Politics

[cwpayton]

FOR those in the drone zone.

 

[cwpayton]

I think it's a great idea. If he show up its a show of power that he can demand Xi to show up.
If Xi doesn't show up, he takes offense.

Im betting he doesnt show.

 

[WAB]

Im betting he doesnt show.

I actually hope he does. I would much rather they were actually talking and trying to work out our differences.

 

[HookMeUpII]

FOR those in the drone zone.

That's funny. FYI, these things are the size of a small car.

 

[WAB]

That's funny. FYI, these things are the size of a small car.

So probably OO buck?

 

[Ridge Runner]

So probably OO buck?

Saw a pod cast on shotgun gauges past and present. There was also segments on ways hunters hunted waterfowl in America's frontier years and on loads and mention of reloading. Particularly the availability and using flechettes vs typical round shot.

My thinking: these drones must be legal game.

1. No nation(s) / government(s) or individual(s) are admitting ownership or responsibility.

2. These drones are in the Atlantic waterfowl flyway. Or perhaps in range or air space of a local trap or skeet club.

I'm thinking punk gun or howitzer, loaded with flechettes.

Perhaps a few discreet typical trophy photos. To go public with as "insurance" ....just in case.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Better penetration with #4 buck shot…..,

 

[cwpayton]

That's funny. FYI, these things are the size of a small car.

I heard the Gov. say they may be airplanes, not a chance, in the dark they would have to be IFR flight rules and IFR rules dont allow zipping around in multiple directions. Maybe military, but if they are not ours, we are indeed in trouble.

 

[Hunt anything]

Every light in the sky is now a drone, even in our sleepy little town on the gulf coast people claim they se drones flying around their house every night! This will get out of hand pretty soon if someone doesn’t come clean on these things.
We are sandwiched between 2 military bases , Kessler AFB to the west and Pensacola NAS to the east.

I agree with @Ridge Runner , a couple of 105s loaded with beehives should do the trick or the punt gun can be the new home defense weapon.

 

[cwpayton]

A few days ago the well known military expert Elon Musk opined that the F-35 was "obsolete" due to drones. Yesterday and today several papers are running with a story that Trump will cancel the program. Lockheed stock is down nearly 2% this morning and the rest of defense will also take a hit. The F-35 is in full rate production and is being purchased by several partner nations including Israel and most of NATO. There is not another fighter that can survive in the air against it unless perhaps a F-22. To date there are no operational fighter or fighter bomber drones. To cancel the program at this stage would be folly of an unimaginable scale on the belief that we can someday field a drone that can act as a fighter aircraft or fighter bomber. Meanwhile both China and Russia are fielding their first Gen 5 fighters which will outclass both the F-15 and F-16. Madness if true.

One of my worries about DOGE is its inability to actually affect structural change in any meaningful way or to touch the 3/4's of the budget dedicated to entitlement. Everyone inevitably is forced to turn to defense. Killing programs is always the one easy budget cut that can be made.

The B2 bomber is a good example. Billions go into research and development to create the aircraft over a decade, and just as it is going into production, the program is truncated to just 21 aircraft instead of the planned 132. Guess what that did to the cost per aircraft. Yet, those 21 have played a key role in every major airstrike carried in contested airspace for twenty years. None has ever been intercepted - likely never even acquired. But because we have so few, F-16's and F-17's have been used on deep penetration strikes for which they were not designed.

Another example is the Crusader artillery system. The first low rate production assemblies were being fabricated and the actual production plant was breaking ground in Oklahoma, when a brand new SECDEF, Donald Rumsfeld, decided to make a point that the country did not need to waste money on artillery when air power could provide all needed fire support. Within two years, that ignorant decision was costing lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US army is still operating a system that was first fielded in the fifties.

Elon Musk takes aim at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 as part of Trump’s efficiency efforts

Tesla and Space X’s Elon Musk is tasked with slashing federal spending as a co-leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency in Trump’s incoming...

www.dallasnews.com

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/worl...with-lockheed-martin-what-we-know/ar-AA1vHBV5

Elon Musk wants to ‘stop’ federal spending for Lockheed Martin’s F-35. Could that happen?

‘“I think that the biggest threat we’ve ever had to the plant exists now,’ said one North Texas federal lawmaker.

news.yahoo.com

Lockheed has responded that it is fake news.

https://insiderpaper.com/lockheed-m... see where they are building them for Turkey

http://

 

[cwpayton]

I see where they are building F-35,s for Turkey, I dont think they are to be trusted ,even as a nato member. The cost of procurement is inflated also due to the maintenance requirements as well as upgrades. Didn't congress refuses to sell the F-22 to any other countries to maintain the airplanes secrets and capabilities from falling into loose hands.

 

[CJW]

So probably OO buck?

Of TSS. Gotsta get the penetration.

 

[CJW]

I see where they are building F-35,s for Turkey, I dont think they are to be trusted ,even as a nato member. The cost of procurement is inflated also due to the maintenance requirements as well as upgrades. Didn't congress refuses to sell the F-22 to any other countries to maintain the airplanes secrets and capabilities from falling into loose hands.

No way we should be selling them that type of technology and capability. Their NATO membership should be reconsidered.

 

[steve white]

Biden's pardon counter......

1500 clemencies

39 pardons

and growing......he may surpass Obama's big number

Yes, and at least one of them a Chinese spy according to Mark Levin today. Is that normal?

 

[Red Leg]

I see where they are building F-35,s for Turkey, I dont think they are to be trusted ,even as a nato member. The cost of procurement is inflated also due to the maintenance requirements as well as upgrades. Didn't congress refuses to sell the F-22 to any other countries to maintain the airplanes secrets and capabilities from falling into loose hands.

True. The F-22 was a national build from the beginning. It was, after all, the first gen 5 fighter 20 years ahead of its peers. It is analogous to the F-15 when it first appeared. However, the F-16 and F-35 were built by a consortium of nations. All of them allies.