Why bring flamethrowers?

@Dave_b "Exactly TexasDeathTip (is that a name for your genitalia?)!" Holy Crap I forgot to change that back . . . That was a drunken typo. . .

It's simples, decomtamination of the vehicles when they come back to the ship from excursions.

This movie has rubber flying killer cobras in it and you have a problem with flamethrowers seeming a bit unrealistic?

Just make sure you wrap that rascal Tex:O)

well, if you can think of a slower, more painful way to kill something, you let me know.

[i][b]"It's simples, decomtamination of the vehicles when they come back to the ship from excursions."[/b][/i] Why can't they decontaminate in a scaled up method similar method to how they do the people? Also it's unlikely a flamethrower would reach every nook and cranny of a vehicle (underneath, behind wheels, etc.)

A flamethrower on a spaceship is probably better than a gun which could pierce the hull and cause decompression. A flamethrower on the other hand will just burn up all that precious oxygen causing you to suffocate. But at least that multi million pound ship will still be intact.

It's a "portable Decontamination Pack, not a flamethrower. Check the Weyland website - corporate timeline, in 2059 it's introduced: "Weyland introduces unique expedition security apparatus able to decontaminate indoor and outdoor environments. Apparatus mines surrounding air for flammable compounds, making it ultra light-weight as well as self-replenishing."

Thank Ridley there is at least an attempt to justify the flamethrower etc...

Fire needs oxygen. Explore team wears helmets/ suite via atleast first trip. Making atmosphere seems unfriendly. Oxygen? A gaseous atmosphere say meth gas could be explosive, but maybe not without oxygen. So would equipment even work if no oxygen. Seems kind off. I wouldn't think they would over look a basic

I was thining about the thread How Many Expeditions to DOME. Being that this adventure is not rescue, but science explore, do you bring your 9mm to a house warming visit? I would think the first vist would be only minor warfare equipment. They are not there to start a war but to investigate. Once the bad stuff starts the follow up missions would be armed heavily

@ TexasDeathTrip "Okay well banned from usE 'voluntarily' by US Miltary . As in not used as a 'weapon' during military action." NOOOO! I did not know this! :( You should read the references I posted and what the others posted before typing nonsense. Of course the Us military banned it from action in their own departments of war, all the references posted here show it, but internationally well, quid pro co! "Point being that they aren't used as weapons by Combat Teams due to there being more effective, less cumbersome weapons available. There presence on the ship would make sense if they had an original use other than to be a weapon. " Well... "Like if you wanted to wipe out a bio organism or most living things even most bacteria then fire does the trick most of the times. Weyland lists it use as a decontamination device." -Bigdave

Also as quoted from dead space "Sometimes, the best ore is found within comets, but it's trapped within layers of ice. The industrial PFM-100 Hydrazine Torch Flamethrower uses liquid hydrazine to produce an intense flame, between 500 and 4000 degrees Celsius, which is projected on a surface, immolating the target and breaking it apart. " If the flamethrowers of Prometheus don't oxygen to create fire then it's a great device to cut through the ice hull of a comet.