It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => Military News/Veterans => Topic started by: trapeze on January 26, 2012, 08:27:39 AM
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LINK (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-auto-drone-20120126,0,740306.story)
The Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers.
What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all.
The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone's ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.
Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many.
What could possibly go wrong?
Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for the CIA and U.S. military in their campaign against terrorists in the Middle East. The Pentagon has gone from an inventory of a handful of drones before Sept. 11, 2001, to about 7,500 drones, about one-third of all military aircraft.
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SkyNet, Heh! Whoever controls these things wields the power, until AI comes along I won't fear too much, right now there is still a human setting up the mission profile. Same with spacebourne platforms. I like how people are looking to Geneva Protocols! I have your Geneva Protocols right heeeere!
::mooning::
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Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for the CIA...
I've never asked myself this before, but I'm asking it now: Why does the CIA even have military equipment? Drones? They should each be issued a pistol with a silencer, a secret decoder ring, a passport, and a pair of black sunglasses.
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Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for the CIA...
I've never asked myself this before, but I'm asking it now: Why does the CIA even have military equipment? Drones? They should each be issued a pistol with a silencer, a secret decoder ring, a passport, and a pair of black sunglasses.
::hysterical::
The "Wild Bill" Donovan days are over, Bill Casey was the last practioner of that ancient art, HumInt now days is largely outsourced and unreliable at best. Everybody wants real-time intel and execution!
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The U-2 and it's successors weren't military equipment either.
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Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for the CIA...
I've never asked myself this before, but I'm asking it now: Why does the CIA even have military equipment? Drones? They should each be issued a pistol with a silencer, a secret decoder ring, a passport, and a pair of black sunglasses.
The CIA has always had military equipment at its disposal . Its budget is hidden within the Pentagon budget . Unfortunately , due to fiat , caprice and confusing missions assigned to it , the agency has found itself performing missions it was never intended to engage in and left unable to adequately accomplish these missions due to a forced reliance on hiring contractors who sit on their asses in Langley and McLean and wind up making decisions better left to Station Chiefs and Case Officers who are on the ground . It seems that every successive administration wants something new or to change T.O.&E. to fit its particular agenda . At any rate , the professionals at the agency are getting tired of being jerked off and jerked around .
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Depoliticizing the intelligence community, getting rid of the political creatures and attendant parasites and a return to some old school common sense and long range strategic planning and reinvestment in HumInt is long overdue.