5 ms·
There is also a great deal of fetishizing of these black programs and post-hoc creation myths that assume a level of advancement that simply does not exist and
by evgen 7y ago
There is also a great deal of fetishizing of these black programs and post-hoc creation myths that assume a level of advancement that simply does not exist and did not exist at the time. As a simple example, you are confusing the Pioneer drone (developed in the late 80s, deployed in Desert Storm, basically an RC plane with a video camera) with the Predator. The Predator was not ever used in Desert Storm and in fact the program was only started just prior to that conflict. Given that drones have existed since the 30s and the initial base that was used to develop the Predator started as a cruise missile, which have been widely known since the early 80s, I am not quite sure why you think drone development was a surprise to anyone other than the casual, ill-informed public.
- mike_hock 7y agoAlso, fetishizing instruments of death because of the "cool tech."
- stronglikedan 7y agoThe two are mutually exclusive, so the "cool tech" can always be appreciated for what it is.
- KineticLensman 7y agoYes. The British Army was actively using drones from 1999 [0]. The unarmed Phoenix system was developed to support artillery forward observers, and used in the Balkan wars and Gulf War 1. It was operated by the artillery regiments, not TLA hoods. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Phoenix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Phoenix
- 2rsf 7y agoIsrael pioneered UAVs as early as 1982 [1] and Firebee's regularly flew over Vietnam [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Scout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Scout [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Model_147 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Model_147
- mcguire 7y agoThis is all true. Plus, the military, like aerospace, is inherently technologically conservative: it doesn't fly unless it's flown before. On the other hand, governments can throw a lot of money at an interesting topic. See John Clark's Ignition! for rocket fuels.