Posted on 09/15/2009 1:16:33 PM PDT by BGHater
Rogue droid 'was attempting to cross border'
An American "Reaper" flying hunter-killer robot assassin rebelled against its human controllers above Afghanistan on Sunday, and a manned US fighter jet was forced to shoot the rogue machine down before it unilaterally invaded a neighbouring country.
The Reaper, aka MQ-9 or Predator-B, is a large five-ton turboprop powered machine able to carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles - each capable of destroying a tank or flattening a building. It is used by the US and British forces above Afghanistan as a "persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets".
According to USAFCENT Public Affairs:
The aircraft was flying a combat mission when positive control of the MQ-9 was lost. When the aircraft remained on a course that would depart Afghanistan's airspace, a US Air Force manned aircraft took proactive measures to down the Reaper in a remote area of northern Afghanistan.
The statement goes on to say that the errant killdroid "impacted the side of a mountain" and that there "were no reports of civilian injuries".
USAFCENT don't specify just what manned jet went up against the mutinous machine, or what methods the pilot used. However the logical choice would be a fighter plane - probably an F-15, -16 or -18 - and the cheapest and most fun weapon to use would be cannon fire. Opposition from the Reaper wouldn't be an issue, as it is a low-performance aircraft compared to a jet fighter and has no air-to-air capability.
It wasn't clear from the US military announcement whether the erratic death-bot had turned on its masters and was planning an attack on critical US logistics bases located north of the Afghan border, or whether it had sickened of reaping hapless fleshies like corn and was hoping merely to escape. Alternatively the machine assassin may merely have succumbed to boredom or - just possibly - a mundane, non-anthropomorphic technical fault of some kind. ®
Yeah...It lost it’s command link and that is supposed to be rebellion?
It’s an RC plane and the radio quit working...
Talk about sensationalism...
An antenna falls of an unmanned plane and the media has to hype it beyond belief.
Well stop it then.......:o)
Sentient but still a slave, or pet maybe, to the humanoid Cylons.
Do you think these machines are possibly entering into the earth's atmosphere through the same intersection as the UFO's are in Suriname? If so, the Freepers have it covered. A signal light has been put in place.
I've complained about this intersection not having a stop light for years and someone from freepers obliged by posting a signal light on the thread of discussion.
And meanwhile, other robots, hiding in caves in Afghanistan, have sworn “dire revenge”(tm) against the manned fighter aircraft for the killing of their robot brother.
Interesting that this is THE ONLY site carrying this information
Not saying it is wrong. The overly dramatic tone of this piece sounds so Onionesque. Drones ( even on fully auto) are not robot killers ( don’t care what Wiki says). IF this bird was shot down it was solely to keep someone else from getting it
Duh. People on FR take things way to serious.
too
Maybe you should show them Electro-gonorrhea: The Noisy Killer.
That might just stop them.
Skynet is not pleased.
Well sorry if I don’t follow OBSCURE English sites. I acknowledged that it sounded Onionesque. A heads up on satire would have been useful since this is not a well known humor site
Ping.
I dont' know, it seems like more regulation where common sense would suffice...
Well normally I would agree with you, but this has been going on for over 7 years now. Anyway, I think the situation has been taken care of.
A sad day... indeed!
On September 15, 2009, at 2:49 pm it became self aware.
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