Worlds most stupid weapon...

Swiss Army Knife. It seems that as a country, the Swiss are so war-politically neutral, they don't even have to equip their army with guns!! Imagine an army in todays world that only arms it's soldiers with knives, it's incredible!! I saw this on television and it just amazed me.

E

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
But if not for nuclear weapons, the above scenario would not exist. I know, you'll say that the nuclear weapon was necessary to secure victory in World War II. I don't dispute that for a moment, in fact, I agree with it. But just to be pragmatic here and answer planeman's question, the nuclear weapon has the least PRACTICAL use in a military situation. Of course you certainly have a point, but we're talking practical military use.

First the scenario of a conventional war existed before the A-bomb was even tested. George Patton proposed that the Americans and British offer Germany favorable surrender terms so that the Germans could join them against the Soviets.

Like the nuclear bazooka had a practical military use.

I once saw a program on the history channel showing the world's largest cannon/gun. I believe they said it was built and used in Russia. The problem was that they made it so big, and the barrel so thin, that everytime they fired it, they would have to use larger ammunition the next time, because the inside of the barrel would thin out.

Originally posted by Eddie Peoples
Swiss Army Knife. It seems that as a country, the Swiss are so war-politically neutral, they don't even have to equip their army with guns!! Imagine an army in todays world that only arms it's soldiers with knives, it's incredible!! I saw this on television and it just amazed me.

E

Are you serious?!?

The Swiss Army Knife is a tool not a weapon. The regular Infantry carries the SIG 550 rifle, which might be one of the most formidable assault rifles on the planet.

And BTW: The Swiss are far from being negligient of their troops. First, the Swiss have a quite large army compared to their overall population (~200.000 active troops compared to 7.5 million citizens). Second, they have an elaborate reservist/militia system which enables them to reactivate hundred thousands of troops within weeks. In differenciation to some other nations THEIR force is however exclusively meant to protect the homeland, and not to enforce the foreign policy of the government.

Originally posted by DJMessiahI once saw a program on the history hannel showing the world's largest cannon/
gun. I believe they said it was built and used in Russia. The problem was that they made it so big, and the barrel so thin, that everytime they fired it, they would have to use larger ammunition the next time, because the inside of the barrel would thin out.

The Tsar Cannon by far isnt the largest cannon to exist - though it was for several centuries after it´s conception in the 16th century.

The largest guns ever used with a WIDE margin were the german WW2 guns Gustav and Dora, with a shell wight of 8 tons (PLUS the explosive charge) and the incredible overall weight of over 1300 tons.

A possible candidate for the stupidest weapon ever deployed is the Russian 'Dog-Mine' of WW2.

The best way to kill a tank was found to be with explosives from directly under the belly, the only problem was getting them there. To this end the Russians trained a large number of dogs by placing food underneath T-34 tanks every time they were fed so that they associated the underside of a tank with food. With the dogs kept sufficiently hungry they were then released onto the battlefield with explosives strapped to their backs.

The massive flaw in this plan was that the dogs only associated Russian tanks, with their familiar smells and sounds, with food and it was one of the biggest own goals of the war. Oops



[edit on 8-8-2006 by waynos]

Originally posted by JIMC5499
But just to be pragmatic here and answer planeman's question, the nuclear weapon has the least PRACTICAL use in a military situation. Of course you certainly have a point, but we're talking practical military use.

I think you're missing the point here.

When your enemy has nuclear weapons and you do not, they have a huge practical advantage.

Also, if the Germans had nuclear weapons in 1944, do you think they would have had no practical use for them.

A high altitude multi megaton burst will fry electronics with little or no collateral damage.

Some types of X-Ray lasers use a fission detonation to work, these were developed as effective orbital weapons as part of the SDI work in the 80s, capable of knocking out satellites as well as ICBMs in the boost phase.

All these things sound very practical to me, highly undesirable, but practical.


[edit: fixed quote tags]

[edit on 8/8/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

Originally posted by Eddie Peoples
Swiss Army Knife. It seems that as a country, the Swiss are so war-politically neutral, they don't even have to equip their army with guns!! Imagine an army in todays world that only arms it's soldiers with knives, it's incredible!! I saw this on television and it just amazed me.

As usual, don't believe everything you see on TV.

Originally posted by Eddie Peoples
Swiss Army Knife. It seems that as a country, the Swiss are so war-politically neutral, they don't even have to equip their army with guns!! Imagine an army in todays world that only arms it's soldiers with knives, it's incredible!! I saw this on television and it just amazed me.

E

Complete BS the Swiss army is very well armed, in fact the Swiss army has long been a militia trained and structured to rapidly respond against foreign aggression. Swiss males grow up expecting to undergo basic military training and a mandatory period of service in the Rekrutenschule (the "recruits-school"), after which Swiss men still remain part of the militia either in a home guard or reserve capacity until age 42 (age 52 for officers). Each such individual keeps his army-issued personal weapon (the Sig 550 5.56 mm assault rifle for enlisted personnel, or the SIG-Sauer P220 9 mm semi-automatic pistol for officers, medical and postal personnel) at home with a specified quantity of government-issued ammunition.

In some 2001 statistics,it is noted that there are about 420,000 assault rifles stored at private homes, mostly SIG 550 types. Additionally, there are some 320,000 assault rifles and military pistols exempted from military service in private possession, all selective-fire weapons having been converted to semi-automatic operation only. In addition, there are several hundred thousand other semi-automatic small arms classified as carbines. The total number of firearms in private homes is estimated minimally at 1.2 million; more liberal estimates put the number at 3 million.Thus most home has a weapon, making Switzerland one of the highest gun owning countires in the world.

Swiss Army Weapon systems include

Small arms
SIG 550 assault rifle (known as Sturmgewehr 90 or F ass 90)
SIG P220 semi-automatic pistol
FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired anti-air missile

Armoured vehicles
Leopard 2 main battle tank
CV90 infantry fighting vehicle
M109 howitzer self-propelled armoured artillery
Mowag Piranha armoured troop transport


Aircraft
Mirage III
F-5 Tiger
F/A-18 C/D
Pilatus PC-6
Pilatus PC-7
Pilatus PC-9
Eurocopter Super Puma
Eurocopter Dauphin

Try doing a bit of genuine research before posting such BS with the statement I saw it on TV.



[edit on 9-8-2006 by Popeye]

. . . Russia's Doomsday Machine!

I saw it on Sworn to Secrecy. A bunch of Russian Sientist came up with a plan to build a nuclear bomb big enough to blow up the world. They were going to put it inside of a huge ship and hook the detonater up to a Giger Counter. The Idea was that if russia ever got nuked, the bomb would have detonated destroying the rest of the world.

Krushove personally banned to project before it left the drawing board!

If you can't beat your opponent, blow both up you up togeter. If everyone's dead, noone wins! MORONS!

Tim

How stupid does some one have to be to believe all the propoganda that they fill these peoples head with. If they were smart then they would ask their handlers " if this is such a great thing that I do for Allah, and he will be so pleased with me, Then why arent you doing the same thing?"

[edit on 9-8-2006 by ultralo1]

These are some long forgotten gems:

German MP44 with corner shot barrel extension:
collections.iwm.org.uk...

Henkel HE-111 Zwilling:

www.2iemeguerre.com...

This gem:



Toilet bomb celebrating 6 millionth pound of ordinance dropped on Vietnam:

midwaysailor.com...