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Machine rebellion begins: Killer robot destroyed by US jet


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Machine rebellion begins: Killer robot destroyed by US jet

 

Rogue droid 'was attempting to cross border'

By Lewis PageGet more from this author

Posted in Science, 15th September 2009 11:42 GMT

Free whitepaper – The human factor in laptop encryption

An American "Reaper" flying hunter-killer robot assassin rebelled against its human controllers above Afghanistan on Sunday, and a manned US fighter jet was forced to shoot the rogue machine down before it unilaterally invaded a neighbouring country.

The Reaper, aka MQ-9 or Predator-B, is a large five-ton turboprop powered machine able to carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles - each capable of destroying a tank or flattening a building. It is used by the US and British forces above Afghanistan as a "persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets".

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/15/killer_robot_killed_by_fighter_jet/

 

 

 

 

Nothing to do with ArchViz, but pretty darn interesting.

 

 

 

If SkyNet is starting to probe the waters, I think it's time to leave the computers (before they turn on us) and get Back to Nature...

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My brother is a predator pilot and spent over a year in Iraq flying surveillance planes, he has told me about several close calls they had while flying in formation with these predator drones looking for insurgents. Basically the drones are flown via line of sight with a satellite, if the contact is broken the drone is pre programmed to clime to a certain altitude and fly in a circular pattern until contact is re-established. The problem is that it will execute this maneuver whether or not other planes are around, my brothers plane was directly over the drone when it decided to start climbing to it's pre determined altitude and wait for contact. He said he could have reached out the window and touched it and they would have collided if they hadn't taken evasive action. The idea that they could go rogue and kill anyone on ridiculous, they can't even land or take off without a human pilot.

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Def. Tongue in Cheek and the phrase "unilaterally invaded a neighbouring country" just grabbed my Geek Antenna bigtime.

 

I saw on the series "Future Weapons" about a drone helicopter than can be slaved to follow a Big, Honking Chopper. It basically acts as a Scout for the manned chopper. The Big Chopper can use the weapon locks from the unmanned chopper to fire its own weapons, too.

 

Pretty snazzy.

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Devin: I think that part was a joke. But the idea of the drones flying patterns on their own without radar to avoid things or GPS to avoid borders also sounds a bit less than ideal.

 

The Air Force is still flying a lot of the first generation drones which had very limited abilities but the next generation will almost be able to fly them selves.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's time to hide before our Machine Overlords take us all out...

(*the Sunni's were (in)famous for their role in the Saddam regime, thus the "coincidence" that it crashed into their building)

 

 

U.S. drone crashes into Iraq political party office

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/26/AR2009092600963.html

 

Saturday, September 26, 2009; 10:01 AM

 

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - An unmanned U.S. reconnaissance drone crashed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul early on Saturday, hitting the offices of one of Iraq's biggest political parties, the U.S. military said.

 

No injuries were reported, and there was no indication the aircraft was shot down, said Major Derrick Cheng, a military spokesman in northern Iraq.

 

Cheng said it was a coincidence that the drone struck the local offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab political group, the military said.

 

The U.S. military frequently deploys drones in Iraq as part of measures to counter roadside bombs. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

 

(Reporting by Jamal al-Badrani and Mohammed Abbas: editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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  • 4 weeks later...

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