Tuesday, March 17, 2009

More Robot Fighting Machines: Ready or Not

"Drones Are Weapons of Choice in Fighting Qaeda" is the title of a story in the March 17th issue of The New York Times. Christopher Drew reports that 13 of 70 Predator drones crashed in the past 18 months, and "55 have been lost because of equipment failure, operator errors or weather." Nevertheless, the military is very happy with their performance and wants a speed-up in the delivery of new systems. "In speeches, defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has urged his weapons buyers to rush out ‘75 percent solutions over a period of months’ rather than waiting for ‘gold-plated’ solutions.” According to the article, there are presently 5500 military drones, of which 195 are Predators and 28 are Reapers.

Read the full article on The New York Times website.

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