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US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

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Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#331

Post by warumdarum »

InitialLastName wrote: post #255
sph wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That applies everywhere. You’re commenting on a forum for startups that compete against established players. David will always, in the long run, win against Goliath.

> David will always, in the long run, win against Goliath. Every Goliath may, in the long run, meet a David that beats it, but this premise ignores all the thousands of Davids that don't win.

Historybooks are 90% filled with tales of exterminations, slaughter of citystates and permanent area destruction.

If you glass the villages and salt the fields, you even win against the taliban and vietkong.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#332

Post by opo »

legitster wrote: post #89
mrtksn wrote: post #28

I’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…

The truth is that bombing campaigns alone have never been an effective way to end a conflict. All they do is strengthen resolve. Even the most extreme case of the nuclear bombs in Japan - had Russia not also invaded from the North with 1.5 million troops, there's a chance they would not have surrendered (and even then it was after a multi-year bombing campaign that eviscerated every other city). The only realistic sc…

>...had Russia not also invaded from the North with 1.5 million troops, there's a chance they would not have surrendered

The Japanese had already moved all of their experienced troops from Manchuria before the Soviet invasion. They were maybe surprised that the USSR would break the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, but the defense of the home islands was their main concern at that point.

The Japanese knew the USSR was not a threat to the main islands as the Soviets could never have done a large invasion of Japan. The Soviets had a few ships that the USA had given them as part of Project Hula, but that is nothing compared to what would be needed for a full scale invasion of Japan. The Soviets did have plans to possibly attack Hokkaido, but as the wikipedia entry says "...Historians have generally considered it unlikely that an invasion of Hokkaido would have succeeded. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_Soviet_invasion_of_Ho...

In comparison, the proposed allied invasion was planned to have 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts. Even that wasn't considered enough:

>...Ken Nichols, the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District, wrote that at the beginning of August 1945, "[p]lanning for the invasion of the main Japanese home islands had reached its final stages, and if the landings actually took place, we might supply about fifteen atomic bombs to support the troops."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#333

Post by holgerschurig »

dataviz1000 wrote: post #26

There are ~350,000,000 of us. When I read we spent $1B, I think about how I'm responsible for $3 of that. It doesn't matter considering the ~$117,550 of the national debt I'm responsible for. It palls compared to the $3,000 a year in interest towards the national debt I'm responsible for. What boggles my mind is that I make coffee at home because I'm frugal. I guess it is good the government and DoD are seeking cheap…

Na, there aren't "~350,000,000 of us".

You are just assuming that the whole readership of Hacker News are US-citizens.

I, for example, are from an EU country. So "there are 450,000,000 of us" if I'd had a similar attitude.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#334

Post by fragmede »

5upplied_demand wrote: post #248
toephu2 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

88.5%, to be precise.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#335

Post by leonidasrup »

legitster wrote: post #89
mrtksn wrote: post #28

I’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…

The truth is that bombing campaigns alone have never been an effective way to end a conflict. All they do is strengthen resolve. Even the most extreme case of the nuclear bombs in Japan - had Russia not also invaded from the North with 1.5 million troops, there's a chance they would not have surrendered (and even then it was after a multi-year bombing campaign that eviscerated every other city). The only realistic sc…

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was just the beginning. At the time of bombing of Nagasaki already a third nuclear weapon was been assembled.

There were plans to increase the A-bomb production rate. After November 1945 U.S. would produce a atomic bomb every 10 days. The production rate for year 1946 was planned to be 6 bombs every month.

https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1...

So after 1946 there would be not much of Japan left to invade.

The bombing of Iran is nowhere the scale of bombing of Japan, see for example the fire bombing of Tokyo.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#336

Post by defrost »

leonidasrup wrote: post #335
legitster wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is that bombing campaigns alone have never been an effective way to end a conflict. All they do is strengthen resolve. Even the most extreme case of the nuclear bombs in Japan - had Russia not also invaded from the North with 1.5 million troops, there's a chance they would not have surrendered (and even then it was after a multi-year bombing campaign that eviscerated every other city). The only realistic sc…

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was just the beginning. At the time of bombing of Nagasaki already a third nuclear weapon was been assembled. There were plans to increase the A-bomb production rate. After November 1945 U.S. would produce a atomic bomb every 10 days. The production rate for year 1946 was planned to be 6 bombs every month. https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1... So after 1…

Kind of moot given Japan surrendered.

Had they not, the carpet bombings would have continued - not just the fire bombing of Tokyo, another 71 cities had also been bombed flat. With H&N that made a total of 74 cities down and a list of targets for future bombing still ready to work through.

FWiW the HE+incendiaries bombings used more planes but were cheaper overall than (at that time) atomic weapons - and (at that time) caused much the same amount of damage, injury, and death.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#337

Post by LadyCailin »

5upplied_demand wrote: post #208
milkytron wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the push for reproduction from this admin and his technocrats, I'm curious if they would consider something like this.

One would think, but the flip-side is that this supports more women in the workforce. Traditional roles of men working and women caring for kids seems like a bigger priority of this admin. I do think it is a policy point that Democrats should absolutely be hammering them on. This is pro-worker and pro-family at very low cost.

Most of republican’s decisions become much more logically consistent once you realize they just want to control people, primarily women and minorities. It isn’t and has never been about “family values” or “religious freedom” or “small government”. If it was about those things, they would look far more like democrats.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#338

Post by LadyCailin »

holgerschurig wrote: post #333
dataviz1000 wrote: post #26

There are ~350,000,000 of us. When I read we spent $1B, I think about how I'm responsible for $3 of that. It doesn't matter considering the ~$117,550 of the national debt I'm responsible for. It palls compared to the $3,000 a year in interest towards the national debt I'm responsible for. What boggles my mind is that I make coffee at home because I'm frugal. I guess it is good the government and DoD are seeking cheap…

Na, there aren't "~350,000,000 of us". You are just assuming that the whole readership of Hacker News are US-citizens. I, for example, are from an EU country. So "there are 450,000,000 of us" if I'd had a similar attitude.

Presumably “us” is “population of the US”, not HN readers.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#339

Post by Lomlioto »

CMay wrote: post #327
Lomlioto wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA Military strategists are/were quite aware that Iran is not an easy target. They knew already that Iran might not belly up just because their leadership gets killed. And they knew very well how Iran is fighting (in the mountains) and that they will close the strait of hormuz Trump overruled it. He thought it was as easy as venezuela and he might have assumed that the civil unrest helps.

I suppose you have reliable sources for this?

There were plenty of YT Videos of Military analysis and News Paper articles about why USA suddenly attacked Iran.

Adelson Family as donor to Trump and Bibi.

Other donors might have motivated him too: Bernard Marcus and Paul Singer

I can't collect though a list of sources to read through for my statements. But i don't think my view is very controversal at all.

Re: US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

#340

Post by codeduck »

warumdarum wrote: post #331
InitialLastName wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> David will always, in the long run, win against Goliath. Every Goliath may, in the long run, meet a David that beats it, but this premise ignores all the thousands of Davids that don't win.

Historybooks are 90% filled with tales of exterminations, slaughter of citystates and permanent area destruction. If you glass the villages and salt the fields, you even win against the taliban and vietkong.

> If you glass the villages and salt the fields, you even win against the taliban and vietkong.

You may win tactically, but you lose strategically - firstly by demonstrating that surrender is pointless, and secondly by creating a martyr movement across the world.

When you sow fields with salt, the only harvest you should reasonably expect is more blood.

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