U.S. Navy, Jealous of Air Force, Spends $636 MILLION on 2 Drones

The U.S. Navy is purchasing two- count 'em, two- test drones from Northrop Grumman for only $636 million. That's a mere $318 million per unmanned drone.

According to Peter Singer, a cheerleader for war and technofetishist, subcategory militarist, the drone, with the cool 1950s-style sci-fi-ish designation X-47B, is "potential game-changing technology for the naval air wing." The "game" being the killing of defenseless targets from a safe distance.

The Wall Street Journal cites a report from the "Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments," part of the Imperialist superstructure located in the Empire's capital, D.C., as hailing long-range pilotless drones flown from aircraft carriers as having the potential to transform carriers from merely "a power-projection system with outstanding global mobility but relatively limited tactical reach and persistence into a key component of a global surveillance strike network." Well, that certainly makes it worth the price. After all, it's very important for the entire planet to be under the constant watch of the U.S. military, which can then kill anybody who gets out of line- the line laid down by the U.S. No more "nonsense!" in the word of CIA international terrorist Duane "Dewey" Claridge about people rebelling against U.S.-backed oppressive regimes.

But really, isn't it just that same old interservice jealousy rearing its head again? The Air Force has drones, the Air Force is getting all the glory of killing terrorists (or civilians who stupidly happened to be too close to where U.S. missiles landed) in Pakistan and Yemen and who knows where else. The Navy never gets any writeups in the New York Times or Washington Post or breathless tv wow look at that explosion "coverage." Hell, even the CIA is getting more drone action than the Navy! It's humiliating!

(Source: WSJ, 2/8/11, p. A7.)