Robot Wars - from AlJazeera Over the past decade, the US military has shifted the way it fights its wars, deploying more unmanned
systems in the battlefield than ever before. Today there are more than 7,000 drones and 12,000 ground robots in use by all branches
of the military. These systems mean less American deaths. They also mean less political risk for the US when it takes acts of
lethal force -- often outside of official war zones. But US lethal drone strikes in countries like Pakistan have brought up
serious questions about the legal and political implications of using these systems.
Fault Lines looks at how these new weapons of choice are allowing the US
to stretch the international laws of war and what it could mean when
more and more autonomy is developed for these lethal machines
X-47B - The Stealth Drone
A
revue of the first "cruise" flight of the U.S. Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration aircraft on Sept. 30, 2011.
The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. The X-47 began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and is now part
of the United States Navy's UCAS-D program to create a carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
- May 12, 2011
First Flight of Northrop Grumman X-47B UAV - Video from the first flight of the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system – Feb 4, 2011 at
Edwards AFB, CA.
Going to War, Predator Drone Style Video goes
into the "cockpit" of drone operations in
Afghanistan
controlled from Nevada
consoles, and shows what it's like to drive to work in the morning,
kill some "bad guys" with "precise" weapons that minimize collateral
damage, then drive home at night to talk with your kids about their
homework over your dinner.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/community/video/5075/remote-controlled_war/
Videojournalist David Axe Vignette on
Reapers & Predator Drones
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Freelance
videojournalist David Axe was recently embedded with the U.S. Air
Force at Kandahar Air Base in southern Afghanistan. He observed how
the U.S. Air Force uses Predator and Reaper drones.
Washington, DC
: 8 min.
Below
is a CBS TV "60 Minutes" story on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle's (UAV).
It is not a critical piece of journalism but is simply a piece of war promotional propaganda.
PW Singer on military robots and the future of war Feb 2009
Lockheed Morphing UAV
(Promotional video from Lockheed - August 2007)
"High performance jet fighters have used a variety of
morphing mechanisms in the past such as variable-sweep wings and
fowler flaps to expand the flight envelope and enhance mission
capability. The Morphing Aircraft Structures Program takes this
concept to a higher level. Radical shape changes such as a
significant increases or decreases in wetted area could allow a
single platform to conduct two or more diverse missions. The ability
to perform both high altitude persistent Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance and also rapidly respond to Time Sensitive
Targets could provide the warplanner with options not previously
available. Seamless skins, smart actuators and adaptive flight
control technologies are key to this revolutionary approach to
flexible combat aircraft design. Integration of network centric
interoperability and tailored survivability could produce a weapon
system that compliments state-of-the-art systems including the F-22A
and F-35."
Predator Drones July 2006
"The future of warfare lies within what looks like
an overgrown toy airplane. Watch as we dissect the Predator system,
from the Ground Control Station in Las Vegas to a Ku Band satellite
in orbit, then back down to the Predator in-flight over the
battlefield." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMh8Cjnzen8
