Slashdot Mirror
US May Sell Armed Drones
An anonymous reader writes: Nations allied with the United States may soon be able to purchase armed, unmanned aircraft, according to an updated U.S. arms policy. Purchase requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and foreign military bodies would have to agree to a set of "proper use" rules in order for the U.S. to go ahead with the sale. For example: "Armed and other advanced UAS are to be used in operations involving the use of force only when there is a lawful basis for use of force under international law, such as national self-defense." These rules have done nothing to silence critics of the plan, who point out that the U.S. has killed civilians during remote strikes without much accountability. The drones are estimated to cost $10-15 million apiece.
Exporting weapons that wind up being used against our own troops is fairly commonplace in this scenario, but hey, it's all about the corporate profits baby!
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
They have put a kill switch in them somewhere ... Juuust incase one of those nations discovers that they are sitting on oil ..
As an American myself, I really can't find any fault there. I have been saying basically the same to my countrymen for years. That said, its not us.....its the Aristocratic ruling class that we wont admit exists.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Once they get them , it wont be too long before we read, " ISIS drone targets top Al Quaida leader "
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Breaking news : Scientists have now mapped the gene which makes them map genes .
Expect to see these drones in Ukraine soon, then. Not that the change in the policy was needed, since US is providing to the ally Israel, but it does seem as a message to Russians that they will see drones soon in the war zones of Donbas and Crimea.
Had Ukraine had drones six month ago, or better a year ago, their situation would have been much different and they would not need to go through shameful and humiliating "decisions to withdraw" time after time. Sort of a disgrace for a 5th largest weapons exporter in the world, industrial powerhouse, rocket builder and a formerly nuclear country , but we digress here.
Yes, we know that the war is a significant contributor to the scientific research, however expect these UAV to be battle tested in Ukraine against most modern Russian radio-electronic warfare methods.
I'm curious to know who this collective "we" is that you're talking about. There is a lot that the United States does that is cause for concern, but there's also plenty the US does to help. You give me the impression that either you're either ignorant about everything that happens around the world or you're very selective about where you get your news.
As for the US military, for a whole host of reasons the US is endlessly doing Europe's dirty work. They sure are averse to getting involved, even when something's happening in their own backyard or their own meddling was the source of those problems. And in the end, while Europe enjoys the luxury of keeping its hands clean they have no shame in getting on their high horse about American involvement around the world.
Of course, the US could always take the Chinese approach of superficially not getting involved in anything, but supporting oppressive regimes so that they can strip nations of their resources. Take a look at what they're doing in Africa.