3 ms·

you want to make sure anyone thinks it would be suicidal to challenge you in order to call it deterrance e.g. if the US Navy wasn't vastly superior, shipping r

you want to make sure anyone thinks it would be suicidal to challenge you in order to call it deterrance e.g. if the US Navy wasn't vastly superior, shipping routes would be constantly threatened if you get to the point of being at actual peer level, you're past done. Look at China: they're still not there, and yet they're aggressively taking positions in the South China sea

close04 8y ago
This isn't to challenge Russia or China, that war will be fought at least initially from behind a computer screen and if they do their job right the other side will take some huge blows where it hurts before the first bullet is fired - civilian life: utilities companies, internet infrastructure, communications & satellites, etc. A soldier is trained to have a harder life. How about your average Joes? This is aimed squarely at selling to allies and at projecting power in some random corner of the world that couldn't respond in kind even if they wanted to. All the fancy tech all sides are parading is mostly for propaganda reasons. How useful is a drone that relies on GPS signals that to this day are easily spoofed or jammed? How useful is an ultra-expensive stealth fighter that's not invisible to enemy radar? A war between peer-countries is not good for the wallet. Unlike small wars against enemies that are more likely to fling rocks at you [0]. Then you get the chance to equip your (also rock flinging) local allies with your tech, assist them in fighting, etc. For a price of course. [0] relative power compared to big game military.
- mr_overalls 8y ago
  > How useful is a drone that relies on GPS signals that to this day are easily spoofed or jammed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system
  - close04 8y ago
    And here I was talking about precision warfare... :) Guess an accumulated error in the Kilometers range shouldn't be an issue. Military drones have already been hijacked using GPS spoofing so I'll be skeptic regarding the guidance system being bullet proof thanks to INS.
    - mr_overalls 8y ago
      Good point. And I thought I was being clever! ;-)

close04 8y ago

This isn't to challenge Russia or China, that war will be fought at least initially from behind a computer screen and if they do their job right the other side will take some huge blows where it hurts before the first bullet is fired - civilian life: utilities companies, internet infrastructure, communications & satellites, etc. A soldier is trained to have a harder life. How about your average Joes? This is aimed squarely at selling to allies and at projecting power in some random corner of the world that couldn't respond in kind even if they wanted to. All the fancy tech all sides are parading is mostly for propaganda reasons. How useful is a drone that relies on GPS signals that to this day are easily spoofed or jammed? How useful is an ultra-expensive stealth fighter that's not invisible to enemy radar? A war between peer-countries is not good for the wallet. Unlike small wars against enemies that are more likely to fling rocks at you [0]. Then you get the chance to equip your (also rock flinging) local allies with your tech, assist them in fighting, etc. For a price of course. [0] relative power compared to big game military.

mr_overalls 8y ago
> How useful is a drone that relies on GPS signals that to this day are easily spoofed or jammed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system
- close04 8y ago
  And here I was talking about precision warfare... :) Guess an accumulated error in the Kilometers range shouldn't be an issue. Military drones have already been hijacked using GPS spoofing so I'll be skeptic regarding the guidance system being bullet proof thanks to INS.
  - mr_overalls 8y ago
    Good point. And I thought I was being clever! ;-)