I live hundreds of miles inland. Go for it!

Hate to say it, but this sounds AWESOME!!!

Smeggy Smurf: Kyle Reese had better get his ass born soon

He was born after Judgement Day

What's the problem? These sound like a really helpful Godzilla Early Detection System.

After watching all those documentaries about those giant monsters, I think we can all appreciate having advance notice of impending attacks. Japan is a strategic ally, and it's only a matter of time before we have to help them rebuild Tokyo again.

/those were documentaries, right?

Huh...  I thought they were just trying to create supply stations in the middle of the ocean that be raised and lowered when needed.  First I've heard about using them as secret drone pods or whatever.

MindStalker: Hate to say it, but this sounds AWESOME!!!

That's actually the first thing that popped into my head.

Funny how stupid people here the word "drone" and think "terminator". There are still people at the controls, this is only scary if you already don't trust them.

Crotchrocket Slim: Funny how stupid people here the word "drone" and think "terminator". There are still people at the controls, this is only scary if you already don't trust them.

Funny despite being college education AND having preview I'll still let one of these embarrassments through.

neversubmit: I live hundreds of miles inland. Go for it!

"On 24 April 2001 a Global Hawk flew non-stop from Edwards in the US to RAAF Base Edinburgh in Australia, making history by being the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean. The flight took 22 hours, and set a world record for absolute distance flown by a UAV, 13,219.86 kilometers (8,214.44 mi)"

Crotchrocket Slim: Funny how stupid people here the word "drone" and think "terminator". There are still people at the controls, this is only scary if you already don't trust them.

Someone trusts them?

cryinoutloud: Crotchrocket Slim: Funny how stupid people here the word "drone" and think "terminator". There are still people at the controls, this is only scary if you already don't trust them.

Someone trusts them?

This isn't the game changer paranoids want us to think it is in any case. This should not be scarier than the US already having a huge strategic nuclear submarine arsenal, an arsenal whose size has always been kept from the public.

You'd have to be pretty ignorant of the rest of the technology the military uses to think that drones are particular scary. Hell, they're actually far more accurate than cruise missiles and bombers; collateral damage (aka civilian death tolls) is greatly reduced by using drones.

stevetherobot: neversubmit: I live hundreds of miles inland. Go for it!

"On 24 April 2001 a Global Hawk flew non-stop from Edwards in the US to RAAF Base Edinburgh in Australia, making history by being the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean. The flight took 22 hours, and set a world record for absolute distance flown by a UAV, 13,219.86 kilometers (8,214.44 mi)"

Context matters unless the ocean based drones can fly.

Just wait until they become self-aware

Crotchrocket Slim: This isn't the game changer paranoids want us to think it is in any case. This should not be scarier than the US already having a huge strategic nuclear submarine arsenal, an arsenal whose size has always been kept from the public.

That's why I think this is unlikely for quite some time. The ocean is a terribly corrosive environment. That nuke arsenal, in fact all ocean-going assets, require a tremendous amount of periodic maintenance in order to remain operational. They're going to have a hell of a time keeping costs down while maintaining readiness.

neversubmit: stevetherobot: neversubmit: I live hundreds of miles inland. Go for it!

"On 24 April 2001 a Global Hawk flew non-stop from Edwards in the US to RAAF Base Edinburgh in Australia, making history by being the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean. The flight took 22 hours, and set a world record for absolute distance flown by a UAV, 13,219.86 kilometers (8,214.44 mi)"

Context matters unless the ocean based drones can fly.

FTFA:
"The agency described its Upward Falling Payloads program as an effort to hide underwater capsules that could be triggered remotely to activate, float to the surface and release their payloads of sensor buoys or even flying drones."

This also is ready to deploy from under the sea, but is most definitely lethal.

someone say drones?

/voyage to the bottom of obscure?

stevetherobot: neversubmit: stevetherobot: neversubmit: I live hundreds of miles inland. Go for it!

"On 24 April 2001 a Global Hawk flew non-stop from Edwards in the US to RAAF Base Edinburgh in Australia, making history by being the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean. The flight took 22 hours, and set a world record for absolute distance flown by a UAV, 13,219.86 kilometers (8,214.44 mi)"

Context matters unless the ocean based drones can fly.

FTFA:
"The agency described its Upward Falling Payloads program as an effort to hide underwater capsules that could be triggered remotely to activate, float to the surface and release their payloads of sensor buoys or even flying drones."

My fellow farkers told me I was being a weirdo for reading the articles so I stopped.

How much could a drone, drone if a drone, drones?

They're going to blow up the ocean!
/hot

Might want to get a pregnancy test subby, you appear to be missing periods.

Galloping Galoshes: Crotchrocket Slim: This isn't the game changer paranoids want us to think it is in any case. This should not be scarier than the US already having a huge strategic nuclear submarine arsenal, an arsenal whose size has always been kept from the public.

That's why I think this is unlikely for quite some time. The ocean is a terribly corrosive environment. That nuke arsenal, in fact all ocean-going assets, require a tremendous amount of periodic maintenance in order to remain operational. They're going to have a hell of a time keeping costs down while maintaining readiness.

So so really. You are aware that we have millions of dollars worth of steel equipment on the ocean floor for drilling, etc, right? The ocean resistance thing is pretty simple. Water and air tight containers inside the pod, with marine grade paint, thick steel, and anodes. The anodes are the critical part.

Submerged well heads and stuff last a long time. We've been putting tons of metal in the ocean for a long time. It's different when things aren't made to house humans.

USCLaw2010: [www.velocitygamer.com image 850x478]

First thing I thought of as well. Then I remembered how he became Avenged Sevenfold's biatch and laughed.

Um...why not just bury them under a mile of rock? What advantage, exactly, is there in putting these things under water? Do we not have the ability to deliver them quickly...like, say, from a jet? Is communication through miles of water a reliable thing?

Why not just fly them into the heart of the sun?

(That actually sounds even cooler.)

Water-based drones made sense as a next step for the military. Why not?

It's not like we don't have mines that fire torpedoes. And it's not like we've already seeded the world with them, just in case. And it's not like we don't have almost a hundred in the Straight of Hormuz.

We can relax. These things will probably just end up lying dormant, endlessly reconnecting to the TiVo service, and running Seti@home on the off-hours.

Obscure references are GO!

Is our government really this incompetent? I'm hoping the only reason they announce programs like this is because they want to make it sound like they're making strides, but actually have much better top secret projects already in place.

/In a panic they tried to pull the plug.....

It's all right, they can only be accessed by people with a certain gene while sitting in this chair

Great idea! If it's one thing the DOD isn't doing enough of it's spending money!

lets do this before the others catch on....