Robots are saving American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan
An American soldier in Afghanistan is trailed by a radio-guided Talon robot which detects and destroys roadside bombs.
WASHINGTON -The Defense Department is rapidly expanding its army of robot warriors on land, air and sea in an effort to reduce American deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We want unmanned systems to go where we don't want to risk our precious soldiers," said Thomas Killion, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for research and technology.
Robots should take over many of the "dull, dirty and dangerous" tasks from humans in the war on terrorism, Killion told a conference of unmanned-system contractors in Washington last week.
Despite doubts about the cost and effectiveness of military robots, the Defense Department's new Quadrennial Defense Review, a strategic plan that's updated every four years, declares that 45 percent of the Air Force's future long-range bombers will be able to operate without humans aboard. No specific date was given.
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GG: Didn't mean to get your ire up so bad. I don't think a WWII & Vietnam comparison works with too many folks, be they historians or not. Ditto Iraq. NO good came from the Vietnam debacle. Vietnam fell.The USA is ready to forget & forgive & let U.S. companies start doing business with the "Commies".If you choose to believe that Iraq had WMD's when there is NO evidence that they did (even the Administration has been forced to admit that) you're certainly entitled to your opinion. (If you're right & the evidence is wrong, I owe you another apology.) I personally believe that the invasion of Iraq side-railed the fight in Afghanistan (which I support-I am NOT a pacifist) & took preeminence over the real terrorist bases there & in Pakistan. I still believe that Saudi Arabia is a snake regime that gives great comfort to Islamic terrorists but is left alone by the USA because so many of our wealthy people (including the Bush family) get rich because of oil deals with them, & I still believe that the Zionist influence in America (with their "friends" in the cabinet) over influenced the decission to invade Iraq.I also still believe that many soldiers I knew,and who were seriously hurt in Vietnam are still treated badly by the USA. War is needed, but bad leaders = bad results.
When I said 'we', I was talking to Tony who is from the US. And 'we' did get our tails kicked by the Axis for the first few years. There was Pear Harbor, we had a microscopic military, no modern fighters, no modern tanks, the 7th fleet lay in ruins. We had only 3 carriers for the entire Pacific. The American people wanted no part of a European conflict. The first American action of troops was under British command, and we got stomped by the Germans at Kasserine Pass in N. Africa. And yes...I understand that the British and French portion of the war started in Sept of 1939 and that the Brits fought the war alone, because being allied with the French is like being alone. Was there anything I missed?
The best way to NOT RISK our precious soldiers is for us to go pacifist and keep our noise out of other people's business. Which is exactly how we got the heck beat out of us at the beginning of WWII. We sent troops into Afganistan because of the Taliban giving aid and shelter to those members of the religion of Peace (Islam) which cause 9-11. We entered Iraq because Sadam was trying to build WMD's, he ordered aluminum tubes for centrifuges, he tried to buy 'yellow cake' uranium, he used Chemical agents (Alias:WMD's) on the Kurds, we found missiles capable of hitting Israel (one of the things on the list of NO-NO's by the impotent UN), we found shells filled with Sarin gas (Yes...Tony another WMD), they buried Jets in the desert. After warning the Iraqies for 10 years..."Now you better stop or we're gonna get mad here...one day....soon!" They had plenty of time to hide stuff in Syria or in Iraq. Sadam was killing his people...thats who is buried in those mass graves...not martians. If we were there to steal their oil, it wouldn't be so expensive in the US. Yes...we invent a defense and they invent a countermeasure. Should we stop! Rather than remembering a 35yr old anti-war song. Try remembering what the commie's really did to Vietnam.
This is laughable,sad,and macabre all at the same time.The best way to not "risk our precious soldiers" is to think beyond the immediate economic and political goals before sending troops into someone else's backyard to occupy their land."Pilotless planes?"How long before the same little street terrorists who are blowing up our vehicles using remote car keys will figure out out to take control of those pilotless planes and divert the mission from them to us? I am reminded of the old war protest song from the sixties entitled "He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame, His orders come from far away no more, They come from here and there and you and me, and brothers can't you see, This is not the way to put an end to war." Now we have the "Universal Robot Soldier Complete with Robotic plane and submarine". The toy companies will love this one. I'm happy to have something else we can spend tax dollars for instead of health care and prescription drug coverage for the elderly. Perhaps the Veterans Administration hospitals in the USA can do a better job using mechanics to fix shot robots then they are doing treating Vietnam Vets with Agent Orange disease. Remember Vietnam ? The new vacation spot for the rich! Domino Theory=WMD's=body bags. McNamara=Rumsfeld=Soldier Risk.
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