• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Look at that thing. It has so much stuff on it. VTOL, normal flight, antennas, and who knows what else to be strapped on it. Does everything, but none of it well. Well, except make some defense contractor a shitton of money.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      That’s the aerosonde and it’s actually a sick piece of tech. They’re competing for the tactical UAS contract right now, and VTOL is a requirement, so bolt-on packages for existing platforms are kind of an easy out. Also it’s a recon platform so fly and do camera are really the only things it has to do well.

  • cryptiod137@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It’s not a cost overrun, the scope of the project got expanded to include carrier operations.

    Look up FUTA docking to see the cost breakdown

    • chetradley@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The cattier operations are shared jointly between several NATO countries, and would mostly be covered under the Yearly International Freedom Fund (YIFF).

      • cryptiod137@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        That makes sense, but will that also cover the Vertically Oriented Reconnaissance Equipment (VORE) package as well?

        • Azuth@lemmy.today
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          6 months ago

          Indeed, it’s necessary in order to sync its Direct Intervention Combustible Kinetics via the Tactical Information Transmission System.

          If you ask me, it’s this combo of DICK and TITS that really makes FUTA special.