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Meet the Men Who Deploy Airstrikes

Lanxon writes "Wired followed US Army Staff Sergeant Kevin Rosner into Afghanistan to see first-hand the tools, tactics, and pressures involved in coordinating military airstrikes. This lengthy piece explores the people and technology involved in high-risk airborne warfare, from their perspective. From the article: 'Strapped to his chest, Rosner carries a handheld video player called a "Rover," built by L3 Communications, a New York-based defense contractor. The device, the size and shape of a PSP game console and costing tens of thousands of dollars, reads signals transmitted by the camera pods strapped to the underside of all NATO fighter aircraft. With his Rover, Rosner can see everything a pilot sees, from the pilot's perspective. On his back he carries a radio programmed with secure frequencies that tie him directly to the pilots overhead and to his unit's headquarters, several miles away. At the headquarters, another JTAC monitors a bigger, more sophisticated video terminal that displays the same video Rosner sees, plus other data.'"

5 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Keybindings by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, what's his key binding for deploying airstrikes? F5? S? shift-F?

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    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

    1. Re:Keybindings by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 1, Funny

      So, what's his key binding for deploying airstrikes?

      control-alt-delete

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      This ain't rocket surgery.
    2. Re:Keybindings by FormOfActionBanana · · Score: 5, Funny

      F-15

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      Take off every 'sig' !!
  2. A burning question. by dicobalt · · Score: 5, Funny

    They didn't explain why I have to get 5 kills to get an airstrike :(

  3. Re:BULLSHIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The United States (considered by many to be a "first-world" nation, although that is debatable)

    You have no fucking clue what "first world" means do you?