The problem with highway robbery is that you have very limited means of getting whatever you stole transported somewhere else.
This isn't the 18th century, anymore. A semi carrying stolen cargo can't just bushwack its way away with the loot.
This isn't the 18th century, anymore. A semi carrying stolen cargo can't just bushwack its way away with the loot.
Air superiority is still assumed.
"The flasks are very robust - they weigh around 50 tons and have walls 35cm thick. 16 bolts, each able to take a load of 150 tons without breaking, secure the lid. The flasks are forged out of two block of steel."
I'm not sure the kinetic and explosive energy of a manpad, but they have done tests with three locomotive engines smashing into a flask at 100mph, and the flask remaining intact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzugX2NMnk
Edit: having wrote all this, I realize you may have meant that the defense crew have manpads...
That being said, I think the above is good knowledge.
Also, by this point, the conspiracy is so vast, you're not going to keep it under wraps.