odd statement[]
It is a completely autonomous vehicle that can function without the rear module attached
Autonomous vehicle means a robot without a pilot. What this is trying to say is that it can function without the rear module. I'm sure someone else can fix this better than I could. (I think both forms should be considered as the shagohod not shogohod+rear module) --Drawde83 20:24, December 9, 2009 (UTC)
- Quoting dictionary.com here: "having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent: a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit." In this case, the front vehicle is autonomous in that it can function as a unit independent of the whole. Evil Tim 18:04, October 13, 2010 (UTC)
Some notes on how this would really work[]
This isn't really for the article, just if anyone is curious on whether Shagohod is a practical weapon system. I'm fairly sure Sokolov was exaggerating how much of a threat it was, either to make sure Big Boss took it out or just from misplaced pride.
Firstly, fundamentally the Shagohod would be detectable by satellites. Kojima's script ignores that all weapon systems have a logistical footprint, and the more high-tech, the bigger it is. A Shagohod would need specialised vehicles to fuel, maintain, tow and transport it, storage facilities for dangerous hypergolic rocket fuels, stockpiles of spare parts, workshops, support crew housing, communications to pass it targeting information, and so on. Plus you need a three-mile runway pointing roughly towards your target, and since it's pulling itself with augers you'd probably need either a special surface or to re-surface it every time you ran one of them.
In addition military vehicles can't run 24/7; usually a significant percent of vehicles won't be available for operation at any given time because they're undergoing routine maintenance or being repaired. With something as complex and cutting-edge as the Shagohod having 25% of vehicles operational would be pretty impressive, which would mean you'd need multiple vehicles to be sure you could launch at any given time. A Shagohod battery would probably consist of five vehicles to ensure you had one ready-to-go when a launch order came. Needless to say, this would require an entire purpose-built complex that any idiot could find.
Crew training's also an issue; with a missile you can run through a launch drill without actually launching, but a drill run with a Shagohod would look exactly like a real launch to anyone observing. A satellite would be able to spot the rocket exhaust, and you'd have no way of knowing if it was going to launch a warhead on this run or not unless the entire launch tube had been removed.
You also have the problem that the US and Soviet Union had systems exactly like this already, respectively Polaris and SS-N-5, which had been around since 1960 and 1963. Ballistic missile submarines don't need runways, can hide in about 70% of the Earth's surface and are much harder to detect. They fit into a role of nuclear deterrence called assured second strike, the principle that even if the enemy manages a first strike they won't be able to prevent a large-scale nuclear retaliation. Shagohod would only be dangerous if nobody knew what they were looking for, and would really only be good for one launch, ever, before it was relegated to the second strike role.
As for giving it to other states, I doubt they'd be too happy being equipped with an insanely complex and demanding piece of hardware they have no real ability to maintain. Evil Tim (talk) 07:28, February 28, 2013 (UTC)