Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Middle East

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Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq

Seems that the first Robotic attack squadron is on it's way to Iraq. Bieng able to fight the War on Terror from a safe place 7000 miles away is a major step forward for the UNited States. The Reaper is a fully loaded craft that can fly over 300 mph and has a ceiling of 50000 feet.

They will first be delpoyed to Afghanistan and hopefully to Iraq early next year. This is not a recon aircraft but an attack aircraft unlike the Predator drones currently operating in the ME theater.

The MQ-9 Reaper, when compared with the 1995-vintage Predator, represents a major evolution of the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size - 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan - is comparable to the profile of the Air Force's workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high as the Predator. Most significantly, it carries many more weapons.

While the Predator is armed with two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper can carry 14 of the air-to-ground weapons - or four Hellfires and two 500-pound bombs.

"It's not a recon squadron," Col. Joe Guasella, operations chief for the Central Command's air component, said of the Reapers. "It's an attack squadron, with a lot more kinetic ability."

"Kinetic" - Pentagon argot for destructive power - is what the Air Force had in mind when it christened its newest robot plane with a name associated with death.

"The name Reaper captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system," Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, said in announcing the name last September.

General Atomics of San Diego has built at least nine of the MQ-9s thus far, at a cost of $69 million per set of four aircraft, with ground equipment.

The Air Force's 432nd Wing, a UAV unit formally established on May 1, is to eventually fly 60 Reapers and 160 Predators. The numbers to be assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan will be classified.

The Reaper is expected to be flown as the Predator is - by a two-member team of pilot and sensor operator who work at computer control stations and video screens that display what the UAV "sees." Teams at Balad, housed in a hangar beside the runways, perform the takeoffs and landings, and similar teams at Nevada's Creech Air Force Base, linked to the aircraft via satellite, take over for the long hours of overflying the Iraqi landscape.

American ground troops, equipped with laptops that can download real-time video from UAVs overhead, "want more and more of it," said Maj. Chris Snodgrass, the Predator squadron commander here.

Should someone call Sarah Connor and let her know the job she did was all for nothing???

C'mon, no one thinks this is cool technology? No comments whatsoever? Not even a ?Did Bush paint swaztikas on them?"

It's definitely cool technology......but the idea of the 'pilot' being located in Nevada, dropping bombs 7,000 miles away I think is wrong.

I think everyone can agree (for th most part) war is not something that should happen except as a last resort. Having remote pilots takes out to much of the 'human' factor and would be more akin to playing a video game. Eventhough there is always the risk of losses, I think it is important to have direct human involvement in war, so that people are reminded what war actually is like and the costs associated with war.

Take out the human involvement then war would not seem to be that big of a deal (to the side thatwas winning).

I don't think this is cool in the slightest. In fact, I think it's pathetic.

These things must have cost billions to research, develop and test. Money that could have gone to pulling troops out of the Middle East, boosting the economies of countries that actually need the money or building hospitals and schools.

Military spending is almost always the top government spender, which just goes to show that our leaders think that killing people in more imaginative ways is more important than looking after their own citizens.

My thoughts go out to those poor people that are going to fall victim to these things, people that are no different to you or me. Enough have died from aircraft with people flying them directly. Take out that human element and it's going to be a disaster.

Technology such as this simply forces any enemy we face into the use of wide-spread terrorism as the only remaining tactic. Since we will be controlling non-human killing machines directly from the USofA, doesn't it stand to reason that the only way for an enemy to deal with the USofA is to bring about as much death and destruction as possible within the USofA?

Terrorism and infiltration, in a war against an enemy with no human loses, becomes simply the only remaining tactic. If you can't make an enemy want to cease hostilities by making the thought of losing any more soldiers unpalatable, then you must make the pain felt at home just unpalatable. This all follows from military doctrine originally written down by Sun Tzu.

Once again, the government succeeds in fomenting terrorism; Once again, the population is fooled into believing government is the answer to terrorism.

Jon

Well two comments...

First, do you suppose sometime in the future wars could be fought with both sides using robots. This would eliminate many human casualties. I suppose the victory would be decided by who had the most resources for a steady production of robots, and who had the best operators. Only time will tell.

Second, I have thought for some time that the boom in war scenario video games was to groom the upcoming generations for piloting of these killer robots. Anyone know of any evidence to support this idea?

Originally posted by Stewart Lewis
I have thought for some time that the boom in war scenario video games was to groom the upcoming generations for piloting of these killer robots. Anyone know of any evidence to support this idea?

The game America's Army was developed as a 'militainment' recruiting tool for a very similar purpose..

...At the United States Military Academy, 19 percent of 2003's freshman class stated they had played the game. Enlistment quotas were met in the two years directly following the game's release...

...although not specifically designed as a training tool to fight nintendo-type warfare, MMP-combat games such as AA seem to exploit the dehumanising aspect of these games



[edit on 18-7-2007 by citizen smith]

[QUOTE]

Once again, the government succeeds in fomenting terrorism;

[/QUOTE]

Oh gag me with a spoon.

What a silly assertion.

I've posted somewhere on ATS the strong language of a former Jihadi asserting that they laugh at such ideas--GTTM--GUFFAWS TO THE MAX--material--for sure.

Such an assertion is clearly an indication that the perspective that supports it is thoroughly out of touch with the Jihadi mentality as well as values.

1. The Jihadi's don't give a great rip about what other governments do or don't do short of dying or becoming Jihadi's with them.

2. They are 100% serious about eradicating from the planet ALL

AS IN 100% OF ALL

NON-JIHADI'S.

Have you not been paying attention? Their language is very simple.

