World War III starts. Perhaps the US pisses off the Chinese, or maybe North Korea and Pakistan join together and think they have a chance. Or perhaps Shrub gets bored of little wars. Next, we have billions of dollars of ICBMs (InterContinental Ballistic Missiles) flying across the globe to do their job, each multi-million dollar delivery vehicle designed for only one use.
This seems wasteful to me. It seems like after delivering their payloads, ICBMs should keep going and deploy parachutes, landing gently in the Great Lakes for collection and redeployment. Save the earth - recycle.-- Worldgineer, Jul 13 2004 Intercontinental Ballistic Cruise Missile (ICBCM) http://www.halfbake...ssile_20_28ICBCM_29Inspiration [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] bomb dropping UAV (X-45A) http://www.darpa.mi...drop/bomb_drop.htmlDARPA Project for UAV [dlapham, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Great idea if you are using low yeald cruise missles as the payload. Otherwise there may be no world left to return to. In this case just use a realy fast (thinking SR-71 speed) UAV to launch your payload and refill it with tankers on the way back home. The Peacekeeper ICBM that is the last of its kind in the US and is set to be decomissioned this year uses solid fuel which would not work for returning back home, but a realy fast UAV would work great. Check out the [Link] for a UAV that could launch smart bombs.-- dlapham, Jul 13 2004 //Otherwise there may be no world left to return to.// This all depends on who is involved in the war and how quickly it's over. If the US "wins", we'll still have to get ready for the next war.
//but a realy fast UAV would work great// How do UAVs have anything to do with this idea? They just can't have close to the speed of something that exits the atmosphere.-- Worldgineer, Jul 13 2004 What next, anthrax composting?-- Aristotle, Jul 14 2004 Bomberangs.-- bristolz, Jul 14 2004 "if this ICBM is found, please return to: The Pentagon 654 54st...."-- schematics, Jul 14 2004 Inter-Continental Ballistic Boomerangs...schweet-- swimr, Jul 14 2004 Ha!
Oh, and [schem], does 54st come after 53nd?-- Worldgineer, Jul 14 2004 no, 54 st as in "54th street". sorry. for any confusion.-- schematics, Jul 14 2004 [buddhapest], I like that idea. Perhaps if every defective piece of ordanance had a ten million dollar deposit, payable upon demand to the claimant, that would lead to more effective targeting and more discrimination in target selection, as well as higher yield targets for manufacturing.
Or not. As a guy who tracks such things for a manufacturing outfit, I'd like to see the military's numbers on the issue.-- normzone, Jul 14 2004 I keep reading this then laughing again. recycling nuclear delivery systems for ecological reasons. But its that painful laugh, you know? The terrified, this sounds like a real government proposal I want to pee myself and go fetal laugh. +-- GutPunchLullabies, Jul 14 2004 Darn, [bristolz] beat me to it.-- half, Jul 14 2004 //The terrified, this sounds like a real government proposal I want to pee myself and go fetal laugh.// Heh. Looking over my ideas, and this comment made me laugh (not that kind of laugh).
Any one seen [GPL] since the crash?-- Worldgineer, Oct 27 2004 Heaven forbid you want to ruin the Earth any more after nuking it. Who will be alive to recycle this? :)-- sartep, Oct 28 2004 About the time of the crash I heard this terrified laugh and a shout of "Oh no, he's gone fetal". Haven't seen him since...-- david_scothern, Oct 28 2004 Yes, unstable, that one.-- Worldgineer, Jan 19 2005 I don't know who's in charge of missile defense, but I bet this raises their health insurance premiums.-- tiromancer, Jan 19 2005 Wild missiles, maybe I'll ride them someday.-- phundug, Jan 19 2005 random, halfbakery