Posted on 05/24/2007 8:38:09 AM PDT by Fractal Trader
The march of the killer droids continues, with news that a US robot helicopter gunship has passed a significant milestone - engine testing.
This success means the robot can head for production - once avionics and sensors arrive. The cyber-copter in question is the RQ/MQ-8 vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned air vehicle (VTUAV) commonly known as "Fire Scout".
Fire Scout MQ-8B UAV makes its first flight in St Inigoes, Maryland.
The Fire Scout is a heavily modified small commercial 3/4-seat chopper, the Schweizer 333. The cockpit for outmoded flesh pilots has been removed and replaced by robo control and sensor systems, and an extra rotor blade added in order to achieve more lift. As it now stands, the Fire Scout can stay up for eight hours with just sensors and a targeting laser, or five hours with a load of weaponry in addition.
The robo-gunship can pack a fairly impressive arsenal for a small aircraft, including 70mm Hydra rocket pods or Hellfire laser-guided missiles. It truly is a flying robot, not a remote-controlled aircraft; Fire Scouts have made autonomous trial landings aboard US warships underway at sea, without any pilot guidance.
In early 2002 it appeared that Fire Scout might be axed, but within a year it was back on the Pentagon shopping list. This might have had something to do with the fact that a Predator fixed-wing killbot scored a big war-on-terror goal over Yemen in November 2002, blasting al-Qaeda bigwig Qa'ed Sunyan al-Harethi's Toyota to smithereens with a Hellfire missile.
[SNIP]
Fire Scout is now proceeding apace, and reports suggest that the US Navy may deploy up to 200 of the drone whirlybirds beginning as early as 2008. The Navy armed variant - an MQ killbot as opposed to a mere RQ spybot - first flew...
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
One more step towards robo warrior.
And then they sent the Terminators out to get us.
Aw man, it’s not a Transformer.
I saw one of those in The Offworld Colonies. It was off the Shoulder Of Orion.
Something that’s always bugged me about those things: why the heck did they need searchlights (other than hollywood dramatism, that is).
"On August 29, 1997, Skynet became self aware."
Okay, so reality is 20 years behind the movie timeline, but letting robot gunships autonomously function is simply idiotic.
"The better to see you with, my dear!", answered the mean old wolfbot.
Yeah, except the Terminator (and therefore presumably all the other hunter-killers) had night-vision already.
I don’t know why we bother with this stuff. There’s a far more effective and elegant solution, one that will not only be far more devastating and cheaper, but which will also solve lots of domestic problems (and when’s the last time that a weapons system could claim that?)...
round up every motorcycle gang, tell them that they are hereby pardoned for all crimes they may have committed, and that they can keep whatever they can carry. Then airdrop all of them from cargo planes over your enemy’s capital city, armed with whatever weapons they want. End of problem.
Seriously, we should look at ways to REALLY screw up our enemies homefronts while simultaneously helping our own. This would do fine.
Heh heh. Life imitates Half-Life.
"On August 29, 1997, Skynet became self aware."
Okay, so reality is 20 years behind the movie timeline, but letting robot gunships autonomously function is simply idiotic.
SHHHH didn't you see T3- they're all over the net; they have probaly tagged you already....
Another several billion dollars down the rat-hole. If our leaders don’t have the guts to actually kill our enemies, no sooper-dooper high-tech weapons are going to matter.
How effective is a super-weapon if it just sits around gathering dust while your soldiers come home in bodybags? What is it now 10 per week or so?
I share your frustrations.
The ultimate would be a robo version of Comanche.
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