> On 3 Jun 2016, at 04:21, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 10:47 PM, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@pharmacy.arizona.edu> wrote:
> I expect that TL-12 ortillery will have similar control. It isn’t all Mach 5 tungsten telephone poles…
>
> It doesn't have to be telephone-pole size. At least not in SF. I recall a novel from the 80s which used crowbar-sized rods as anti-tank weapons.
>
> But after googling the concept, it appears that the elapsed time from the command to fire to actual impact totals several minutes, so effective anti-vehicle use is unlikely (unless the vehicle were nice enough to stop and remain still for you).

If you’re talking about Niven & Pournelle’s novel “Footfall”, then as I recall, the “Project Thor” that the character (a Mary-Sue for either Niven or Pournelle) describes it as a bar with steering vanes and a camera, and a brain smart enough to decide something is a tank or not, so it doesn’t need to be target designated - you can drop them and tell them to “kill all tanks in this area”.

Regards, Andy
--
Andrew Long
Andrew dot Long at Mac dot com