The Triton unmanned aircraft system completing its first flight from the Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California, May 22, 2013. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman/Alex Evers/Handout via Reuters
David Axe, Reuters: Why you’ll always lose with drones alone
The U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria is having a devastating effect on the insurgent forces. That is, if you believe the Pentagon’s continuing tally of destroyed and damaged vehicles, facilities and troop formations.
But the official statistics are meaningless. Because U.S. pilots are flying blind. To a great extent, they don’t know what — if anything — they’re hitting.
More so than in any recent conflict, American aviators soaring over Iraq and Syria rely on remote-controlled drones to spot targets for them. This is one consequence of President Barack Obama’s policy barring U.S. ground troops from any direct combat role.
WNU Editor: Nothing beats having "boots on the ground" who can spot and target the enemy. Why this is not being done in this war .... your guess and explanation is as good as mine.
1 comment:
I can answer this question WNU. The "boots on the ground" are not available as the US military has been worn down to the point that even basic national defense is going to be problematic for us much less providing "boots on the ground" for a place like Iraq, the American people implicitly understand this and want these forces redeployed to positions that enhance our national security, the American people wish that allies like Canada and Australia among others we implicitly trust would help us here, we also understand that anti-American groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. and moveon.org will instantly brand anyone as racist and move to destroy them if they dare publically suggest America's borders should not be secured or that America should not capitulate to its enemies. Now you have the answer and do not have to "guess." It'd be cool if our allies would stand up for us when we are unable to do so and would help us in securing our borders. After all this is the kind of things friends do!!
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