not so dramatically.
spidermother, Feb 12 2009
  

       Disgusting
loonquawl, Feb 12 2009
  

       If you could somehow make used batteries float in shoal-like formations above major cities - perhaps by attaching them to (99 red?) helium balloons, they might provide a protective shield against incoming high-speed aircraft (try headbutting an airborne battery, and then imagine flying into a cloud of them at Mach 2) and maybe even missiles. All different size batteries could be collected and recycled from the city being protected beneath, but you would probably discover one type of battery to be optimal in terms of its relative abundance and size to weight ratio - all we have to do is figure out which one it might be...
zen_tom, Feb 12 2009
  

       That would work too, although it wouldn't make as good (or perhaps I've missed) a pun.
zen_tom, Feb 12 2009
  

       Well, in military parlance, it is triple-A (Anti-Aircraft Artillery). Just use batteries of smaller batteries.
coprocephalous, Feb 12 2009
  

       to avoid confusion with the parlance of AA , AG, GA, GG, used to distinguish guided missiles. wouldn't a quick coat of urethane or PTFE completely defeat a corrosive fluid attack?
WcW, Feb 12 2009
  
      
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