The Predator drone has proven to be an effective weapon that offers both real-time surveillance and offensive firepower for troops on the ground. Pentagon officials plan to have fleets of weaponized drones that can identify and attack enemies without human guidance. (Los Angeles Times)
The Mother of All Bombs made news last week after the U.S. military dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb at a site in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province laced with tunnels that suspected Islamic State militants had been using, reportedly killing up to 36 of them instantly without harming any civilians. The 11-ton GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb never actually struck the ground.
Instead, by design, it detonated over the target, lacing the air with fuel, which then atomized in a second explosion, creating immense atmospheric “overpressure” in the area that can kill people underground by turning their bodies “inside out,” in the evocative phrase of former Air Force Special Operations combat controller Edward Priest.
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WNU Editor: Autonomous weapon system platforms are the future .... low costs and reliability being the main factors why.
