CAS Rules (Question for Event Hosts mainly)

[Steve]

I was wondering what event promoters would be looking for / looking at regarding employing close air support at events? Any particular rules? Kill radius for nerf footballs dropped from the sky? Ideas for environmentally friendly and player-safe "warheads"?

Sometime within the next year, I'll be starting work on a UCAV, and am trying to figure out what types of payloads would be useful / allowed so I can manage my design requirements ahead of time.

So far the plan is to build a GLID unit to designate targets and determine grid co-ordinates for air strikes, and build a multi-rotor drone to deliver the payloads. Set it up to launch and recover from the out of play staging area to protect it from players and protect players from it?

Not sure yet how to handle shooting it down, but maybe put together rocket launchers with IR emitters and an IR sensor on the bird wired into a weapons-hold status?

Basically, before I dump a couple of grand and a few hundred hours into design and manufacture, is this something even worth doing? Or should I find a different project?

[Jerm_G]

Who cares about airsoft! Just imagine conducting targeted strikes on neighbors mowing their lawns or the neighborhood cat that pees on everything! Even if your neigbors call the cops, no 911 operator is going to believe that some average Joe built his own UAV capable of dropping payloads. Extra props if it looks like a UFO.

Ok I'm kidding... kind of.

[Sir Stubby Eyre]

Can you have it working by January 7 for our Predator Virus Drone Game? LOL
It sounds like a great project.
Maybe drop smoke bombs, use a gyro copter to slow its decent or just a simple chute.
To "Shoot" it down maybe use a ground based laser to "paint" the target and on the UCAV use a photo sensor to register a hit. We are going to make a anti aircraft gun that shoots blanks, the laser sight could be mounted on it. At our field we have a 300 foot "airfield" that you could launch the plane, or we have other areas that are out of play areas that it could be launched from.

Let me know how the project progresses.

Stubby out

[Kendodude]

Some inspiration.

[Evil Zergling137]

The issues I see are this:

a) you'd need to hit someone with a BB for it to be a hit
b) we need a way to kill it

A thing in the sky flying around pelting people with bb's when we aren't allowed to fire back on it is a no go in my book.

As a prop it would be awesome.

[Henschel]

^^^^^ I concure with this. It sounds like a neat idea in concept, however the actual implementation probably wouldnt be so hot. I could only imagine how pissed youd be when someone shoots the crap out of your drone or it gets demolished in some sort unforseen accident. I also tend to get a little antsi when folks start shootin their home made lasers around....

[league 4]

At Junkyard Wars, there was a plane flying overhead dropping the nerf footballs that whistled onto the ground with a 15 foot kill radius. It worked well, no bb's or shooting back needed...

[Zack]

One of my soldiers ended up with permanent eye damage in Iraq because of some dickhead IA shotting his laser around. Obviously, I am very anti-laser.

I do feel, however, that this could be an amazing prop for games. We have thrown around the idea of using CAS, mostly revolving around radio use, and marking it to call CAS on objectives (so, not skirmish play). Having a player controlled drone dropping attacks onto the field sounds awesome, but has some serious issues to come into play, admin wise.

Do-able? Yes.

As for dropped object, well, something akin to the AI impact grenades, loaded with chalk powder, would be AMAZING!

[Steve]

My only concern with dropping smokes / training bangs / impact grenades is not wanting to club somebody like a baby harp seal from orbit. Maybe parachutes / streamers to slow them down or something.

I was thinking of using an ir receiver on the UCAV and a pulsed IR emitter as a launcher to "shoot it down", with a couple of launchers for the team without the UCAV, and a GLID gun to target the strikes. More reaper drone rather than apache gunship if that makes sense.

[Darius137]

I would add "Bee's nests" to the payload.

[VogonFord]

I would add "Bee's nests" to the payload.