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Sanctions Or Not, Iranian Competition Yields Successful UAVs
garymortimer writes with word of the result from a high-tech student competition that doesn't come with sponsorship from DARPA or Mobil — far from it. Instead, the sponsors include "military and non-military organizations" within Iran. "In this competition, participants must provide a UAV equipped with a camera to search a 10 square kilometer area for at least 40 minutes to find 3 square meter marks on the ground with different English letters on them. Finding ground targets and reporting the geo location are criterion for choosing the contest winner." (This article updates another from last year, which gives some more details about the competition.)
From everything I've heard, Iran is a modern, very prosperous country. It's hard to cut through all the bullshit and propaganda on both sides anytime you're dealing with a country that's at odds with the U.S., but I've known two people who went there who said they were welcomed very warmly as Americans and that quality of life there was pretty much the same as any European country.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Nice, the Iranian version of the Ansari X-Prize.
What people don't realize is that even with all the sanctions, hostility, and generally crazy behavior, Iran IS NOT Iraq or Afghanistan. Right now, American casualties are seen as unacceptable, which is leading our drive towards more drones. If we pick a fight with the Iranians, or let them pick a fight with the US, there will be American casualties. They have the ability to sink U.S. war ships. That have the support of Russia and China. Granted, they probably didn't ground that RQ-170, but that doesn't mean it isn't feasible in the near future.
We all know that quite a large chunk of the young adults in Iran don't like the current regime, but do you know what they like even less? The United States. Whether we start the fight or they do, it will cause Iran to solidify behind that common dislike of the U.S., and we will have a real fight on our hands.
Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
Yup, it's a modern, prosperous country that spouts bullshit and propaganda about its enemies. It does have a dubious government which oppresses the rights of the people as well. Oh, and so does Iran.
While what you say is more or less true, comparing the "oppression" from the US government to the oppression from the Iranian leadership is not really accurate. For example, I don't see a whole lot of homosexuals being hung from cranes in the US.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Despite sanctions? Dude, all the parts come from China. And China isn't part of the embargo. 10^2 km is a little wide for the smaller RC fliers out there, but for the larger ones that have a gas engine, it's completely do-able. That's retail store level technology. That hard part is flying it out of sight. Sensors, cameras, communications, all these little modules are made in china and are hobbyist stuff.
Long story short, it's impossible to embargo technology any more. It used to be that areospace technology was unatainable by anyone outside the industry. Serious engineers with serious companies with serious money. Now it's cheap. Kids are launching their own satellites.
Embargoes work for bulk goods, regulated and controlled substances, and money. And they usually work very badly. UAV technology doesn't fall under those categories.
You do realize that civilians are still dying in Iraq and our armed forces are not there.
Far far fewer now.
. I am an Iraq veteran and I can tell you that in 2005, 99% of all civilian deaths came from terrorists.
Anecdotal claims from a soldier in the conflict are not evidence. Please provide a citation for this "99%" figure. Back in 2004 the Iraqi Health Ministry stated that coalition forces were killing twice as many civilians than the insurgents were: More Iraqi Civilians Killed by US Forces Than By Insurgents, Data Shows.