• CubitOom@infosec.pub
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    5 months ago

    We are in another middle east quagmire, harming civilians, and committing war crimes under the orders of a Republican child rapist felon – maybe by chance

  • XLE@piefed.socialBanned from community
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    5 months ago

    “Military helicopter intercepted Iranian drone”

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The article is making a big deal about the huge price disparity, which I get. But on the other hand, this is basically true about all missiles. As a rule, missiles are cheaper than the vehicles you destroy with them.

    I’m sure you could find a few exceptions, but in general missiles are much cheaper than aircraft, and a “kamikaze drone” is just a guided missile.

    • T3CHT @sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      You’re right AND The big deal about drones is they are even cheaper and easier to make than missiles.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      The point is more that even wars come down to economy.

      All other things being equal, (s)he with the biggest economic breath has the biggest chance of winning

      Where things get less equal is when you start destroying 25 million dollars of your opponent at the cost of 25 thousand for yourself.

      This means, again all other things being equal, and assuming that you can continue making these kills, that your opponent needs an economy a thousand times larger than yours to be able to continue this in a sustainable way

      This is in part also why Ukraine has been so successful against Russia, they found ways to cause millions of dollars worth of damage to Russia with relatively tiny budgets. Also, Ukraine’s focus is on crippling the Russian economy while Russia is still using the “let’s murder and terrorize their entire population” strategy from WWII which hasn’t worked out well for them

  • credo@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The math works out in the Drones’ favor I think. $25M/$35K -> a 1:714 ratio of helicopters to drones, on a dollar-to-dollar basis. So… I’d say “by probability” instead.

    • rynn@piefed.social
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      5 months ago

      This is the primary reason the us military budget should go from 1.5 trillion to 0.5 trillion. If we shifted to drone dominance the cost would go way down, we’d have a stronger military, and we could use that extra trillion to pay down debt, fund more healthcare, share profits with US citizens, the list of possible amazing things is huge.

      Will we do this? Maybe eventually but not while we have big strong dumbass in charge.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        5 months ago

        Will we do this? Maybe eventually but not while we have big strong dumbass billionaire business titans in charge.

      • MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
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        5 months ago

        World needs less weapons, not more, cheaper ones (making human life even cheaper). Find a better list (healthcare is fine, like civilized countries have). Maybe some soft power helping others, oh, wait, mad king…

      • belochka@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        If it took Russia so long with far smaller military budget, for USA it would take an existential war, so abundance of funds is sort of a defense social contract. Things cost 5x what they could, but they get designed, produced, procured, maintained and combined into a system.

        Unless there’s some political struggle where the old military industry supports one side and the other needs a new military.

  • bitteroldcoot@piefed.social
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    5 months ago

    The Apache was deployed because its sensors could detect and shoot down drones. There is no way it was downed by a drone.

    It wasn’t designed for a marine environment. This is a complex piece of equipment that most likely failed due to salt corrosion.

    The USA has a long history of faking attacks to justify wars.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(1890)#Sinking
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident#Second_alleged_attack

    • GardenGeek@europe.pub
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      5 months ago

      The Apache could also possibly have been downed by Israel to sabotage the ‘peace talks’.

        • partofthevoice@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          How do you make sensors so good? Are you sensing air pressure disturbance, high frequency sound, electromagnetic radiation, … ?

          I only ask because I wonder if something like a basic mounted, no internal-targeting, missile would be detected. E.g., if all routing is determined before fire, pre-loaded, and the final payload flies without emitting a signature.

          At a cost difference of 1:700, I think you can afford to miss a few shots.

          • bitteroldcoot@piefed.social
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            5 months ago

            The drone engine is hot and traveling at subsonic speeds. Mostly it’s just the right radar and the right thermal sensors connected to the right software.

            A lot of modern platforms have networked capabilities so it’s not just a helicopter and a drone. Everything in the air and ground and at sea tend to work together.

            Well, it supposed to work together… I’ve been retire for about a decade. I’m sure they have moved on since i stopped paying attention.