I imagine it's cheaper not to support Israeli aggression or to fuck with Iran over oil. Lessons we should have learned in 1973 and 1953.
US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
241–250 of 365 posts
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#242I’m no military expert by any means but US appears to be obsessed with destroying some super important target to win, like they did with killing Iran leaders only to find out that new leader replace the perished. The same with the other stuff, they have super important radar and super important ships that need to be defended and a failure creates irreplaceable loses. Iran on the other hand, just like with their super…
HN has been compromised by propaganda bots that can't decide between "The US is a paper tiger that can't win anything" and "The US is bullying poor Iran". Only a fool would think the US can't win militarily. Here's how: 1. Flatten Kharg 2. Flatten a dozen roads critical to transportation infrastructure 3. Continue the blockade 4. Stonewall peace attempts 5. Wait 5-6 weeks and win The Trump administration isn't doing…
Losing the war to avoid even bigger problems that’s not worth dealing with is pretty standard way of losing the war.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't overlook the "the people of this foreign land are yearning to be free of their current rulers, and just need a little help from their neighborly U.S. armed forces" trope. I think there are plenty of people who actually believe it.
People seem to forget that Iranians were rioting in the streets in the weeks leading up to the US attacking. The Iranian government was shooting protestors and pulled the plug on the internet. The US (well Israel) saw this as the stars aligning. Trump even called on Iranians early in the engagement to seize the opportunity. But the ground swell didn't happen, and the US got played. Trump rolled a critical fail.
The one surest way to stop a starting revolution is for a foreigner to start murdering civilians all around.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#244I worked on the control systems for Predators and Reapers back in the mid and late 00s, and the inefficiencies around process were enormous. Safety is extremely important, so you expect some slowness as a result, but it got pretty extreme. I remember one time having to do 6 weeks of testing around a one-line code change because a "helpful" dev fixed a small bug that had no practical impact. Yet because it changed the…
I don't really understand how any of this contributes to "defense". Sounds like "offense" to me. Just patrolling the skies over non-white countries and launching missiles at weddings. The reason the Pentagon invests so heavily in this kind of technology is our wars are so indefensible, they can't convince Americans to sacrifice blood in any quantity for other people's natural resources.
The best defense...
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who do you imagine is going to invade the USA?
Personally? China. Is it rational, IDK. It's just the largest more capable power at this moment. (particularly their industrial base and ability to out produce weapons / soldiers)
Why would they want to? China’s entire economic model relies on the US remaining a stable, wealthy consumer base for their industrial output. Physically invading your largest customer is a form of economic suicide.
They don't want to govern California; they want to ensure that the global infrastructure, shipping lanes, and institutions run on Chinese technology and standards. From Beijing's perspective, a kinetic war on the US mainland destroys the exact global economy they are trying to lead.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Ukraine, the first place that was bombed was the red tape factory. The drone industry was allowed to basically "do whatever as long as it works", consequences be damned. So they use civilian motors, batteries and SoCs, sketchy firmware with zero code inspection, and more. Does it work perfectly? No. It works well enough. I wonder if anyone is going to learn a lesson about overregulation. I'm not sure if "AI for re…
> I wonder if anyone is going to learn a lesson about overregulation. Seems unlikely. Regulation and Health & Safety are both societal luxuries, which only happen once societies are stable and prosperous enough to start valuing human life beyond its ability to perform labour. The moment the bombs start dropping, the time for luxuries also stops, and the value of human life drops to value a person can produce defendin…
And yet the regulation actually will result in more dead soldiers or else it wouldn't be the first thing that goes out the window in a war.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I read we spent $1B, I think about how I'm responsible for $3 of that. I like to think about how providing 4-week paid parental leave would cost $2 billion annually and actually help US families. Meanwhile we have spent over $100 billion on this war.
[flagged]
> the possible events that could lead to World War 3. Iran is directly connected to all of that.
If any event has pushed us closer to WW3 it is the US's decision to preemptively attack Iran.
> Seems like money well spent.
Based on what outcome? The regime is still intact, if not stronger. They are likely more resolute in wanting a nuclear weapon, as we almost certainly wouldn't have attacked them if they had one. They have validated their control over the Straight of Hormuz and it's impact on our economy.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I read we spent $1B, I think about how I'm responsible for $3 of that. I like to think about how providing 4-week paid parental leave would cost $2 billion annually and actually help US families. Meanwhile we have spent over $100 billion on this war.
California already more or less provides 8 weeks of paid parental leave (PFL program).
That is great, unfortunately almost 90% of the country lives in a state other than California.
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My favorite interview question: If I gave you a swarm of autonomous drones, what would you do with them? What signal are you looking for with that question? It feels much more like a thought experiment with friends while having a few pints than something reasonable for a job interview.
I would make them fly around helping people and stuff
World Peace
Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every mile of road is an operating expense. Looking at a report from NY state: > Based on aggregate highway spending reported in 2009, the average statewide cost of maintaining a lane mile was $13,841. source (pdf): https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/local-government/publications/p...
> Every mile of road is an operating expense. Has, not is. Clearly you didn’t take Intro to Object-Oriented Programming in CS.
Nah, I use rust so every mile implements OperatingExpense.