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Kamikaze drones: A new weapon brings power and peril to the U.S. military
nbcnews ^ | 12/06/2021

Posted on 12/06/2021 3:40:36 PM PST by devane617

The killer drone whooshed out of its launch tube, spreading its carbon wings and shooting into the sky.

Flying too fast for the naked eye to track, the battery-powered robot circled the Utah desert, hunting for the target it had been programmed to strike. Moments later, the drone sailed through the driver’s side window of an empty pick-up truck and exploded in a fireball.

“Good hit,” exclaimed an operator from AeroVironment, the company that produces the drone and sells it to the U.S. military.

NBC News traveled to a military testing center for exclusive access to the first-ever public demonstration of the Switchblade 300, a small, low-cost “kamikaze” drone made by AeroVironment that sources say has been used quietly for years by the U.S. military in targeted killing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The demonstration told a story of promise and peril.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: drone; drones; russia; ukraine
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Only a matter of time before these things show up in large gatherings here in the US. As bizarre as it sounds drones and robots has me worried. The technology is readily available and we are not prepared.
1 posted on 12/06/2021 3:40:36 PM PST by devane617
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To: devane617

Worried about whom having them?


2 posted on 12/06/2021 3:44:55 PM PST by old-ager
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To: devane617

It’s inevitable and the US military has been preparing for a long time. The future of warfare will look much different and it will require in the short-term great wealth.

Japan will be a player as well.

We can’t stop it and the military said that two decades ago. The only thing we can do is prepare and try to stay a step ahead.

Your guesses are as good as mine if that will be the case.


3 posted on 12/06/2021 3:45:51 PM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: devane617

Skype is aware


4 posted on 12/06/2021 3:50:09 PM PST by Fledermaus (I'll wear a mask when Dr. Fraudchi shuts the hell up.)
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To: devane617
"too fast for the naked eye to track"

How many fps is that?

5 posted on 12/06/2021 3:53:16 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: devane617

Rather old news. There was video, might still be up, on LiveLeak where ISIS was flying them in formation. Taught themselves how to drop 40mm grenades(from an M203 type platform) into the open hatch on Iraqi tanks.

Get close to an open air stadium, fly a few over the top and that’s all she wrote. Only way to defeat that is to have a frequency jammer, thus making every cell phone in the stadium unusable.

Only a matter of time. Oh wait, didn’t we just and continue to fly in, thousands of folks who would love to do this. It appears that their population at Ft Dix has grown so much that it’s bigger than half the towns in NJ. Good times ahead folks. Good times.


6 posted on 12/06/2021 3:53:21 PM PST by qaz123
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To: Fledermaus

They could be used to start fires. Untraceable. Fire season is bad enough.


7 posted on 12/06/2021 3:53:47 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: old-ager

“Worried about whom having them?”

Any bad guy/terrorist/gang common street thug. The possibilities are endless for how these things can be used to harm people or carry out all manner of crime. Imagine a drone with a load of explosives over a football game, etc. That technology is already available but so far no one has put it to use in a domestic setting here in the US.


8 posted on 12/06/2021 3:55:39 PM PST by devane617 (RUN FOR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICE! COUNCIL,SCHOOL BOARD, ETC.)
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To: devane617

They will be used against the unvaxxed. Drone strikes are a form of social distancing.


9 posted on 12/06/2021 3:57:15 PM PST by Disambiguator
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To: Fledermaus

Stupid autocorrect....

SKYNET


10 posted on 12/06/2021 3:57:29 PM PST by Fledermaus (I'll wear a mask when Dr. Fraudchi shuts the hell up.)
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To: devane617

Odds are strong that the first such use will be a ff event


11 posted on 12/06/2021 3:58:50 PM PST by SheepWhisperer (My enemy saw me on my knees, head bowed and thought they had won until I rose up and said Amen!)
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To: Fledermaus

“SKYNET”

So my T&A drop fly down the beach will be lasered? Hmm.


12 posted on 12/06/2021 3:59:39 PM PST by devane617 (RUN FOR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICE! COUNCIL,SCHOOL BOARD, ETC.)
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To: devane617

Really cool. Too bad the bad guys will get it as soon as we do.


13 posted on 12/06/2021 4:05:37 PM PST by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: Disambiguator

Bkmk


14 posted on 12/06/2021 4:05:48 PM PST by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: devane617; Travis McGee

> Any bad guy/terrorist/gang common street thug

I think you’re worrying about the wrong groups here.

Because the real group of concern refers to you with those terms.


15 posted on 12/06/2021 4:06:18 PM PST by old-ager
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To: old-ager

100% correct.


16 posted on 12/06/2021 4:08:24 PM PST by devane617 (RUN FOR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICE! COUNCIL,SCHOOL BOARD, ETC.)
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To: old-ager
Worried about whom having them?

Government.

any government

17 posted on 12/06/2021 4:12:25 PM PST by BipolarBob (WHY are there no Democrats on Mt. Rushmore?)
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To: devane617

I think it was some 19th century philosopher who hypothesized that more or less every new technology is eventually turned into a weapon of war.


18 posted on 12/06/2021 4:13:16 PM PST by irishjuggler
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To: devane617

This video will wake some of you up…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TlO2gcs1YvM


19 posted on 12/06/2021 4:18:54 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: old-ager
Worried about whom having them?

Any government. Including our own.

20 posted on 12/06/2021 4:25:57 PM PST by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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