Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets • Hacker News Board

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#71

Post by yakshaving_jgt » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:32 AM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #67

ranger_danger wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I think military is just a scapegoat for these people, their real mission (like many before them) seems to be using the lack of CoC acceptance as their own weapon to justify bullying them for having opinions they don't like. That has always been the MO. They want the CoC to be able to silence undesired speech in the first place, and if they refuse, it becomes their strawman to allow them to keep arguing the…

While the phenomenon you describe certainly exists, it is vital to separate it from the phenomenon of not wanting to support the US "defense" sector. I do not identify as a leftist, and would not be considered one, but as an aerospace engineer I would never work for something that aids the US war machine. Those weapons are never used in "defense". Do they defend an unsustainable way of life ? Sure.

The last time I saw one of these weapons in use was when I was standing in my kitchen in Ukraine and through the window I could see a missile take down a russian suicide drone.

How is that not defence?

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#72

Post by rhaps0dy » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:32 AM UTC

pupileater wrote: post #69

What's with defense and militech companies using Tolkien nomenclature as branding?

I think it's a feature of followers of Peter Thiel Thought (and, in this case, Peter Thiel was one of the early investors).

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#73

Post by 4gotunameagain » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:35 AM UTC

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #71

4gotunameagain wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the phenomenon you describe certainly exists, it is vital to separate it from the phenomenon of not wanting to support the US "defense" sector. I do not identify as a leftist, and would not be considered one, but as an aerospace engineer I would never work for something that aids the US war machine. Those weapons are never used in "defense". Do they defend an unsustainable way of life ? Sure.

The last time I saw one of these weapons in use was when I was standing in my kitchen in Ukraine and through the window I could see a missile take down a russian suicide drone. How is that not defence?

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

Ukraine is the only case. And let's not forget that the US is indirectly responsible for the Russian invasion.

I know that it is very hard for you to see things objectively, and I am sorry for what you and your country is experiencing.

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#74

Post by yakshaving_jgt » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:36 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #48

relativ575 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kyiv would still be the right location. Russia want anything that may distract the world's attention from the crimes they commit everyday in Ukraine.

Russia's aggression against Ukraine, started a decade ago, the war on Palestinians has been going on for ~55 years.

I don’t think it’s right to make comparisons like this. But if you really want to go there, have you tried comparing the death toll? In Ukraine, it’s likely around three quarters of a million dead in two years.

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#75

Post by jagger27 » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:38 AM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #73

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I saw one of these weapons in use was when I was standing in my kitchen in Ukraine and through the window I could see a missile take down a russian suicide drone. How is that not defence?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... Ukraine is the only case. And let's not forget that the US is indirectly responsible for the Russian invasion. I know that it is very hard for you to see things objectively, and I am sorry for what you and your country is experiencing.

The objectives of a land grabbing tyrant are what’s objective. You can’t be serious.

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#76

Post by 4gotunameagain » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:39 AM UTC

jagger27 wrote: post #75

4gotunameagain wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... Ukraine is the only case. And let's not forget that the US is indirectly responsible for the Russian invasion. I know that it is very hard for you to see things objectively, and I am sorry for what you and your country is experiencing.

The objectives of a land grabbing tyrant are what’s objective. You can’t be serious.

As you might be aware, which I cannot be certain of given your insubstantial reply, international geopolitics are usually a bit more nuanced than an aggressive "land grabbing tyrant".

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#77

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:44 AM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #76

jagger27 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The objectives of a land grabbing tyrant are what’s objective. You can’t be serious.

As you might be aware, which I cannot be certain of given your insubstantial reply, international geopolitics are usually a bit more nuanced than an aggressive "land grabbing tyrant".

[deleted]

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#78

Post by matthewmacleod » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:56 AM UTC

Dalewyn wrote: post #42

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diversifying the economy is a pathway to winning wars. Limiting themselves to a few expensive and stagnant vendors is a way to lose in the future. Other countries make these things much more efficiently because they don’t have lazy governments captured by old companies. Also I have no idea what this has to do with “diversity” or what you even mean by that.

>Also I have no idea what this has to do with “diversity” or what you even mean by that. Diversity, or "the condition of having or being composed of differing elements"[1], in this case a wide variety of suppliers. I assume most of us are speaking English here. [1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diversity >Limiting themselves to a few expensive and stagnant vendors is a way to lose in the future. You win…

…and at the level of the DoD your goals include ensuring that there ARE as many capable suppliers as possible, using your commercial power, to increase your chances of “winning wars as effectively as possible”.

Wars are won on logistics; a corrupt, stagnant, or under-innovating market is a barrier to successful defence.

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#79

Post by matthewmacleod » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:58 AM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #76

jagger27 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The objectives of a land grabbing tyrant are what’s objective. You can’t be serious.

As you might be aware, which I cannot be certain of given your insubstantial reply, international geopolitics are usually a bit more nuanced than an aggressive "land grabbing tyrant".

And as you might be aware, sometimes they aren’t.

Re: Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

#80

Post by ninetyninenine » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 7:07 AM UTC

anyfactor wrote: post #40

Is Anduril really that good? I am trying to figure out what is the potential of Anduril is. Their first phase product was in observability towers for border protection, then they made drone-ramming drones and now unmanned fighter jets. I am genuinely curious. I was in the whole retail investor space since early 2010s which saw the EV hype. Workhorse was supposed to supply vans for federal postal vans, Nikola had that…

I worked there. Think: budget defense contractor and you'll be really accurate.

Their whole thing is to move fast and produce shit that breaks often and a lot. Pretty unreliable overall.

Their major success is marketing and B2G (business to government) and funding. Ultimately it is these three things that will make them successful. You iterate on crap long enough (which defense contracts tend to allow) eventually there's a good chance it will get good.

I would say anduril can't hold a candle to any chinese company in the same space. That being said Chinese companies can't yet hold a candle to the old US defense contractors.

The hype for anduril is through the roof though. Many people in the company and outside have drunk the koolaid and will vehemently deny what I'm saying here.

to sum it up:

When I was there, there was a story of this general who suddenly (off schedule) told anduril to test their drone ramming system to see if it worked. The startled field operator turned it on, and the entire thing fucking failed. And Anduril STILL won the billion dollar contract. Oh yeah this is supposed to be "classified" but I could give a flying shit. Very flagrant misuse of government secrecy protocols to hide incompetency.

It's probably better now, but I'm positive Even to this day, if you launch 8 cheap ass drones simultaneously at their defense system you WILL overwhelm it.