I dun think the element of surprise is that important in some
circumstances. After all, i dun really care if they die surprised
or not and i do not really want to go in SWAT style. These are
soldiers, not policemen. I see them, they arm themselves and go
"Allahu Akhba", i bombard the building with m203s and frags, and
ask for arty/tank support
Further, i think the enemy will take more than 5 seconds to react
to the ball.
Eg. Soldiers think that enemies are present in a 2 room house. They
approach, they mirror the entrance. Room empty, but there is a
doorway at the end of the room. Now they shouldn't just enter that
room because enemies might be beyond the doorway with a grenade
ready. That is where i think the ball-camera comes in. You throw it
into the corridor, enemy will very likely think its a grenade, so
their first reaction will likely be to take cover. Enemy will then
have to recognize that the ball is no grenade, afterwhich they will
have to either move into another room, or destroy the ball. All
these will take, imo about 10 seconds. That is more than enough
time to provide good intelligence. Even if the enemies moves into
another room, what you now have is a cleared corridor/room. That
kinda narrows down the location of the enemies. Better yet they may
be flushed outta the room to be cut down by the soldiers providing
security.
I know i would want this equipment if i have to hunt for insurgents
in iraq.
In response to what happens when the ball is destryoed, i would
have thought the the camera is generic. IE the camera can be set to
any freq and thus you can program which ball you want to receive
signals form. They should therefore be carrying plenty of
ball-cameras.
