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Drones Are Key to Winning Wars Now. The U.S. Makes Hardly Any.
The New York Times ^ | July 13, 2025 | Farah Stockman

Posted on 07/14/2025 8:12:42 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

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1 posted on 07/14/2025 8:12:42 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
Man, I hate it when I am supposed to pay to read an article posted here...doubly so when it's the NYT. There ought to be a law...
2 posted on 07/14/2025 8:17:24 AM PDT by econjack
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To: MinorityRepublican
The nation lags behind Russia and China in manufacturing drones

Russia also lags behind, as their drones are all made by Iran ("Shaheed").

P.S. Did the Pentagon really need to invite the NYT to this event so they could report to the world how unprepared we are?

3 posted on 07/14/2025 8:17:38 AM PDT by montag813
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To: MinorityRepublican

This is why I invested in Red Cat (RCAT). We’ll see what kind of returns it brings.


4 posted on 07/14/2025 8:19:18 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

We can thank the dementia patient, US president endorsed by NYT x2 -Biden


5 posted on 07/14/2025 8:21:31 AM PDT by grumpygresh
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To: MinorityRepublican

It is from the NY Slimes; it is a lie.

The USA has been a leader in drones dedicated to actual warfare use.

We need to make more but any idea that we are behind other than quantity is total BS.


6 posted on 07/14/2025 8:21:58 AM PDT by Skwor
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To: MinorityRepublican
Let's get busy!


7 posted on 07/14/2025 8:23:09 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: montag813

Drones are far from perfect… so being all in on drones right now is not exactly prudent.

https://warontherocks.com/2025/06/i-fought-in-ukraine-and-heres-why-fpv-drones-kind-of-suck/


8 posted on 07/14/2025 8:24:17 AM PDT by MrRelevant
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To: MinorityRepublican

Probably no one does drones better than Israel, and they’re already hooked up with India for mass production. Some international trade and technology transfer to US is probably already being done.


9 posted on 07/14/2025 8:24:48 AM PDT by jjotto ("...saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau...")
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To: MinorityRepublican
Yeah.. But every local Walmart sells them... So it should work out over time.


10 posted on 07/14/2025 8:30:40 AM PDT by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Ukraine will be making 20 million drones of all sizes this year. Can you imagine being on the front as a Russian soldier and seeing nothing but a black cloud of drones coming at you, each armed with a warhead? Who needs expensive artillery or bombers. There are now AI drones that are autonomous and control hundreds of others. That my friend is the future and some one has made skynet a reality.


11 posted on 07/14/2025 8:37:39 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: MrRelevant
Drones are far from perfect… so being all in on drones right now is not exactly prudent. https://warontherocks.com/2025/06/i-fought-in-ukraine-and-heres-why-fpv-drones-kind-of-suck/

Great read - goes to show that sexy video clips tend to sell product.
12 posted on 07/14/2025 8:41:30 AM PDT by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Gasp. For years, I’ve laughed at the childness, cluelessness, and complete idiocy of a NYT article. However, this time, it’s a good article. Right now, we’re more vulnerable than a Democrat listening to a CNN broadcast with regards to a conflict with any enemy possessing an assortment of drones. Drop the climate bull-Obama and let’s get brains and money to some real science.


13 posted on 07/14/2025 8:42:19 AM PDT by Da Coyote (H)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I think small war drones is one of those areas where we didn’t need to rush into, we are watching and learning, testing and developing, and will probably leap over what the others are doing once we dive into mass manufacturing.


14 posted on 07/14/2025 8:44:11 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: MinorityRepublican

They’ve known this was coming for years. Corruption has kept them from spending the resources on drone research.


15 posted on 07/14/2025 9:41:56 AM PDT by reardensteel
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To: reardensteel
They’ve known this was coming for years. Corruption has kept them from spending the resources on drone research.

Too bad Elon's no longer in Trump's administration. I think DOGE should have gone after the Pentagon.

Maybe Trump told him no.

16 posted on 07/14/2025 9:46:44 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

We are making plenty of drones. We’re just not talking about it. Our kids watched a fleet of them, large as coffee tables, go over their house horizon to horizon, so low they could have hit them with a goose gun.


17 posted on 07/14/2025 10:19:35 AM PDT by lurk (u)
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To: lurk

Yup. I’m amused by the number of authors who appear convinced that we don’t have drones, largely from know-nothing sources such as the NYT. We retired the Predator in 2018 in favor of the Reaper. We’ve been at this a long time.


18 posted on 07/14/2025 10:29:18 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: reardensteel

And you have generals in the Pentagon still focused on fighting the last war.


19 posted on 07/14/2025 10:34:07 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

The US needs at least one factory capable of producing 1 million drones a year, just to be competitive with Ukraine.


20 posted on 07/14/2025 11:27:13 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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