Technology

Aren't they already doing that due to their hysteria over "ghost" guns?

They can try, but the parts that make up a printer are used in tons of other applications. It isn't hard to build one from scratch.

And just like age verification it's useless because one can build a 3d printer out of an old VCR and a hot glue gun.

They're already trying that in New York and California, unfortunately. "Any 3D printer capable of printing parts for firearms" was the verbage, from what I recall.

They already are over 3d guns, this will send them ballistic. They want every printer to keep a record of everything they've printed. Model legislation, I think CA tried and so far failed to pass it.

It's not a MANPAD really.

The sensor package has no IR sensor (or radar unit) and no way to proximity fuse.

It has GPS, accelerometer and barometric pressure. It's more like a rocket powered artillery shell than an anti-air weapon.

Or, given the lack of payload, it's more like a high speed burrito delivery device.

I synthesize energetics. I can make a primary explosive that is stable enough for cap usage with a solo cup. I can synthesize secondaries like RDX above (one of the more complicated common ones) in short order with a basic chemistry set and the internet to order basic reagents. None are controlled substances.

It is trivially easy to make effective shapes charges and energetics at home.

Synthesis is federally legal in the US so long as you do not assemble into a device or transport. You can do both with an SOT as an FFL.

If I wanted to, I could make a shaped charge that was point imitated and base detonated for the above projectile and it would punch through about 1.5 feet of homogeneously rolled steel.

The limit to threat is not the access to explosives, as the chemistry and processes are published freely online as easy to replicate. The drone parts and control surface actuation is by far harder and I say this as someone who has a professional background in computer science and software engineering.

Plastic explosive triggered by electrodetonator is quite safe.

Home offence is the best defense.

Clearly it’s just a big-ass gun that shoots 5000 caliber rounds. So it’s protected by the 2nd Amendment.

There's an anecdote that comes up in software about people working on missile software not caring about memory leaks because it's going to explode anyway before that becomes an issue.

Who cares about bugs in your software if it's a hobby project that's going to blow up anyway.

Also, including Claude doesn't inherently mean vibe coded, it can be for writing tests, small components, or debugging.

Well, it is supposed to go boom

I don't know, rockets are pretty phallic.

That's one way to reduce billionaire CO2 emissions

Velocity and range are also my main questions, as well as tracking quality and speed. The video doesn’t demonstrate it hitting a flying target.

Common MANPADS like Stinger, Strela, etc. use infrared tracking. The seekers are high performance and fast but need complex supercooling with gas. Using a MANPADS you only have seconds, to arm, aim and track, then fire the missile against a fast moving target before it‘s out of range. These can hit low flying supersonic jets.

Still this project is very impressive and hints at the possibility to build cheap low end MANPADS that can target slow moving strike and observation drones, maybe helicopters.

It’s another indicator, that mass produced cheap precision weapons are a major trend in warfare.