Moonbox

I agree with all that but it's a bit different when we're talking about aircraft and automation. It's probably NOT cheaper to train a pilot to fly a fighter jet than it is to automate it.

That's a pretty good point. Sorry if I misunderstood.

What are you talking about? That doesn't even make sense. The NDP hasn't supported the conservatives as far as I know. It was the Bloc for awhile and since then it has been the Liberals. Don't mistake bringing voting against the Liberals as support for the Conservatives. You don't have to support either.

The Star isn't biased left or right. The Star is biased in favour of the Liberal Party. When it comes to a Liberal bias, it's probably the HEAVIEST and most widely acknowledged hack Liberal newspaper in Canada. The support is almost unflinching. They were pretty much the only major newspaper in Canada that endorsed Dion last election. Do you even read it? It's as joke. It's worse than the CBC.

I think it would be a very dangerous thing to take any more personalization out of war. We're already killing people with simple button pushes. Taking it one step further and completely automating it would be so much worse. Ignoring the fact that there would likely be a lot of accidents, you really remove the sense of consequence from war if you don't have you own people on the front lines hurting and getting hurt. It would almost be like a board game.

From what I've read it's money the government spends that doesn't need to be fundraised for the purpose of INFORMING the electorate about what the government has been doing and important initiatives. Instead, it's been hijacked and used as highly partisan pre-election advertising.

Argus is there proven statistics for European productivity vs our own? Just wondering....

I really don't believe it will ever be fully automated. The very concept itself is frightening to me but maybe I've watched Terminator a few too many times...

Can I take that as a firm Madmax nomination?

In the grand scheme of things though, this is small potatoes and once again will not affect an election in the least. If only the electorate knew anything about this stuff or cared. If only a politician were to sincerely want to end the mess.

Look into who was really pulling the strings in the American economy after 2001. Hint: It wasn't Bush.

It's getting better finally, but we're still getting ripped.

Myata unless you have anything to indicate to us that Hamas is even WILLING to talk and acknowledge Israel's right to exist, give up now because it everything you're saying is moot if you can't. To continue the argument is just making yourself look less and less reasonable.

Very good explanation BC

Pure speculation. I have no doubt that we will soon be able to fully automate attack drones. I simply question how far along the AI is going to have to be before they can truly and completely erase the need for human pilots whether within the planes or remote controlled. The judgement capabilities of the AI is also something I question.

It's pretty hard to support this sort of spending...regardless of who's doing it.

Jdobbin can you please explain how the CPC is using 'taxpayer dollars' for these flyers as opposed to party funds? I'd actually like to know more about this (fyi I'm not challenging the claim 'cause I don't know anything about it).

Don't see that happening anytime soon. I'm sure it's possible, but probably not desirable.

What does this have to do with Jewish support in the next election now?

The only thing I can think of would be the MiG-21. In Vietnam they shot down a LOT of US aircraft. That was one of the reasons Top Gun dogfighting schools were created as far as I can recall. With that being said it's probably true that Russian aircraft since then have been inferior to US aircraft, but it doesn't change the fact that the US and its allies built fighters etc on the perceived risk of the Soviets having better aircraft. They never wanted to have to worry about that and they made sure they were always ahead. Now that there's really no competition for US air power, why spend billions uselessly on a plane that will NEVER be cost effective for its role?

Which before they knew better justified the production of a counter. There's such a huge disparity between US air power right now and the rest of the world that there simply are no contenders and nothing anyone else is going to be able to build anytime soon will compete even with the F-35.

Probably around 60-80, but that really doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the F-22 is worth keeping around. The F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18 etc were all designed with the threat of Soviet Russia in mind. When they were being designed and built the Ruskies were building similar and sometimes better aircraft. With the Cold War over and a direct confrontation between Russia and the USA unthinkable, the dynamics of military spending amongst the two have changed. The USA is now hunting guerrilas, militias and terrorists around the world. A stealth fighter that costs $140 million to build and then $50,000/hour to fly isn't an effective use of resources when there's nothing out there that could even come close to testing its capabilities in combat. Wait for the F-35. They'll be able to build and maintain it for a fraction of the cost of the F-22 and it will be better than anything out there BUT the F-22. It's highly unlikely that the Pak Fa or anything is going to make it into major production before that and even if it did the Russians aren't exactly going to be giving them away to N. Korea or Iran.

If anything, the F-22 was at least a groundbreaking project as far as technology was concerned. Operationally, no really feasible, but REALLY cool things were done with that plane.

Which is stupid. They have planes that cost a fraction of what the F-22 does both to build, maintain and fly, and that also fulfill ALL the roles the F-22 is intended to fulfill. Unless the US goes to war against Russia or Europe, there's really no risk of the F-15's, F-16's or F-18's not vastly outclassing anything they go up against. By the time these planes have much to worry about, the F-35 will be rolling off the production line, also at a fraction of the cost of the F-22.

This thread should be moved.