Version: 2008

Comments on: Robot tiltrotor boxcar may fly Navy supply missions

An experimental unmanned flying cargo system, Baldwin Technology's Mono Tiltrotor, would integrate a coaxial rotor, a folding lifting wing system, and a lightweight airframe.

Add a Comment (Log in or register) (7 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by CitizenX March 21, 2009 5:52 PM PDT
There goes another few hundred billion dollars down the drain.
Reply to this comment
by SeizeCTRL March 21, 2009 7:47 PM PDT
Maybe we could use that hundred billion to buy flowers and send to Al Qaeda... maybe make them a few mix tapes with your favorite 60's classics. Sorry sparky, but the world isn't all roses and rainbows, there's no unicorns and happy fairy tale endings. It's a mean, dark and ugly place out there, filled with lots of people who hate us. Maybe one day it will be all peaches and cream like how you see in Star Trek, but we got a long way to go before we get there... until then, the military is definitely necessary and military technology always trickles down into unique and innovated civilian tech. From the internet to GPS, those hundreds of millions of dollars has went on to make your life better in some aspect.
by enovikoff March 21, 2009 11:34 PM PDT
Why IS the world full of people that hate us? I mean, they just got up one morning and decided, "hmm, I need something to spend the rest of my life hating, so I'll just pick the USA at random!" I think not.

In fact, a big part of the reason we need the military to defend us from "others" is because we've been using the military to push those "others" around for so long. I suspect if we had a far smaller less aggressive military, we'd still have the "internet to GPS" and we wouldn't be living in fear of terrorism, either.
by Electro_Fox March 22, 2009 10:50 AM PDT
So enovikoff, should we just downsize the military then? Then we plant the rainbows? And gumdrop trees? Oh, oh, and we'll build a nice fluffy stable for our MUU (Mounted Unicorn Unit)...
by SeizeCTRL March 22, 2009 7:25 PM PDT
@ enovikoff

You act as if 20th century America invented war. War has been around pretty much since the dawn of man. You got a whole group of religious fanatics that hate EVERYONE who believes differently than they do. They see the US for all of it's freedom, all of it's success and it's the complete opposite of where they live and believe. So naturally they are going to hate us.

And when they aren't busy hating us, they are hating Israel, they are hating each other. They are always fighting... always. My earliest recollection was with Iran during the Carter/Regan campaign and the Munich olympics... Long long before Bush... then we had constant attacks during Regan, then Bush Sr with the first gulf war, we had attacks with Clinton, attacks with Bush Jr and I highly doubt that they will stop with Obama in the White House.

I don't know what planet you are from, but this one isn't all sunshine and butterflies. You really think that we pushed them to the point of this? War is all those people know... they have been fighting for generation after generation after generation. We just happen to be the newest infidel on the block.
by SeizeCTRL March 21, 2009 7:44 PM PDT
At first I was thinking 'WOW! This thing looks retarded', then I saw it in action and that's pretty damn cool. Of course I might be slightly biased since I am ex-navy.
Reply to this comment
by globalview99 March 22, 2009 1:02 AM PDT
America is the hope of the world and has been since waves of migration from the mid 19th Century. The world is not full of people who hate America, its just the vocal and aggressive few who make the headlines who hates us.

9/11 happened because America was complacent and ignored some some telling signs. Some of the complacency resulted in less than aggressive responses to threats like when two US embassies were bombed by Al Qaeda in Africa in 1998 and all that Clinton did was lob a few missiles into Afghanistan... and Sudan of all places. With the right technology and vigilance, Al Qaeda should have been destroyed right then and there in Afghanistan. But Clinton was too busy defending himself because of his outrageous and reckless sexual flings. I think we've learned our lesson in being complacent and less than vigilant, at least for the time being. Developing and deploying technology like this is important for the US to maintain its edge in battlefield superiority.

A "smaller less aggressive military" as enovikoff suggest is an invitation to those who hate us to take advantage and attack us and our allies and our interests. Unfortunately, as SeizeCTRL says, "It's a mean, dark and ugly place out there" and the only antidote is to be vigilant and militarily superior.
Reply to this comment
(7 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

15 sites that went kaput in 2009

Web sites launch all the time, but they also shut their doors. We highlight 15 that bit the dust this year.

Top 10 news stories of the decade

Let the debate begin: Was the iPhone more important than iTunes? Was anything bigger than Google finding a great business model? CNET offers its list of the 10 most important stories of the '00s.

About Military Tech

The military establishment's ever increasing reliance on technology and whiz-bang gadgetry impacts us as consumers, investors, taxpayers and ultimately as the "defended." Our mission here is to bring some of these products and concepts to your attention based on carefully selected criteria such as importance to national security, originality, collateral damage to the treasury and adaptability to yard maintenance-but not necessarily in that order.

Mark Rutherford is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Military Tech topics

advertisement
advertisement