Their actions are very simple--kill and destroy ALL OUT-GROUP members and properties.

Assuming that you are not a Jihadi--that means you. You can deny that fact. You can pretend it has no impact on your life. You can pretend it will never touch you or those you love.

Jihadi's pretend, too. But they put bombs and guns and killing and maiming of innocent women and children behind their pretending that they will rule the world.

When they come to your door . . . or a market near you . . . or a plane you're riding on . . .

offer them a flower. I'm sure it will delay the explosions a microsecond, well . . . . maybe.

The use of combat-drone tactics could be used against the US in retaliation for civilian deaths (how many Afghan wedding parties gatecrashed by Hellfire missiles so far??) ...you dont need multi-millions or satellite-uplinks...just a handful of anarchist-aeromodellers could visit the same death-from-above with RC aircraft loaded with explosives...

Originally posted by Zanzibar

Military spending is almost always the top government spender, which just goes to show that our leaders think that killing people in more imaginative ways is more important than looking after their own citizens.

Reality check Zanzibar...Military spending is "not" almost always the top government spender. This is a programmed brainwashed type statement which so oftem passes for fact today. It never was true.

Top government spending today is in social programs ...giveaways. It has been for over 40 years now. This is how politicians maintain thier votes to stay in office and gaurantee more give aways for power and office. Thinking people know this.

YOu do however make a good point about Boosting ecomonies of other countrys. We need to take the publics production away from their discretionary spending/ownereship and give it away to foreign countrys gratis. This way we can breast feed all these nations which hate us so they can hate us even more while taking our production. Classic public education dogma. By the way ..this is exactly what our polticians do with our moneys.

Furthermore Zanzibar...the classic textbook historical example of military spending being runaway like forever ...is The olde Soviet Union. So much of their gross nation product went to the government and military spending that there was so little left for the public who was earning the moneys. We know this is true today because one seldom ever sees goods and or services in our economy made in Russia..even today since the downfall and restructuring of this Nation.

If what you state is true ...there would be no computers to post any opinions on nor colour television nor movie theaters nor automobiles, motorcycles , Full shelves at the grocery stores, clothing stores..etc etc et al.
Yet we see so much of this stuff bombarding our daily lives to keep us uselessly occupied.

A further and countering opinion to yours is that I think we should take all this useless stuff to occupy our idle hours and take these moneys and give it away to nations which hate us and build and maintain thier schools and hospitals etc etc etc et al. This way the public could say they are directly going without to help these nations. How about we give up our cell phones and Ipods and of course our comptuers in order to help out these other nations??

All this stuff sounds good when you or folks like you are wont to post it and blame everyone else...but impead on your personal standard of living and the outrage begins.

What you are posting is not true...social programs and give aways to other nations far outpaces military spending. It is just common sense. All I have to do is go to a grocery store or shopping mall to have it confirmed.

The reason people believe this stuff is that public education is financed by politicians and they want more of the militarys moneys to spend buying votes to maintain office. This line of thinking is very easy to inject in public education on people who are easily emoted to believe everything which "feels good" and right.

Please try some thinking rather than emoting.

Bo xian,

I have known this about Islam and Jihad for over 20 years now. I know this is a basic doctrine of the religion of peace.

Most people through public education programming tend to follow the standard mantras of the Crusades etc etc and blame all this on the west and western civilization to bolster guilt conditioning.

Most do not know that the Muslims were on the move in the late 600s AD and invading Europe where they were finally stopped in 732AD at the Battle of Tours in France by Charles Martel. This can be researched on the web..the information is there.

Dont get me wrong here ..I dont agree with the premise of the Crusades...any of them. I think the crusades were a phoney baloney used to cover up other motives. I just know that the Muslims were on the move to spread islam by the sword some 300 years before the first Crusade.

The basic doctrine of Islam ..always has and always will be... to spread Islam by the Sword. Westerners are so programmed by this Religion of Peace dogma they lose the ability to pick up the corner of the rug and look underneath.

Astonishing to me the "feel good " beliefs of most peoples out here...until thier goodies and lives are on the line. Then they become very frugal with thier beliefs and goodies. Yet they want to be liberal with the beliefs and goodies of others. This is also a definition of Politics and Politicians. Also remember Politics and Politicians finance our public education systems. The media is also a tool in this education/brainwashing and shills for the body politic. None of these groups or shills will teach us what we need to think outside the "feel good" blocks which try to default through today as excellence and truth. It is neither ..it is seduction. WHen you get the whole picture....the landscape is often quite different than what is painted by governments or public education or even the media.

This is why thinking is important verses emoting. TO be able to think you must have informations..facts. NOt just emotions.

Most of our daily lives outside our occupations in America is full of amusements to prevent us from thinking.

Amuse..a-without

Muse-thinking

Without thinking. Amuse/Amusement.

Once you understand this Amusement religion being foisted off on a willingly seduced people, many things around you become obvious.

This Amusement is for the purpose of preventing thinking...only emoting allowed...especially about our next amusement.

One more thing..I dont think these machines are cool. I think they are only a stop gap tool. They will not replace the human. They just change the risk factor....temporarily.

Something more for the "feel gooders " on this board. I will remind some of you that many of these peoples in these nations are turning to suidice type bombers and are killing their own peoples and doing so by the hundreds. These were called at one time "Not so smart bombs."
Somehow and for some reason ..You folks are not wont to include this angle in these types of discussions. Why is that?? Especially since life is so prescious to you?? I suggest very strongly that you reread this paragraph in light of the Religion of Peace posted in the earlier paragraphs.


Thanks,
Orangetom