Know your drone - 101
Discussion
(tangent alert) There's something just plain wrong about these.
Military aircraft flown by pilots are somehow noble, and it's easy to romanticise about them. The time a full-chat Phantom screamed over my head at Port Stanley and sent me diving to the ground. To wish I'd been there to see the Hunter go through Tower Bridge. To remember the surpirse of the Balbo formation flying over me as I drove up the M11 with the roof off. Chatting with my neighbour, Mike Hobson (RIP), who'd piloted so many interesting cold war fighters allowed me to relive my childhood fantasies vicariously.
But these drones... leave me totally cold. Tech advances mean that they will get better with each generation. I love engineering, so I should love what they achieve. A close formation display of connected drones may one day be an awesome sight at an air show in the future - impossible to do with human pilots. And, of course, being free from pilot-loss means the military can take more risks and perhaps be more effective in certain scenarios.
But I hate them. I won't go into the politics of their use in the Middle East, nor the whole 'Skynet' thing, but I am somehow happier every time I hear that one of these things has been brought down.
(end tangent)
Military aircraft flown by pilots are somehow noble, and it's easy to romanticise about them. The time a full-chat Phantom screamed over my head at Port Stanley and sent me diving to the ground. To wish I'd been there to see the Hunter go through Tower Bridge. To remember the surpirse of the Balbo formation flying over me as I drove up the M11 with the roof off. Chatting with my neighbour, Mike Hobson (RIP), who'd piloted so many interesting cold war fighters allowed me to relive my childhood fantasies vicariously.
But these drones... leave me totally cold. Tech advances mean that they will get better with each generation. I love engineering, so I should love what they achieve. A close formation display of connected drones may one day be an awesome sight at an air show in the future - impossible to do with human pilots. And, of course, being free from pilot-loss means the military can take more risks and perhaps be more effective in certain scenarios.
But I hate them. I won't go into the politics of their use in the Middle East, nor the whole 'Skynet' thing, but I am somehow happier every time I hear that one of these things has been brought down.
(end tangent)
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el stovey said:
EskimoArapaho said:
(tangent alert) There's something just plain wrong about these.
And you are (presumably) not one of their targets. Imagine knowing that one of these might be high up, watching you, about to drop a bomb or launch a missile.
Simpo Two said:
I think he means that they are unmanned. When war is robotised by remote control and you can kill people with no risk to your own side... it may defuse the 'bodybags' argument but introduces other moral issues.
I know exactly what he means. I'm just saying if he doesn't like them, imagine what their targets think of them. Is anyone else irritated with UAV's constantly being referred to as Drones?
To me a drone is a glorified remote control plane to be used as target practice... these are precision tele-presence aircaft with global range, weaponry and advanced sensory equipment, calling them drones seems a bit like dumbing down.
To me a drone is a glorified remote control plane to be used as target practice... these are precision tele-presence aircaft with global range, weaponry and advanced sensory equipment, calling them drones seems a bit like dumbing down.
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