Enormous overkill
March 17, 2017 4:47 AM Subscribe
Patriot missile shoots down Amazon delivery drone A Patriot missile - usually priced at about $3m (£2.5m) - was used to shoot down a small quadcopter drone.
Sources on the ground (OK, they're friends of my son who live in Israel) fill in some of the details that the general in the story is reticent about. According to them, the Amazon drone attempted to make a delivery to Jerusalem. It passed over some of Tel Aviv unharmed, but was obliterated when it neared Jerusalem. The missile was part of Israel's Iron Dome defense system.
The general speculates about "the enemy" buying a fleet of the drones to deplete the Patriot arsenal, but so long as Amazon is willing to attempt deliveries to defended areas, ordering some books seems like a cheaper method.
Sources on the ground (OK, they're friends of my son who live in Israel) fill in some of the details that the general in the story is reticent about. According to them, the Amazon drone attempted to make a delivery to Jerusalem. It passed over some of Tel Aviv unharmed, but was obliterated when it neared Jerusalem. The missile was part of Israel's Iron Dome defense system.
The general speculates about "the enemy" buying a fleet of the drones to deplete the Patriot arsenal, but so long as Amazon is willing to attempt deliveries to defended areas, ordering some books seems like a cheaper method.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a little bit confusing. Maybe post again about this when these details are publicly confirmed? Until such time it's going to be hard to know what happened exactly. -- goodnewsfortheinsane
For me the take-away from this story is the cost of the missile. That's a lot of dosh for one big bullet.
posted by rmmcclay at 5:06 AM on March 17, 2017
posted by rmmcclay at 5:06 AM on March 17, 2017
FYI, the article states the drone was bought from Amazon - it was not owned or operated by Amazon.
posted by adrianhon at 5:07 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by adrianhon at 5:07 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
So, this time it wasn't Amazon's equipment that got taken out. Unless Amazon coordinates with the militaries around the world to get IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) tags on thier drones, it will eventually happen.
posted by MikeWarot at 5:09 AM on March 17, 2017
posted by MikeWarot at 5:09 AM on March 17, 2017
FYI, the article states the drone was bought from Amazon - it was not owned or operated by Amazon.
But imagine how meta it could have been if it were both? What if I ordered a drone off Amazon, and it simply delivered itself?
posted by mystyk at 5:22 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
But imagine how meta it could have been if it were both? What if I ordered a drone off Amazon, and it simply delivered itself?
posted by mystyk at 5:22 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
TFA makes no claim about amazon or Israel, so presumably Kirk Gerson is giving us a new claim about the incident?
Daesh have got good enough at dangling frag grenades off quadcopters that you can understand skittishness, and patriots are paid for by Chinese bond buys, no? Who's losing out here?
posted by pompomtom at 5:23 AM on March 17, 2017
Daesh have got good enough at dangling frag grenades off quadcopters that you can understand skittishness, and patriots are paid for by Chinese bond buys, no? Who's losing out here?
posted by pompomtom at 5:23 AM on March 17, 2017
I read about this yesterday through some internal military channels. Suffice to say that notable sections of our nation's uniformed personnel are laughing at this yesterday and today.
posted by mystyk at 5:25 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mystyk at 5:25 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Seriously though: how was this drone meant to have been identified after being hit by a patriot? The whole story sounds like much bollocks.
posted by pompomtom at 5:27 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by pompomtom at 5:27 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Wow, there's a 15,000:1 price differential there, in favor of an attacker, before we get into quantity discounts, the ever decreasing price of drones, etc.
A single bored middle-class person with disposbale income could take out the remaining stockpile of Patriots if this situation isn't learned from.
posted by MikeWarot at 5:32 AM on March 17, 2017
A single bored middle-class person with disposbale income could take out the remaining stockpile of Patriots if this situation isn't learned from.
posted by MikeWarot at 5:32 AM on March 17, 2017
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I can't wait to see the review about a delivery that took 100 retries to complete. ;-)
THIS is why you have to fear superintelligent AI.... losing a war just because of a mistake on the part of a massively superior entity.
posted by MikeWarot at 5:00 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]