US President Donald Trump says that the US military used a mysterious new weapons system dubbed the “Discombobulator” during the operation to capture then-Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro in Caracas earlier this month, Trump tells the New York Post.
“The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump says.
According to Trump, the weapon “made [Venezuela’s] equipment not work,” suggesting that the system was used to disrupt the Venezuelan air defense and radar systems, allowing US forces to carry out the raid with near-impunity.
“They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us,” Trump tells the US news outlet.
The US president’s comments came after being asked by the press about recent reports that the Biden administration purchased a pulsed energy weapon that is suspected to have been used in Caracas.
About helicopters
Bigger sorts of US helicopters (e.g. Chinook) have ultraviolet detectors and infrared lasers in jammer pods. Those help against small air defense missiles, especially old flavours without an imaging (focal plane) seeker. These jammer pods are impressive if you shoot one missile. They lock onto an ultraviolet flash (presumed launch point) and jam in that direction. Now introduce “know your enemy”. Introduce flares, fireworks, ultraviolet flashing LEDs and fire several missiles. The jammer pod is chasing false missiles and the real missile hits. Maduro boasted with the Venezuelan armed forces having 6000 “Igla” missiles. With a bit of knowing their enemy and doing counter-countermeasures, firing 20 of them in a short time would have ruined the operation - lots of helicopters down and soldiers dead.
I also note: jammer pods don’t prevent firing, they prevent hitting. In videos of the operation, we’d be seeing launches and misses, but aren’t seeing them. But hey, proximity fuzes can be jammed. Let’s check if the Igla has one. It has a contact, magnetic and delayed fuze. Of those, if contact fails, the magnetic fuze still works, and delayed fuzes would be causing “fireworks” in the sky. Having watched the videos, I can say that no such fireworks occurred.
Most likely, guys on ground weren’t issued their missiles. If some were, they weren’t briefed about how to shoot down an US helicopter (start with counter-countermeasures, then shoot for real). Or they were positioned in predictable places and bombed in advance. Or their missiles had been sabotaged. Or they partied hard during new year and were recovering, and the US had knowledge of that.
Venezuela also supposedly had Swedish RBS-70 laser beam riding MANPADS, but maybe those were past their “best before” date. But you can’t effectively jam a beam rider - it reads the beam with its back side. Ultimately, if antiaircraft missiles fail, you can shoot down a helicopter with antitank missiles. Ukrainians have used their beam riding antitank missiles to shoot down Russian helicopters. Against a helicopter which has laser warning sensors, again, tactics would matter. You point the missile on the wrong course first. It would miss. You let it approach the target. Then you “pull” the missile onto the target, giving the target minimum time to react.
At close range, you can bring down a helicopter with an inertially guided (“predicted line of sight”) antitank missile, or even an RPG. And of course, with a bad old air defense gun, which leaves the telltale sign of tracers in the sky. In the sky above Caracas, strings of tracers weren’t flying and air defense projectors weren’t beaming any light. These tools don’t fall silent at the press of any button. If they are silent, it indicates organizational problems.
Conclusion: Venezuelan air defense was not ready for combat. US intelligence agencies likely knew about its poor readiness and designed the operation to take maximum advantage of it.
About jamming
Yes, jamming was likely used, and used well. It likely disabled stationary air defense. I note that some air defense vehicles were hit in the same positions where they were noted months ago. “Sitting duck” is not a tactic which you use against an overwhelmingly equipped opponent who has satellites. You must have a schedule of satellite overflights, warning of drone overflights, and you must set up your system in a new place several times per day.
About intel
Apparently, Venezuela had no lookouts posted near US air bases. That’s not how you do it. During the wars in Yugoslavia, Serbian intelligence services had lookouts near US bases in Italy, and it helped them a lot.
About novel weapons
From what I have heard, I might suspect that maybe special forces used some sonic weapons (or maybe the reports are wrong and they simply used thermobaric weapons) to assist themselves against the bodyguards. Lesson: if you are a bodyguard expecting US special forces, dress like a cosmonaut - a proper helmet with noise mitigation and cancellation is advised.
Regarding Trump and silly words
Someone should inform his supporters of having successfully used Gaynator 2000 on the president, demading proof of the opposite, and see if comedy ensues. :)
They could not reach the buttons.
TTT
He rapes kids too
“It’s top secret. Let me tell you everything I remember from when somebody told me about it.”
I mean that’s probably not much
Wait
That just sounds like an electronic warfare device
It had effects on the people too.
If it had the effects on electronics he claims it did, then yeah, no doubt it did. Probably damaged nerves if I wagered a guess
GAU-8 discombobulates people
I’m guessing there were two devices. A EW device for the radar system and the thing with the bleeding eyes was something similar to LRAD.
Or the radars were sabotage the good old fashioned way.
They already ruined ‘doge’, we can’t let them ruin the ‘discombobulate’ meme too
It’s a lot worse. Guards fell down bleeding from their eyes and noses following deployment of this very powerful weapon. It took everyone out immediately.
But are there any medical reports or witness testimonies? Perhaps a sound recording by someone in proximity?
Microwaves cause burns, but bleeding from the nose seems very unlikely. Sonic weapons can cause bleeding, but not sure about eyes. Explosions cause both.
But eventually, what would happen is: a wounded solider ends up in hospital, and journalists interview him - there should be such an interview somewhere.
Edit: couldn’t find an original source, but found something:
“At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it,” the witness said. “It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.”
The effects were immediate and horrific.
“We all started bleeding from the nose,” he said. “Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was.”
If the report is authentic, the soldier who witnessed its use did his math right. Sonic weapon of unspecified type. US troops having to launch it suggests it had close-range effect.
I don’t believe he said that. I don’t believe he could pronounce that.
That’s also the first thing that came to mind. That many syllables cannot fit in his six neurons.
I heard from another source they used graphite bombs “A graphite bomb, often called a “blackout bomb” or “soft bomb,” is a non-lethal, conventional weapon designed to disable electrical power grids without destroying the infrastructure or causing high casualties. It works by releasing a dense cloud of fine, chemically treated carbon filaments over electrical installations like transformers and power lines.”
A secret disco-weapon that stops everyone getting their rockets off but me? I wish I had had such a miracle weapon 25 years ago.
Too much coke?
Right. I should have written “getting their rockets up” for clearness.
My bet:
Its the crowd control microwave weapon they were developing under Dubya and Obama.
The Havana syndrome machine
My guess:
The kidnapping was arranged with some insiders in Venezuela. Why else would the US accept the vice president backed by the same powers that backed the president?
Trump wasn’t told this, instead they made up something stupid to explain why it worked so smoothly. Trump is incredible uninformed, remember when a reporter showed him the video of the first ice killing and he hadn’t seen it before despite arguing about it?Could also be a sonic weapon (LRAD). Effects of messing up equilibrium last longer than the (usual) microwave weapon
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Of course the real key to the operation was a single crafty platypus.
Discombobulator covfefe! Kirgoodoo bambarbia!
