“OH WHERE OH WHERE HAS MY LITTLE DRONE GONE?”

“OH WHERE OH WHERE HAS MY LITTLE DRONE GONE?”

(BETABEAT, Jordan Valinsky, Huffington Post, NPR)

(Kimberly Dozier, The Daily Beast, Frazer Chronicle)

A good cocktail party joke, a $4 million dollar military drone fell into Lake Ontario and nobody can find it, it’s gray in color with no discernible markings, if found, don’t tell anybody, and call your nearest military base for further instructions, there’s also a reward for its return.

How in hell can you lose a $4 million dollar piece of hardware, what with all the sophisticated tracking devices that are in use today? The National Coast Guard reported that one of its flying robots plummeted into the eastern part of the lake around 1:00 P.M. Wednesday, November 13. A search was initiated, but had to be called off because of inclement weather and darkness.

The drone in question, a MQ-9 Reaper, was on a practice mission over military-controlled waters when it suddenly crashed about three hours into the session. The unarmed drone was being operated from the New York Air National Guard’s 174^th Attack Wing in Syracuse. A Coast Guard vessel and helicopter were deployed to find it, but…..uh…..couldn’t. Apparently the phrase “calling all drones” didn’t work.

For now the Reaper has been grounded, or is it Grim Reaper, no matter; there aren’t any more flights until a board of inquiry takes control of the impending investigation. At a press conference, Col. Greg Semmel explained the situation as best as he could.

“The mission was going as advertised”…..whoa, wait just a minute here…..stop, these missions with the drones are never advertised, it’s why I can’t get any information on the number that the U.S. has in its arsenal. The stealth that these people work under would be another reason why the missions aren’t announced, how could they otherwise pull their spy gigs off?

Anyways the good Colonel tried to let the media know…..stealthily, what was going on…..”The mission was going as advertised up to the point where we did lose control of the airplane.” Col. Semmel did reassure everybody that there were “no injuries” presumably because the drone is unmanned and the lake is very cold this time of year. So if you see something…..say something!

WHAT IS A MILITARY DRONE AIRCRAFT

“I can’t tell you cause I’d have-ta kill ya,” no I’m just kidding, the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator s built by General Atomics Aeronautical and their drone military contracts with the Pentagon are worth a cool $2.38 billion, with a unit cost of $4.3 million…..and there have been 360 MG-1 Predators build. The good part of the history of this company is…..their MG-1 Predator which has morphed into the MQ-9 Reaper; you know that one, at least one of these got lost in Lake Ontario.

These babies are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and are used primarily by the United States and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Initially conceived in the early 1990’s for reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator carried cameras and other sensors…..but was modified and upgraded to carry and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions.

The aircraft has been in use since about 1995, and has seen combat over Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia. That’s where the gadget has been in action in other countries, however that’s not the whole story…..no-sir-ee, the things have been in action over at least Lake Ontario, and God only knows where else here in the United States.

Of course these new military toys need to be tested, and that’s exactly what happened in April and May, 1995, the Predator Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) flown as part of Roving Sands, a military exercised in the U.S. The operations exercises operations were successful, leading to the decision to deploy the units to the Balkans in the summer of 1995.

Thus was born the first United States elements of a remote control battle machine that can be operated from a ground control station. The number of these units that can be operated by one ground control station is classified, however, in 1995 one station could control up to four of these Predators.

AND THEN THOSE NOSY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS GOT INVOLVED

Well here we go again, those damn human rights groups and their righteous arguments about stuff like legalities, and their assertions that U.S. drone strikes targeting al-Qaida operatives and other enemies have inadvertently killed scores of civilians in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Of course the United States, the White House, and its military organizations rejected reports that any collateral damage occurred during the missions by the drones. However Human Rights Watch alleged that 82 people, at least 57 of them civilians, were killed by the unmanned aircraft and other aerial strikes in Yemen between September 2012 and June 2013. The organization called the strikes unlawful or indiscriminate. Amnesty, based in London, said it was concerned that the attacks outlined in reports may have resulted in unlawful killings that constitute extrajudicial executions or war crimes.

The United States is secretive  about their drone program, so secretive it makes it next to impossible to track innocent victims in these attacks. The numbers of innocent’s deaths is an issue for debate, and sadly without exception U.S. military refuses to admit to any mistakes.

Without exception the United States, Pakistan, and Yemen have created a wall of secrecy and allegiance, answering any questions about civilian deaths in a single voice of denial. In fact Pakistan officials regularly denounce the attacks in public as a violation of the country’s sovereignty, but senior members of the government and the military are known to support the strikes in the past.

The United States drone policy seems to be setting a dangerous precedent, that other states may seek to exploit, to avoid responsibility for their own unlawful killings. American’s and most of the rest of the world are expected to trust…..or to use the old leap of faith jump. Personally I don’t trust any of them…..and I never have.

U.S. DRONE PROGRAM IS FATALLY FLAWED

Armed drones are a prominent feature in U.S. counterterrorism efforts around the world, the unmanned aerial vehicles are used regularly to surveil and strike targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Yemen and Somalia. Wait…..we aren’t at war with Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, what the hell are we poking around these countries looking for fresh meat, “targets” for?

Some would argue that drones are highly effective tools in conflict situations; drones can conduct long-term surveillance, and when combined with other forms of intelligence, supporters argue, can identify individual targets with a high degree of efficiency, thereby minimizing harm to civilians.

Let’s hold on right here for a minute…..minimizing harm to civilians…..are you cracked, even one mistake is too much…..especially when these strikes take place on foreign soil. Who the hell set the United States up as judge and jury anyways? Is our military officialdom that itchy to kill people who are perceived to be our enemies?

Another flaw in our drone program is a stated benefit, “drones are unmanned, they can be controlled from great distances, and pose little physical risk to their American operators”…..possibly the only risk would be a short circuit or faulty wiring in these ground control centers. Yah I guess you could categorize the danger factor as about zero

The flaw with the drone program in the long range control issue would be the simple act that warfare can be waged remotely, and in relative safety for almost all U.S. personnel involved.  Exactly what is the incentive to stop the war…..let me enlighten you…..none, zero, zip, nada…..just the way the Pentagon and the White House like it. It makes war an almost non-injury event with regards to casualties.

I remember when I was in the military and being attached as a medic to a 105 Howitzer unit back in 1964, and how I was amazed at how these weapons could zero in (acquire a target coordinance) and hit it from 20 miles away 9 out of every 10 times. But now a drone isn’t manned, is silent and can creep right up on a target and blast away.

Some talk about the drone attacks being nothing more than targeted assassinations and therefore raise legal and moral questions. Look, right up front let’s not even use the word moral here, no matter which side of the fence  your on with regards to the drone program…..there is no high ground or morality, I swear that some of these attacks are staged to see how the system is running!

Another fact of the fatally flawed is the fact that there aren’t any safeguards instituted, I watch movies, I’ve seen Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan, and how the U.S. shot terrorists 10,000 feet away all by satellite…..that movie was in the early 1990’s we’re now in the second decade of the 21^st century, and we actually have these capabilities…..isn’t it scary.

“Oh where or where has my little drone gone, to drop a bomb on Pittsburgh you idiot”

HAVE A NICE DAY!