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back to article War-Droid: Smartphone app 'that could CALL IN drone strikes'

Engineering boffins in Missouri say they have come up with a new Android app which allows any modern smartphone - potentially - to call in a devastating precision airstrike by simply snapping a picture of the target to be struck. "On the battlefield, a soldier needs a rangefinder, compass, GPS and other tools to do …

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  1. Jaap stoel
    Coat

    So to summarize the product...

    Nice idea, bad execution, add a whiff of marketing and people will think they get a cool app. But in the real world(tm) it will never be able to do what it promises.

    Mine's the one with my money, in the pocket.

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  2. frank ly
    Happy

    "... the doctoral student leading wok ..."

    If you get Lester to make you a bacon sarnie, that might take your mind off food.

    (I know there's a corrections button but this is more fun.)

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  3. Timfy67
    Mushroom

    First co-ords sent...

    ...Cupertino?

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  4. MondoMan
    Meh

    spam spam spam, eggs and a typo

    "So for now Wang and his colleagues' app is a bit previous..."

    Would that be an as-yet undisclosed time-travel feature in the software?

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  5. El Presidente
    Windows

    That's Shome In App Purchase !

    Hellfire Missile or Laser Guided Bomb, Sir?

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    1. Crisp
      Reply Icon

      Re: That's Shome In App Purchase !

      Can I have a LGM-30 Minuteman MIRV please?

      I need somewhere nuked from orbit.

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      1. Great Bu
        Reply Icon

        Re: That's Shome In App Purchase !

        It's the only way to be sure.

        1 0
  6. joeW

    Stereoscopic Camera Phones

    Could phones like HTC's EVO 3D or LG's Optimus 3D be useful for this? Two cameras, known distance between them. Might not be great at longer ranges though I suppose, and if you're calling in an airstrike it's probably best to be at the longest range you can be.

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    1. Colin Millar
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: Stereoscopic Camera Phones

      Yeah sure they could - but you would have to be so close you could just send your GPS co-ordinate (and then run very fast)

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  7. Miek
    Linux

    Whilst I agree that the lack of a laser range finder is a bit of a show stopper, doesn't a smartphone camera (and web-cameras) have a IR filter built into the optics preventing "night vision" as such?

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  8. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    Ultimate app for the viligante?

    or for those with a "disproportionate response" sign in their front yard

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  9. Mephistro
    Coat

    Lots of room for errors

    "Oh, shit! Sarge, I think we installed the target app, instead of the control app!!"

    "Is that important?"

    "BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!"

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How about a smartphone app that helps you choreograph the movements of a bunch of suicide bomers for maximum devastating effect?

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  11. Graham Marsden
    Mushroom

    "use the same software to protect her family by clocking a speeder"

    And call in an air-strike if you forget to switch modes...!!

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sure the Yanks will compensate for the innacurate range.....

    .....by simply carpet-bombing everything within a square mile of the target co-ordinates.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm sure the Yanks will compensate for the innacurate range.....

      More like carpet bombing everything within a mile radius of the current phone location.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "using the known-size rangefinder option only"

    That would be no use to Father Dougal McGuire, mind you...

    Ahem.

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  14. Charlie 5
    FAIL

    Dougal, This is small, those are far away

    using the known size of an object to determine distance from the lens has some risks associated with it.

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    1. Thorne
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: Dougal, This is small, those are far away

      "using the known size of an object to determine distance from the lens has some risks associated with it."

      You keep missing when you try to bomb dwarves.

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  15. JeevesMkII
    Mushroom

    Needs a....

    Nerf Reaper drone to make this useful. Then you could call in office air strikes on your colleagues when they break the build or lock themselves out of their computer.

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  16. Knochen Brittle

    Testing, Testing

    A few snaps of Tony Blair and George W. Bush would be a worthy employment of ordnance. Nothing more becomes infamous war-criminals than being hoist on their own petard.

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  17. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Joke

    Smartphone upgrade list is now done

    I am expecting the next generation (Iphone 6 and Galaxy IV ?) to include night/thermal imaging, proper long-range optics, and laser range finders.

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