The WELL: inkwell.vue.352: P.W. Singer, Wired For War

#82: John Payne (satyr) Sat 27 Feb 10 12:22

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:22:00 PST

Armed with very fast, medium range, anti-radiation (anti-RADAR) missiles, set to launch a few seconds before the remotely controlled host ship was destroyed by RADAR controlled ground-to-air or air-to-air missiles, it certainly could be. Not only do you get the other side to expend ordinance, but you have a good shot at taking out their RADAR at the same time. [Read entire topic]

#81: Michael C. Berch (mcb) Sat 27 Feb 10 00:26

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:26:00 PST

Except for the electronics (and electronics are cheap - it's software development that costs money) the thing looks fairly low-tech, though fuel-efficient, and probably pretty cheap to produce.

So if you attack (say) Iran, what happens if you send 1,000 of them? Or more? Even with moderate attrition, you're way ahead. You can even send waves of them to distract air defenses. Send some high, some low. Decoys. They don't even all have to carry ordnance. It's a game-changer. [Read entire topic]

#80: John Payne (satyr) Fri 26 Feb 10 08:53

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:53:00 PST

Big + not stealthy + slow = sitting duck.

What's new here is hang time and range, otherwise 1990 vintage cruise missiles are more of a threat.

The message is probably on the order of "this is just the tip of the iceberg." [Read entire topic]

#79: Michael C. Berch (mcb) Tue 23 Feb 10 00:45

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:45:00 PST

Israel Rolls Out World's Biggest UAV

Rattling a saber and marketing a product at the same time, Israel rolls a new Unmanned Arial Vehicle into action.

The Eitan or Heron is not just any drone. It's a whopper as big as a Boeing 737, capable of staying in the air for 20 hours and capable of reaching Iran.

Full story: <http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/22/israel-rolls-out-worlds-biggest-uav/?test=latestnews>

Other coverage: <http://www.theage.com.au/world/giant-israeli-drone-puts-iran-within-range-20100222-orp1.html?autostart=1> <http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3851377,00.html> <http://www.defense-update.com/features/2010/february/eitan_rollout_21022010.html> <http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=460> [Read entire topic]

#78: Brian Slesinsky (bslesins) Mon 22 Feb 10 19:49

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:49:00 PST

I'm not so sure. When there's plenty of time to get a close-up view without putting the pilot's life at risk, it allows for more patient decisions. [Read entire topic]

#77: pseudoanthropos (abloner) Mon 22 Feb 10 05:03

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:03:00 PST

The whole business makes me sick. [Read entire topic]

#76: John Payne (satyr) Sun 19 Jul 09 19:04

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:04:00 PDT

Headline: Air Force Plans for All-Drone Future

Okay, take it with a grain of salt, but the subtext is that the days of Air Force resistance to the use of drones are over.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/air-force-plans-for-all-drone-future/ [Read entire topic]

#75: John Payne (satyr) Sun 28 Jun 09 17:38

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:38:00 PDT

Ultra-precision glide bombs, dispensed up to ten at a time, are on a rush order presumably for use in (Iraq and) Afghanistan. The system is called Gunslinger, and while it falls short of the nuggets of pure information dispensed by another Gunslinger (epic poem by Ed Dorn), it may represent an all-time high information:explosives ratio for real world munitions. That said, it's still a bomb.

<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/spec-ops-shops-for-10-pack-of-precision-glide-bombs/>

http://tinyurl.com/lh6h63 [Read entire topic]

#74: John Payne (satyr) Mon 22 Jun 09 18:10

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:10:00 PDT

Plan to teach military robots the rules of war http://tinyurl.com/rulesofwar (newscientist.com) [Read entire topic]

#73: John Payne (satyr) Sun 24 May 09 11:23

Sun, 24 May 2009 11:23:00 PDT

If the military relevance of that last is obscure, imagine an operator suspended in a gimbal, as in the movie Lawnmower Man, connected to a humanoid machine in the field. [Read entire topic]