Breath-Taking Progress of Drones

choi

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Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker, War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs. New York Times, June 20, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/world/20drones.html?_r=1&ref=elisabethbumiller
("The Pentagon now has some 7,000 aerial drones, compared with fewer than 50 a decade ago. * * * Already the Air Force is training more remote pilots, 350 this year alone, than fighter and bomber pilots combined")


Note:
(a) Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright-Patterson_Air_Force_Base
(Wilbur Wright Field in 1917)
(b) The first clause of the report: "Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes." That alludes to near the Wrights' home in Dayton, Ohio.

(i) Wright brothers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
(Wilbur Wright (1867-1912); Orville Wright (1871-1948); family root at Dayton, Ohio; made the first flight on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; never married)
(ii) Wright Glider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Glider
(flew the 1899 kite near his home in Dayton, Ohio; built compoents of the 1902 glider in Dayton)
(iii) Dayton, Ohio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohio
(The city was incorporated in 1805 and was named after Jonathan Dayton, who owned the land)

(c) aviary (n; Latin avis bird): "a place for keeping birds confined"

All definitions are from www.m-w.com, except noted otherwise.
(d) aerostat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerostat
(e) Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_RQ-170_Sentinel
(f) Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_MQ-8_Fire_Scout
(unmanned helicopter)
(g) The standoff in "stand-off weapon systems"
(adj): "used for holding something at a distance from a surface <a standoff insulator>"

Compare
standoff missile: "a missile capable of striking a distant target after launch by an aircraft outside the range of missile defences"
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition 2009
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/standoff+missile

(h) AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVironment_RQ-11_Raven
(i) AAI RQ-7 Shadow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_RQ-7_Shadow
(Manufacturer AAI Corporation; The "R" is the Department of Defense designation for reconnaissance; "Q" means unmanned aircraft system. The "7" refers to it being the seventh of a series of purpose-built unmanned reconnaissance aircraft systems)
(j) Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk
(k) The report states, "In March, the Pentagon sent a Global Hawk over the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan to assess the damage."

See the next report, at the bottom.

(l) The noun "rave" in "rave club" originally means "talking irrationally in or as if in delirium."  
But the noun also means "a large overnight dance party featuring techno music and usually involving the taking of mind-altering drugs."
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rave?show=0&t=1308599372
(m) Gorgon (n): "capitalized : any of three snake-haired sisters in Greek mythology whose appearance turns the beholder to stone"

Gorgon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
(It derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful.")

(n) Sphingidae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae
(a family of moths (Lepidoptera), commonly known as hawk moths and other names)

Quote: "Some hawk moths, like the hummingbird hawk moth, hover in midair while they feed on nectar from flowers and are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds. This hovering capability has evolved only three times in nectar feeders: in hummingbirds, certain bats, and these sphingids (Kitching, 2002) (an example of convergent evolution)


---------------------------------------Separately
(1) Norimitsu Onishi and Martin Fackler, In Nuclear Crisis, Crippling Mistrust. New York Times, June 13, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/world/asia/13japan.html?ref=japan

My comment: This is a lengthy report. It is wonderful if you can read it. But if you can not read
(a) The first five paragraphs in web page 1;
(b) Starting at mid-page at web page 2--to the first three paragaphs of web page 3--read all about "Yoshida;" and
(c) From heading "Strains with an Ally" at web page 3 to the end,

What is my point? The last sentence of web page 3 said, "Meanwhile, Washington became convinced that Tokyo was understating the damage at the plant, based on readings that the Americans were getting around the plant from aircraft and satellites normally used to monitor North Korean nuclear tests, said one American official, who asked not to be named.

So, drones and satellites sometimes are needed to train on an ally also--not just a foe.

(2) Thom Shanker and Elisabeth Bumiller, Looking Back, Gates Says He’s Grown Wary of ‘Wars of Choice.’ New York Times, June 19, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19gates.html?ref=elisabethbumiller

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※ 修改:．choi 于 Jun 20 16:19:42 修改本文．[FROM: 129.10.0.0]