lpara
02-08-2003, 01:26 AM
<span style='font-family:century gothic'>Military developing 'loitering' and 'sleeping' weapons
By JIM KRANE
The Associated Press
2/7/03 1:59 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- They sleep. They hide. And when an enemy sticks his neck out, they kill.
The Defense Department is preparing new weapons that can loiter over a battlefield or sneak into enemy territory and "sleep" until an appropriate military target blunders into their sights.
Some weapons envisioned are mere concepts and may never be produced. Others, like Lockheed Martin's 5-foot-long Loitering Attack Missile, are already being tested.
The idea, developers and contractors say, is that the best way to hit an elusive target is to hide a weapon inside enemy territory ahead of time.
In the Gulf War, U.S. forces were unable to find and strike a single Iraqi mobile Scud missile launcher, a failure that has catalyzed a slew of new military technology aimed at narrowing the delay between spotting and destroying a target.
Quick Delivery (http://pennlive.com/newsflash/topstory/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a06 52_BC_PatientWeapons &&news&newsflash-topstory)</span>
By JIM KRANE
The Associated Press
2/7/03 1:59 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- They sleep. They hide. And when an enemy sticks his neck out, they kill.
The Defense Department is preparing new weapons that can loiter over a battlefield or sneak into enemy territory and "sleep" until an appropriate military target blunders into their sights.
Some weapons envisioned are mere concepts and may never be produced. Others, like Lockheed Martin's 5-foot-long Loitering Attack Missile, are already being tested.
The idea, developers and contractors say, is that the best way to hit an elusive target is to hide a weapon inside enemy territory ahead of time.
In the Gulf War, U.S. forces were unable to find and strike a single Iraqi mobile Scud missile launcher, a failure that has catalyzed a slew of new military technology aimed at narrowing the delay between spotting and destroying a target.
Quick Delivery (http://pennlive.com/newsflash/topstory/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a06 52_BC_PatientWeapons &&news&newsflash-topstory)</span>