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Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

defenseone.com

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Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#2
I'm not surprised.

How hard would it be for an individual to mount an RPG or Liberator firearm payload on a sub $1k drone that can be piloted 20km?

I also expect drone regulations to increase considerably once attacks from such low-end drones start appearing.

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#3

I'm not surprised. How hard would it be for an individual to mount an RPG or Liberator firearm payload on a sub $1k drone that can be piloted 20km? I also expect drone regulations to increase considerably once attacks from such low-end drones start appearing.

Certainly not trivial, and certainly not for $1K. Perhaps in 10 years like the article suggests.

However, you could probably take an off-the-shelf large R/C plane or helicopter and put a small explosive payload in it, then crash it into somewhere. Even that would be hard to do for under $1K, and range would be limited.

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#4
> Armed aerial drones will be used for targeted killings, terrorism and the government suppression of civil unrest. What’s worse, say experts, it’s too late for the United States to do anything about it.

Yes, it would be best for only the US to have this technology, as they would surely only use it for good..

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#6
Love this:

“Once countries like China start exporting these, they’re going to be everywhere really quickly. Within the next 10 years, every country will have these,” Noel Sharkey

How about you change "China" to "USA" - Basically the same right? What's so wrong about China having drones that he singles them out?

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#7
post #4

> Armed aerial drones will be used for targeted killings, terrorism and the government suppression of civil unrest. What’s worse, say experts, it’s too late for the United States to do anything about it. Yes, it would be best for only the US to have this technology, as they would surely only use it for good..

This reminds me of the story about Theodore Hall, who gave secrets from the US atomic bomb projects to the USSR, allegedly for the sake of preventing a monopoly of such power by the US and balancing out the two major power blocs to prevent one from simply destroying the other, with all the associated horrors.

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#8
> Every country ... Only every country that is, wants to be or pretends to be a military power.

Many (smaller) countries realized long ago that if they would end up at war with a much larger neighbour, their own military power would be of no use, and gave up on maintaining and building self-sufficient military machines.

Instead, they focus on a certain aspect of military operations, and develop and maintain that segment of their armies in order to make a somewhat meaningful contribution to a certain alliance, hoping that alliance will help them should they ever need it.

Others gave up on having armed forces at all.

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#9

Love this: “Once countries like China start exporting these, they’re going to be everywhere really quickly. Within the next 10 years, every country will have these,” Noel Sharkey How about you change "China" to "USA" - Basically the same right? What's so wrong about China having drones that he singles them out?

Because it's the common perception that USA would never sell their weapons to terrorists or third world countries where there is little to no control over them, but China lacks such a moral compass and will sell to anyone who is willing to pay. A completely wrong perception, but there it is.

Re: Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years

#10

Love this: “Once countries like China start exporting these, they’re going to be everywhere really quickly. Within the next 10 years, every country will have these,” Noel Sharkey How about you change "China" to "USA" - Basically the same right? What's so wrong about China having drones that he singles them out?

I'm not sure he says it's wrong that China have drones - but china is already a well known supplier of technology and they havn't signed an international agreement against exchange of drone technology.

Thus, you're more likely to see China manufacturing and exporting drones to whomever wants to buy than the US.

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