The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: Cincinnatus on March 02, 2013, 02:40:04 am
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Malibu?
Sorry, Sushi/Massage Guru at Google: you no longer have the coolest tech job in America. That honor will belong to the future staff at the planned Point Mugu UAV installation in paradisiacal California. Surfing, sunrays, and constant sensor surveillance. And it's only the beginning.
The Point Mugu base is technically just outside of Malibu—barely—but we're going to go with it because Malibu Drone Base has a ring to it like nothing else in the history of drones nor bases. Don't you think of red Corvettes, sunglasses, coconut oil, and Hellfire missiles? It's perfect, right? The Navy is inclined to agree, and just issued an "environmental impact" report for the proposed base, which would demolish and rebuild a large part of the existing military presence at Point Mugu, a popular surfing haunt...
But not just any drones—state-of-the-art drones. The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is at the fore of robotic surveillance, and the Navy wants their 131-foot wings and spiffy 360-degree sensors cruising around the Pacific Ocean in the name of American supremacy.
Yeah, "cruising around the Pacific", and these drones could, never ever be turned inland to monitor the citizens of CA.
Drones in vacation spots are an inevitability. The idea of a beachside xanadu conducting unceasing, expensive, militarized robot flights might sound strange, but it isn't. There will be more bases like that at Point Mugu, spreading around the world like sunburn. There will be drones in California, drones in Texas, drones in Paris, all part of the Pentagon's vision of reshaping its military omnipresence around "lily pads"—light, decentralized bases that house specialized forces and, of course, drones. Ready to buzz and strike whenever, capable of spying for trouble always. All the loveliest spots will have drones, humming and looking, and the fact that "Malibu drone base" sounded odd and sort of silly will sound silliest of all. Bffzzzzzzzzz.
http://gizmodo.com/5987703/why-is-the-navy-building-a-shiny-drone-base-in-sunny-malibu
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Of course they will fly over the beach in the summer to look at the chicks.
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Of course they will fly over the beach in the summer to look at the chicks.
Now Rapunzel, as a red blooded American boy that I can understand and might even be disappointed with our young servicemen if they didn't...but Malibu?