

Here Come China's Drones - DanielBMarkham
http://thediplomat.com/2013/03/01/here-comes-chinas-drones/

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speeder
I wonder if someone will have courage to kill a terrorist in US soil, just to
show US they can do like US do to another countries.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Drone strikes against "terrorists" are almost exclusively over territory that
is actively supportive of the "freedom fighter". This is why there were so
many bombings of weddings (if target X's niece is getting married you know he
will turn up. So watch the uploads on Facebook or observe from the next hill.
Bomb the whole place when target arrives. This was such bad PR it got stopped
pretty fast)

Anyway my point is assassination with drones is hard and always has collateral
- but if the target is in an area that is not actively protecting him then the
traditional methods of walking up and shooting him is much more viable.
America has no such areas protecting terrorists (unless _maybe_ some areas
with the KKK but hardly. Oh and actual members of go ernment but that's
playing with the definition of terrorist too much)

I suspect it happens more than we hear about (Litveneko and the polonium being
the obvious case)

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rdtsc
> This was such bad PR it got stopped pretty fast

I was thinking about this and I wonder if "no such thing as bad PR" applies
here as well. Think about it, this is done by people who get paid to blast
away "terrorists". It involves both government contractors who build drones
working with those who operate them (presumably pretty close relationship).
Declaring that "all terrorists are done and we are closing up shop" is like
firing themselves. I know Africa is hot now and L3 is hiring linguists for it,
but why not milk the ME cow for all it's worth right. If one strike at wedding
produces 10 more terrorist leaders -- that is like investing in future growth.
They would be silly not to do it.

> suspect it happens more than we hear about (Litveneko and the polonium being
> the obvious case)

Except that in that case the goal seems to be exactly for as many as possible
to hear about it. These people are not stupid, they know to "suicide" and
accidenta-kill people. Using something as exotic as Po-210 is not stupidity,
the point was to send a strong warning to any would be defectors. It is a
message saying you betray us, we'll find you and assassinate you.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
I am pretty sure US govt killing civilians in an attempt to ensure a supply of
terrorists to keep them employed in the future is a fairly robust definition
of insanity :-)

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rdtsc
If true it is probably never spoken of out-loud. But it could be one of those
'nudge nudge wink wink' type things. I know marking the wedding event as a
target is probably going to create some more terrorist activity in the future
and I just go ahead and do it. My superior kind of agrees. The contractor who
designs the drone probably doesn't have to make it super 'surgical accuracy'
just make sure it explodes better, the "intelligence" on the ground realizes
that if they work too hard, they'll soon be out of a job as well.

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riggins
its pretty interesting to think about the implications. A few thoughts.

Air power has been a decisive advantage in recent wars (e.g. Desert Storm).

Seems possible/probable that the victor of future wars will be determined by
who has the better drone air-force.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Actually I seriously doubt air power will continue to win - Raytheon have now
demonstrated a lorry sized 25KW laser, and chemical lasers can deliver 100kw
(from a site the size of a car park so less useful)

Anyway, line of sight medium range lasers are really here, and long distance
(hundreds of KM) feasible.

Stick one of these every 100km round your borders and try flying an aircraft
overhead.

Air power may soon be just another casualty of the march of progress - and the
billions it costs to run an aircraft carrier may seem a little expensive.

~~~
gaius
Serious lasers + warships will be the game changer. A Destroyer's engines for
power and the sea as a heat sink. A bottomless magazine and total domination
of the airspace out to the horizon. Suddenly you don't need a carrier to
provide topcover for amphibious operations, for example. You can put dozens of
destroyers to sea for the cost of one carrier.

~~~
bdunbar
"Suddenly you don't need a carrier to provide topcover for amphibious
operations,"

Airplanes do more than keep away other airplanes. They're also useful to blow
up the enemy ashore, close air support for the grunts, deep tactical missions
to isolate the battlefield.

You're still going to need flying machines. Need some way to get them close to
the battlefield. This might not Ford class super carrier but it's going to be
_some_ kind of carrier.

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rikacomet
Well, if you look it from the perspective, that a Bipolar (2 sections) world
against a Uni-Polar(US), its kinda good for the world as proven by history. 2
WW were enough to teach us the cost of worldwide war, the time has changed,
the no of war-mongers have decreased considerably.

Consider, how USSR and US were before 90's, yes, things were more delicate
than today, at a time when communication was not that rampant, but it
occasionally did put in check each one of them.

Like USSR interfered towards the end of Veitnam War, no offence against US,
but when you have power, the road becomes tough, and you need the occasional
wake up call to see what is wrong and what is right.

Russia holds that baton even today, but somehow people are only seeing the
world being Bipolar between US-China, even though the current balance is
something like Russia + China = US in terms of power.

Power does not mean, any of them have to flaunt it, I will say it again, don't
look at who is building which weapon, because all you gonna do is get anxious
and build a better one.

We as PEOPLE, must not give power to these war symbols, we should be anxious
about ground realities. The growing unemployment in US, the need of reform of
education in US, the need for liberty and freedom of speech in China, and much
more.

going into Space age, we the people should be concerned, and should push to
make space free of boundaries, so the problem of today, stay on the earth
only.

