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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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To: fella

Wasn’t the first rule of robotics supposed to be “Do not harm humans”?


1. That’s sci-fi.
2. Only if you put it into the programing, even in sci-fi.


41 posted on 12/06/2021 10:53:27 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Deaf Smith

The human eye has remarkably good depth perception for retreating objects. For advancing objects and crossing objects not so much. This effect is easily tested the average person can see a subsonic 45 cap round fired away from them down range against a white background. The same person would be hard pressed to see the same round fired at them even if just off center enough not to hit tham. The human eye has zero probability of seeing a 45 round crossing left to right in front of them. We used to shoot MK19 round about the size of a fist at 850 fps down range towards APC sized targets 1000 yards away you could visually track the rounds all the way to target. If they drones are bird sized at any speed above 500 fps they would be at best blurs when approaching and a human would have zero chance of dodging one heading right for them whole actively maneuvering under computer control.


42 posted on 12/06/2021 11:12:25 PM PST by JD_UTDallas ("Veni Vidi Vici" )
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To: GreyHoundSailor

Didn’t know that.

How do they work?


43 posted on 12/07/2021 3:27:07 AM PST by MV=PY (The Magic Question: Who's paying for it?)
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To: devane617

Only a matter of time before these things show up in large gatherings here in the US


Already has. One swarm flew around a nuclear installation, I forget where the second happened - no known operators. Remains a mystery.


44 posted on 12/07/2021 3:45:32 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: devane617

LOL. Every guided weapon is a kamikaze drone.


45 posted on 12/07/2021 3:48:41 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: JustaTech

You get it...Any high-schooler already has the ability to build these deadly weapons. It is NOT what ‘may’ happen, rather when it ‘will’ happen.


46 posted on 12/07/2021 5:08:59 AM PST by devane617 (RUN FOR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICE! COUNCIL,SCHOOL BOARD, ETC.)
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To: BTerclinger

WTF!!!!


47 posted on 12/07/2021 6:24:06 AM PST by qaz123
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To: BTerclinger

At least a MOAB or 10 on the Capitol city when the countries government is in session.


48 posted on 12/07/2021 6:25:13 AM PST by qaz123
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To: qaz123

See the interview


49 posted on 12/07/2021 2:22:19 PM PST by BTerclinger (MAGA! (See my FR page for links to MDs & RX for pre-hospital Covid treatment & prophylaxis).)
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To: qaz123

not enough. Reprisal and deterrence have to be massive or some other ahole will try it again.


50 posted on 12/07/2021 2:23:22 PM PST by BTerclinger (MAGA! (See my FR page for links to MDs & RX for pre-hospital Covid treatment & prophylaxis).)
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To: MV=PY

I just mentioned the name once (UNCLAS by the way) and started getting threatening phone calls.


51 posted on 12/07/2021 3:02:32 PM PST by GreyHoundSailor (LGBTQ - Let's Get Brandon To Quit)
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To: BTerclinger

short of complete eradication, there will always be someone, from somewhere willing to try it.

Your enemy tells you when the war is over.


52 posted on 12/07/2021 11:52:44 PM PST by qaz123
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