The Mystery of the Pickup-Truck-Launched Missiles

Perhaps like me, you have been wondering what's up with all the photos on Chinese military web forums of guys firing rockets from the back of their trucks. These, for example...

Well, Google solved this one in about 15 seconds. If, as is often the case, Wikipedia can be believed, we're looking at the increasingly common Chinese practice cloud-seeding—increasing the amount of rain over arid regions by firing silver iodide rockets into the sky where rain is desired. "There is even political strife caused by neighboring regions that accuse each other of 'stealing rain' using cloud seeding," reports Wikipedia.

Good enough for me, especially since we got to see some decent rocket pix.

Case closed.