Um, isn't this how Skynet got started? ;)
Posted on 06/02/2008 4:20:29 AM PDT by LibWhacker
This is getting into that murky dangerous area that Sci-Fi has written about for years.
Um, isn't this how Skynet got started? ;)
OK, so where do I get one?
Ha! And to think they’re scared of drones now!
Oh man, the Israelis are gonna love this thing.
Blooie!!!!!
Waiting for the civilian version - UAV DeerHunter!
None of these drones are autonomous, they have a “human in the loop” to fire.
If this one worries you, read about the Reaper. ;-)
That’s a medium sized drone that carries several Hellfire missiles and 500 lb. bombs.
I just want my flying car.
But I fear the day that it is used in America, by a government gone totalitarian.
What a tool for "enforcing curfews" for example.
Or eliminating "enemies of the state" or breaking up "unauthorized gatherings."
Not yet, anyway.
:-)
Weapons first. More money in it.
Only a matter of time, ATF/FBI first, it will be for the Agents "safety."
I wonder how the distant controllers get around latency issues...even with 5 or 10 millisecond delays, moving targets must be fairly difficult to destroy!
Border patrol, maritime intercept, large area perimeter security in hostile enviros...this group also makes the ‘Smart’ 50cal round.
This technology will be used against citizens long before it is used against illegal border crossers.
1500m slant range at 500m altitude and they claim a 95% first-shot kill rate? I HIGHLY doubt it. The factors that are involved in winds calculations are beyond current sensor system technologies, not to mention the vast majority of rifles barrels cannot shoot to 1500m accurately enough to hit a human with 95% accuracy. The usual winds at 1500AGL will push a UAV around enough to make that a near impossible shot.
Yeah well this is the real thing the government needs to fear...many engineers and inventors in this nation have a whole host of darker projects of their own in their garages and work shops..or ideas that could quickly see the light of day.
Home PC computing power with multiple processing array cpu’s are also freely available and are unprecedented in power and speed.
A totalitarian government might try to take over in this country, but they will have a hard time controlling what they have. The sheer amounts of guns, weapons, and just plain electronics gadgets that can be adapted to serve an insurrection makes anything other than than a republic form of government impossible ultimately to implement.
Even power and energy on smaller scales oddly enough can be produced in useable forms off the grid...many useful gadgets can operate off solar or even hand cranked dynamos...or be adapted to do so as their energy needs are in the milliwatt and milliamp range. Methane gas can be produced in specialized composting tanks and then pressurzed.
In short, it would not be a replay of the 1860’s should a civil war against a tyrranical central government recur again. Unfortunately, I do see the US being balkanized into several smaller states some day!
I suspect the targeting is done within the drone itself, and that the remote operator designates the target and gives the go/no go, but the machine is actually aiming the weapon and triggering the firing mechanism.
“But I fear the day that it is used in America, by a government gone totalitarian.”
The only bright side to this is that we’re likely to see that ‘animated contest’ begin - especially with an Obama presidency - before they really get this weapons system on-line.
Now is the time to turn ammunition into skill. Buying it cheap and stacking it deep won’t help you if you can’t use it.
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