Actually, that's quite a technological achievement. I wonder if anyone seriously thought about the reaction of America's potential enemies to its possession of a completely new, arguably offensive weapon. Do we really want to start a new arms race? Whether we want it or not... that's what we just did. Welcome to the post-nuclear arms race.
Pr. Hollande's Defence Minister Le Drian in talks with U.S., Israel to buy drones
ReplyDeletehttp://www.euronews.com/newswires/1961414-france-in-talks-with-us-israel-to-buy-drones-minister/
Thanks, Enfant. Before long, every nation will have carrier-based drones. Then Israel, like the good son, will ask to borrow the carrier for his Saturday night date... %-)
DeleteGreat, we have a possible new weapon, but what is the point? What does this drone do, besides carrier-based take-offs and landings, that we can't already do with with our current drones at a lower price?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to blow something up, it is faster with cruise missiles fired from a B-52, and B-52s are a hell of a lot cheaper than aircraft carriers, to buy and to operate.
We've done something new and different - great, but let's not spend any money on doing it again unless someone can come up with a mission that actually requires this sort of equipment.
Bryan, according to WikiPedia, the cost of a cruise missile is about US$1.4mn, so that's not a really cheap way to do the job, either.
DeleteAs to what this drone does that current drones can't do, the answer is simple: this drone endangers a US$4.5bn aircraft carrier and its crew every time it takes off or lands. (Cost again per WikiPedia.) Who knows; that might spell a decisive victory... for the enemy, but hey, you can't have everything...
@#$%^&, Blogger is busy with its spam-whacker this morning. It even whacked my reply above. Didn't they learn anything from Richard Nixon, that when the blog owner does it, it's not spam? :-)
Delete