[Xastir] feature request

[Scott Miller]

> Why only mortar fire?  The real issue is to communicate the
> request-for-fire message, with a proper ACK, and transmit the requested
> target coordinates via APRS message.  Once that has been transmitted,
> the AFECC (APRS Fires & Effects Coordination Cell) will utilize embedded
> databases to match the most effective platform with the transmitted

Heh... I actually started working on an idea for something like this.  We've
got a pretty active paintball group around here, and I've already gone into
combat with a helmet-mounted camera and ATV transmitter, so a GPS and
tracker (probably on FRS) isn't much of a stretch.  A friend and I were
developing a paintball mortar (commercial models exist for $1000+), but were
persuaded by our significant others to abandon the effort after a failure
during back-yard testing resulted in a broken window and a fair amount of
ABS shrapnel on the roof.  (My partner in this effort was a safety engineer,
too.)

Of course, fancy targeting systems aside, the big problem with paintball
mortars is being able to lob a non-lethal shell a useful distance with some
degree of accuracy, without it bursting on launch.

We're thinking that the answer may lie in a paintball trebuchet.  Which also
has the advantage of not being under a spouse-imposed development ban.  Yet.

Scott
N1VG