Drone makers urge U.S. to let them sell more overseas

[IDemo]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Despite concerns about U.S.-made drones ending up in enemy hands, American military contractors are lobbying the government to loosen export restrictions and open up foreign markets to the unmanned aircraft that have reshaped modern warfare.

Companies such as Northrop Grumman Corp.and other arms makers are eager to tap a growing foreign appetite for high-tech — and relatively cheap — drones, already being sold on the world market by countries such as Israel and China.

"Export restrictions are hurting this industry in America without making us any safer," Wesley G. Bush, Northrop's chief executive, said at a defense conference this year. "The U.S. is struggling to sell unmanned aircraft to our allies while other nations prepare to jump into the marketplace with both feet."

The defense industry may want to sell more drones overseas, but arms control advocates are alarmed. The potential for these weapons to fall into enemy hands is great, they say, and easing restrictions could result in remote-controlled killing machines being used in some of the most volatile regions of the world.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drone-foreign-sales-20120701,0,3539035.story?track=lat-pick

[RKP5637]

1. Humans are clearly a F'ed up species! Death and destruction for $$$. Often I think,

although some might find it weird to hear, only some form of intergalactic control will probably save humans from wiping themselves out.

[Firebrand Gary]

2. FUCK NO!!!!!!!!! So help us, I guarantee Indie or GOP voters would NOT support this! nt

[raouldukelives]

3. Growth. It's what the millions of Wall St investors demand.

And its what they will get.

[dbackjon]

4. Can't think of a single thing that could go wrong with this

[may3rd]

5. Philippines looks to US spy planes to contain Chinese aggression

Last edited Mon Jul 2, 2012, 08:04 PM - Edit history (1)

China is NOT a sleeping giant.

They are a developing nation





......The South China Sea is potentially the biggest military flashpoint in Asia, and tensions have risen since the United States adopted a policy last year to reinforce its influence in the region...
..
China said last week it had begun "combat-ready" patrols in waters it said were under its control in the South China Sea, after saying it "vehemently opposed" a Vietnamese law asserting sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands.

"We hope the Philippines will no longer issue information that provokes public opinion and avoid complicating the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.

.....

Aquino said China should not be alarmed by Philippine efforts to improve its monitoring capability.

"Does the Philippines have the capacity to become an aggressor?" he asked. "By any stretch of the imagination, the Philippines does not. So why should it upset a superpower if we're all reasonable?"



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9370286/Philippines-looks-to-US-spy-planes-to-contain-Chinese-aggression.html




The rock that could start a war: China and Philippines in dispute over South China Sea 'island'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9259590/The-rock-that-could-start-a-war-China-and-Philippines-in-dispute-over-South-China-Sea-island.html

[boppers]

6. As compared to the existing sugar and spice remote-controlled killing machines?

Well, it's good to see people are still buying into the "OMG DRONES I'M SKEERID!" PsyOP, as a way of deterring public violence and a sense of being "untouchable".