NOVA: US Military is Developing an Incredible Range of "Smart" Robotic Planes

On 21 Feb 2004 14:40:07 -0800, Bob Fry
wrote in Message-Id:
:

Larry Dighera writes:

http://www.pbs.org/nova/spiesfly/

Broadcast: February 24, 2004
(NOVA airs Tuesdays on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings as
dates and times may vary.)

The U.S. Air Force claims that unmanned aerial vehicles like the
Predator, a 50-foot-wingspan plane that flies by remote control,
have recently been successful at locating missile launchers and
tracking insurgents' movements in Iraq. These are the same UAVs that
helped eliminate terrorist threats in Yemen and Afghanistan. In the
wake of Predator's success,

Yada yada snipped

Hmmm. Does anyone else recall that video clip that circulated here
and other groups a year or so ago, that was shot from a fixed-wing
gunship in Afganistan? It showed the gunship crew, in communication
with a team on the ground, blasting up a supposed terrorist hideout.

It was a pretty intense video clip. What struck me was the obvious
confusion and haste as the gunship crew was trying to determine the
proper building to shoot up. Apparently there was a mosque nearby,
which was off limits. It was like:

Gunship (GS): There! That's them! Kaboom! Brrrraaaapppppp!!!
Ground Team (GT): No! Not that building!
GS: Roger that! Kablam! BRRRAAAPPPPPPP!!! BRRRAAAPPPPPPP!!!
GT: Wait! Stand By! No, fire on the OTHER square building!

etc.

In other words, even with a ground team, and humans on the aerial
ship, it was confusion city. Hell you can't tell one turban head from
another, so kill 'em all, eh?

Does anybody really imagine that some guy looking at an umanned
drone's fuzzy TV image is going to be better at selecting targets to
kill? Oh, sure, these are only going to be used for recon. Right, and
my mother-in-law will do the intel.

I'm beginning to believe that SNAFU mentality is typical of the
military.


But when the day dawns with a sky full of military UAVs with their
pilots safely on the ground, do you think there might be some impact
on civil aviation? Its difficult enough to see-and-avoid when you're
in the cockpit. I would imagine it might be more difficult over a
telemetry link, and the self-preservation motive for diligent traffic
scan is removed. Sometimes the 21st century is frightening....

I have that video and you have it completely wrong. There was some
clarifying required (there always is, even with no unmanned assets
involved), but NO shots were fired until all agreed on the target.

Second of all, the image you get from an Predator is far better than
real eyes...why? Becasue the predator flies real slow and can linger
whereas a manned aircraft (for self-protection reason) must fly much
faster, leaving less time to actually find and ID targets.

Before you slam folks, you better do your homework better.

Ross "Roscoe" Dillon
USAF Flight Tester
(B-2, F-16, F-15, F-5, T-37, T-38, C-5, QF-106)


On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 09:10:39 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

On 21 Feb 2004 14:40:07 -0800, Bob Fry
wrote in Message-Id:
:

Larry Dighera writes:

http://www.pbs.org/nova/spiesfly/

Broadcast: February 24, 2004
(NOVA airs Tuesdays on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings as
dates and times may vary.)

The U.S. Air Force claims that unmanned aerial vehicles like the
Predator, a 50-foot-wingspan plane that flies by remote control,
have recently been successful at locating missile launchers and
tracking insurgents' movements in Iraq. These are the same UAVs that
helped eliminate terrorist threats in Yemen and Afghanistan. In the
wake of Predator's success,

Yada yada snipped

Hmmm. Does anyone else recall that video clip that circulated here
and other groups a year or so ago, that was shot from a fixed-wing
gunship in Afganistan? It showed the gunship crew, in communication
with a team on the ground, blasting up a supposed terrorist hideout.

It was a pretty intense video clip. What struck me was the obvious
confusion and haste as the gunship crew was trying to determine the
proper building to shoot up. Apparently there was a mosque nearby,
which was off limits. It was like:

Gunship (GS): There! That's them! Kaboom! Brrrraaaapppppp!!!
Ground Team (GT): No! Not that building!
GS: Roger that! Kablam! BRRRAAAPPPPPPP!!! BRRRAAAPPPPPPP!!!
GT: Wait! Stand By! No, fire on the OTHER square building!

etc.

In other words, even with a ground team, and humans on the aerial
ship, it was confusion city. Hell you can't tell one turban head from
another, so kill 'em all, eh?

Does anybody really imagine that some guy looking at an umanned
drone's fuzzy TV image is going to be better at selecting targets to
kill? Oh, sure, these are only going to be used for recon. Right, and
my mother-in-law will do the intel.

I'm beginning to believe that SNAFU mentality is typical of the
military.


But when the day dawns with a sky full of military UAVs with their
pilots safely on the ground, do you think there might be some impact
on civil aviation? Its difficult enough to see-and-avoid when you're
in the cockpit. I would imagine it might be more difficult over a
telemetry link, and the self-preservation motive for diligent traffic
scan is removed. Sometimes the 21st century is frightening....