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Which is my point. Absolutely nothing new about aerial surveillance.
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The issue about using drones to kill Americans is an issue about killing Americans suspected of being terrorists. Drones create new options for doing that.
This argument simply doesn't impress me. It is one thing to use a drone to kill someone in Yemen it is a bit much when in 99.9% of the cases authorities can just drive up to your doorstep.
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Because drones are dramatically cheaper and less risky than just about all manned aircraft it is far more likely for the government to use drones for previously uncommon uses.
A Predator is 10x the cost of suitable civilian helicopter and unless there is proliferation of RPG's with proximity fuses or Stingers, I find that argument equally hyperbolic.
I don't have any problem with drones. They are just another machine made by man. I saw one on tv the other night you can buy as a kit and it will fly a camera, do audio and carry a .45 pistol upside down.
Well, U-2s don't carry armament, so they are just used for spying.
Regarding drones vs manned aircraft, I think some people are uncomfortable not having a human pilot in the air pulling the trigger. I honestly don't know how I feel about that, as I am unfamiliar with how 'dialed in' drone pilots are.
I don't have any problem with drones. They are just another machine made by man. I saw one on tv the other night you can buy as a kit and it will fly a camera, do audio and carry a .45 pistol upside down.
I flew drones back in the early 1960's except then they were called remote control planes.
Well, U-2s don't carry armament, so they are just used for spying.
Neither do all drones.
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I am unfamiliar with how 'dialed in' drone pilots are.
I don't know how anyone in the post Gulf War I/CNN Bombcam era can be terribly worked up about all this. From what I can see a drone pilot is no more or less tuned in than an Apache or F-16 pilot watching the same hellfire missile on basically the same video screen.
Fair enough, but I don't think people are up in arms over us spying on terrorist camps using drones (I admit I could be wrong on this). It seems like it's the drone strikes that are controversial.
I flew drones back in the early 1960's except then they were called remote control planes.
So did I..... later a bit in the 70's and 80's and did Estes Rockets with my boy when he was small. Also I bought a helicopter kit that had wicked small machined parts and it flew well, but i tied it down so as to learn hot to fly it a few inches up and down a old car antenna.
OT but recently in a e-mail a MC Buddy of mine sent me a mini engine series of pictures.. The smallest engine in the world was in it, which runs 2 years on a drop of lighter fluid and makes more energy than a battery.
Other models of engines from planes and cars too.... If you have any e-mail i can forward to, I would. These are ALL running models but very small.
Can some one explain the difference between a drone, a helicopter or a U2?
I understand the antipathy towards government surveillance but what I don't get is the specific ire over drones. Law enforcement agencies both federal and state have been flying aerial surveillance for decades with all the capabilities associated with the Predator family of drones. So what is it about drones in particular that is cause for an uptick in the conversation?
Are you for real?
U2s do not exist anymore. When they did, they cruised at high altitude, usually over the Soviet Union, in violation of Soviet air space and international laws, and to antagonize the Soviets.
To the best of my knowledge, U2s never conducted reconnaissance over the US.
The difference between a drone and an helicopter, is that in an helicopter there is an human-being.....who might actually hesitate to shoot....because the human might actually have the capacity to think critically.....and to question authority....and to exercise sound judgment.
A drone doesn't think. It does not question authority. It simply does what it is programmed to do. And, yes, while there is an human on the ground (or in the air) controlling the drone, that human is isolated....detached.....remote from the situation in the out-side world and therefore not personally involved like helicopter crewmen would be.
And in the not-too-distant future, there won't even be an human controlling the drone.....it will fly by algorithm and do whatever it is programmed to do.
Differentiating...
Just don't fly the new drones around Iran. They'll hack into it and land it on their soil to reverse engineer them.
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