Iran has shot down 30 US Reaper drones, US official says

https://abcnews.com/Politics/iran-shot-30-us-reaper-drones-us-official/story?id=134597622

114 points · 15 comments · view on lemmy.world

15 Comments

cobwoms@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 26 pts · 66d (3 replies)

shooting down a drone doesn't even harm anybody. in fact, you can only save lives by shooting it down

LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net · 8 pts · 66d

Yeah I love that I can just fully cheer for them to be shot down and I don't have to feel bad that soldiers are dying.

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 65d (1 reply)

Well, the only harm I see is that the US will then take more money from healthcare and education to build more drones.

How much does each of there drones cost in taxpayer $?

Update: unverified comments below say > $15 million per drone. That's a lot of kids with cancer that won't get cured

Omgpwnies@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 65d

~5 million meals for hungry people per drone ($3/meal will be a little lean, but probably enough for a sandwich and some veggies). 150,000,000 meals in just this.

Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 66d (6 replies)

At 30 million a pop, that's almost a Billion already. What a waste

Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 66d (2 replies)

Are you getting your figure from an updated source? The article says:

“The Air Force announced its final five-year purchasing contract forReapers in 2020, and manufacturer General Atomics closed the production line last year after building 575 of them. The final lot cost about $16 million each when purchased in a batch of four, according to C. Mark Brinkley, a General Atomics spokesman.”

Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 66d

I had heard anywhere from 15-50 depending on load out, $30M is from Ars,

"military’s current reliance on drones and crewed aircraft, each costing more than $30 million,"

I might've been wrong, of course. Million here, million there, soon you're talking about real money

somethingsnappy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 66d

Ok, $480,000,000

Akh@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 66d (2 replies)

Yep, the us has demonstrated to the world how combat ineffective they are against a remotely developed country

Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 66d (1 reply)

Our issue is that we have lots of bombs and no stomach at all for boots on the ground. (The last part is a good thing in my book). Hard to be effective with our politics and MIC

Omgpwnies@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 65d

Boots on the ground is worthless without air superiority, your positions will just get bombed/shelled constantly. The US has been unable to achieve that without assistance like it had in Iraq.

Small drones just make it that much harder since they can evade conventional anti-air defenses.

ProbablyUnwise@anarchist.nexus · 12 pts · 66d

We need to see those numbers bumped up.

newton@feddit.online · 1 pts · 65d

Carry on

guyoverthere123@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 66d

Keep up the good work!

newton@feddit.online · 1 pts · 65d

Trump failed 100% again good !