Slashdot Mirror
Military Drone Lost Over Lake Ontario
First time accepted submitter slipped_bit writes "An MQ-9 Reaper drone has gone down over Lake Ontario during a practice mission. The flight, being operated by the New York Air National Guard's 174th Attack Wing in Syracuse, NY, was going well for about three hours before contact with the aircraft was lost. A search was started but had to be postponed due to weather."
Blame Canada!
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
In other news, Iran took credit for the downing of this drone as well, saying they have already begun disassembling it and that 'Murica should be very afraid. Pictures have already appeared on the internet of Iranians holding cans of Ginger Ale and eating pancakes, showing their cunning ability to blend in with the indigenous population in order to get close enough to strike at the very heart of the imperialist dogs!
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Newsflash on CBC.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Or were they only valid in Colorado? http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/09/06/deer_trail_co_sees_applications_for_nonexistent_drone_hunting_license.html
Guard units have a nicely dovetailed dual role. Most of the time they act as reserve squadrons for the Air Force, and can be deployed overseas. The rest of the time, their ground organizational structure, which ordinarily keeps their aircraft and crews ready to go, can be mobilized on a moment's notice to deal with local disasters.
The National Guard is simultaneously both a state militia and federal reserve force, with Uncle Sam getting priortiy. For all intents and purposes they are Air Force whenever the Pentagon wants them to be.
Loses Reapers.
The drone was attached to the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing – the first fighter squadron to be converted from piloted F-16s to an all-drone force.
Wait, what? An F-16 capable of carrying near 18,000 lbs of weapons and flying at mach 2+ is replaced by a drone flying at 240Mph carrying 3800lbs? Well, I'll be danged if someone in the DOD should not be fired for that decision. I could see it if they replace a squadron of A-10s with hundreds of these for close air support, but F-16s?
There have been numerous previous crashes of Reaper drones. Drones are expected to see much wider civilian use in the United States when the first federal permits are issued, which is expected in 2015, and regulators are keenly examining such crashes as they develop safety guidelines. The international market for drones is also expanding.
Okay, so they don't have a good safety record and we accept that since it's Defense. I'm good with this, but then they state...
“I have quite a bit of confidence in the safety of the airplane,” he said. “If you compare it to other platforms or aircraft that are flown by the Air Force You’ll see that it’s a much safer platform.”
So they have a higher crash record than any manned platform, no feedback for what is going wrong, yet somehow they are a "safer platform"? I guess that depends on what you are keeping safe. Pilots, okay. Tax money? Nope. Our borders? Nope, not that either.
As long as they hype the drones, people ignore why we have those for "Defending our borders". The ANG role is the last line of defense against an invading air-force. Reapers and Predators can't shoot down a MIG or SU of any type. Seems like a huge conflict of interest to man the ANG with these.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Ontario, it is known
Never gives up a drone
When the winds of November come early
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Exactly my thought. If an F-22 went down over Lake Ontario on a training mission, we would have a dead pilot, and lost $150 million aircraft, which can't be replaced. The F-22 loss might have been noted on CNN, but certainly wouldn't have been /. worthy. So, here we lost a $12.5 million aircraft, which can be replaced, and nobody dies. Somehow, I doubt that the submitter and the /. editors are pro-drone, but I see this story and think that, to the extent that I actually give a shit, it makes an excellent argument for drones.
No way! We're first!
We want to be invaded.
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Alaskans for Canada.
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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Not to freak you out but.... 1. Fish defecation. 2. Aquatic bird defecation. 3. Guys on boats in the middle, nobody is looking. 4. Bilge. 5. Poorly maintained outboard motors. 6. Probably some truly horrendous stuff that didn't come to mind in the minute I took to type this while thinking about it.
On your side, as they say, "The solution to pollution is dilution".
If you like, you may think of your tap water as homeopathic drone.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?