Spring RTS Engine

nah. thing is, if a country buys something like that, other countries know it. if you shoot a train that only has food loaded, you will get bad press. if you shoot that train, cause it could have a club-k which could fire within 5 minutes time, it would be ok.

(these are some thoughts expressed on one Russian forum where people interested in military things communicate).

Basically it may be possible that those containers can be operated remotely (via satellite for ex. to make it world-wide). This means anyone who bought them can then load them into any of the hundreds large container carriers without carrier ship's crew knowing it's not just a goods container. And that ship can fly any flag... So in a place like Mediterranean or the Gulf of Persia or some such heavy shipping areas NO ONE can be sure there aren't missiles nearby unless they attack and sink (or board and search) DOZENS of large container carrier ships owned by random companies and flying random flags.
Missiles are known to be able to utilize GLONASS (exUSSR and Russian alternative to GPS), so they can carry coordinates of targets in their computers and will only need a launch signal to start. Anywhere in the world (provided the target is currently within 300km range).

Well the container has to be on top of the pile, and have room to unfold.

Das Bruce wrote:Well the container has to be on top of the pile, and have room to unfold.

one of the first things that came to my mind when I read an article about it was: what if the container is loaded upside down and they order it to fire?

SwiftSpear wrote:Making weapons is awesome. We can't get all uppity if Russians are making weapons when Americans are making weapons all the time.

There is a difference though, and that is the fact that America is less likely to sell those weapons to your local 3rd world dictatorship.

But from Russian POV, US is way more likely to sell some weapons to say Georgia (remember what happened there at 08.08.08). So the difference is actually not that great, depends on who you consider "local 3rd world dictatorships".

Forboding Angel wrote:

SwiftSpear wrote:Making weapons is awesome. We can't get all uppity if Russians are making weapons when Americans are making weapons all the time.

There is a difference though, and that is the fact that America is less likely to sell those weapons to your local 3rd world dictatorship.

So? We have the guys we don't want to get weapons, and they have their own guys. If we're going to sell to their guys, then we can shut up our hypocritical faces.

Brain Damage wrote:

Das Bruce wrote:Well the container has to be on top of the pile, and have room to unfold.

one of the first things that came to my mind when I read an article about it was: what if the container is loaded upside down and they order it to fire?

Can shipping containers actually be loaded upside down? I'd imagine most contain goods that wouldn't take kindly to being thrown around inside that metal box. A bigger constraint would be the clearance to the rear of the container, I don't know how much space ships usually leave behind containers but I don't think it's this much. Also containers are often stackable but I guess some can be flagged as non-stackable.

For the truck-launched missiles it's pretty clear that the truck will have to stop to fire them since they extend a footing from the bottom of the fold-out so the driver must be in on it.

KDR_11k wrote: Also containers are often stackable but I guess some can be flagged as non-stackable.

What other reason would there be to have the container on top?

KDR_11k wrote:

Brain Damage wrote:

Das Bruce wrote:Well the container has to be on top of the pile, and have room to unfold.

one of the first things that came to my mind when I read an article about it was: what if the container is loaded upside down and they order it to fire?

Can shipping containers actually be loaded upside down? I'd imagine most contain goods that wouldn't take kindly to being thrown around inside that metal box. A bigger constraint would be the clearance to the rear of the container, I don't know how much space ships usually leave behind containers but I don't think it's this much. Also containers are often stackable but I guess some can be flagged as non-stackable.

For the truck-launched missiles it's pretty clear that the truck will have to stop to fire them since they extend a footing from the bottom of the fold-out so the driver must be in on it.

Presumably you remember which container is the weapon and give it enough space.

There are already standard ways to flag a container "must be on top of the stack" and "this side up" that are understood and followed by any reputable shipping company worldwide. The rear clearance is the trick - I'm not sure that's part of the standard set of instructions.

Shipping a container isn't like dropping a package in the mail, though. You have a lot of control over how it gets treated.

Obviously only relevant if you are going for a "sleeper" container missile aboard a naive commercial vessel, which is not the intended use, I don't think.