The US government plans to use unmanned aerial drones to combat piracy.(l. to r.): U.S. Navy / Getty; JOEL SAGET / AFP / Getty
From Time Magazine:
The U.S. military plans to deploy its newest warplane against one of the world's oldest threats, sending unmanned Reaper drones to the Seychelles islands to deal with pirates menacing seagoing commerce in the Indian Ocean. Fighting pirates off the coast of Africa was one of the founding missions of the U.S. Marines two centuries ago; today, in a sign of the changing face of warfare, the mission of protecting maritime trade routes falls to ground-bound desk jockeys remotely operating high-tech flying machines.
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My Comment: The big difference between then and now is that 200 years ago the U.S. Marines went after the pirates and did one of two things .... (1) they killed the pirates or (2) they drove them away. Today .... we send unarmed drones that certainly do not kill the pirates nor drive them away.
This PR stunt is just that .... a PR stunt that will not impact the piracy problem in anyway. What will change the dynamics is when there are boats in the area that are willing to engage with the pirates when the opportunity arises.
1 comment:
Why????? What interest do we have there? Why are we wasting more taxpayer dollars on someone elses troubles? This country is so screwed up. This on the heels of todays announcement of unemployment hitting a 26year high! What is wrong with our leaders?
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