U.S. airmen prepare a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it leaves on a mission at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan March 9, 2016. Picture taken March 9, 2016. REUTERS/Josh Smith
Josh Smith, Reuters: Drones emerge from shadows to become key cog in U.S. war machine
When U.S. drones obliterated a car carrying Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour last month, it was the kind of targeted killing that unmanned aircraft are best known for.
But 15 years after a drone first fired missiles in combat, the U.S. military's drone program has expanded far beyond specific strikes to become an everyday part of the war machine.
Now, from control booths in the United States and bases around the Middle East, Afghanistan and parts of Africa, drone crews are flying surveillance missions and providing close air support for troops on the ground.
"In the wars we fight, this is the future," said drone pilot Lieutenant Shaw, as he stood in a hangar at the Air Force's drone base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Crews spoke to Reuters on condition that only their first names and rank be used to identify them.
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WNU Editor: I have always said that drones (in the air, ground, and in the seas) are the future of warfare .... and we are seeing it play out right now.
3 comments:
Drones only work against 3rd World Militaries, and sometimes not even then:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/6834884/Iraq-insurgents-hacked-Predator-drone-video-feed.html
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/researchers-hack-government-drone-1000-parts
2nd World militaries have already brought down drones.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–U.S._RQ-170_incident
Long range Drones are reliant on radio wavelengths, gps and satellite uplinks to do even basic functions, and that's all highly vulnerable, more so in peer to peer conflicts.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/21/russia-winning-the-electronic-war/
Jay,
I've been saying the same thing for years! The US will most likely regret their over-reliance on unmanned systems and I predict that even fly by wire and cockpit digitization will be in jeapardy in any future conflict with advanced actors. Viva la linkages and steam gauges!!
Friend of mine solved the " boom car" problem years ago.
Salvaged microwave transmitters from dead microwaves, flyback transformers from tube TV's and CRT's, and a parabolic dish.
Run off his car's batteries it could fry all of a cars electronics at a 100 yards, while only mildly cooking the drivers kidneys.
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