And people thought my ideas were nuts back in 2020

The stuff just keeps getting better

And with a ‘nice’ price tag for a toy. $2000. Might be awhile for this ol fart.

What?? Ya think I wouldn’t find upgrades in my feeds while researching the sequel to ‘Wings’? ROFL

Lots of little geegaws in that unit I could do without: like the radar in ths dash, and ‘live’ stick and throttle in the cabin. BUT! That camera system is just flat sick!!! Dio wants!!! (And no, ain’t gonna do more that fantasize about it unless some millions just appear in my accounts out of nowhere.) (the radar is very low powered, probably only 50 meters or so: makes for a nice detail, but effective, not so much.)

On a serious note: think about the implications for a small force. I know the Marines have been using FPV fixed wings for local recon for over a decade. And the private sector keeps ginning up better, faster than any MIC contractor can. For a guy wanting to check out his AO, a small set of “eyes in the sky” are becoming a requirement, not a wish list. Even with only a 15 minute battery life, a guy could cover quite a bit of territory and not bust his groin or lower back humping about, anticipating who knows what, or nothing.

And thats not thinking offensively. (for the record, that unit in the vid, probably not capable of offensive loads. But the idea, heck, the ideas I played with in Wings; totally a reality and well displayed in the Kraine and Russia these days. a couple thousand dollar drone taking out multi-million dollar bombers. Those sort of numbers make it a matter of attrition, and the guy that can cobble together something (relatively) cheap and expendable, is going far in that sort of war. (and look at how cheap their solution to ECM interference was. Our military had something similar in the TOW missle package: trailing wires for guidance. They use fiberoptics instead to the same “can’t fuck with this” end. (except to cut the cord, but that’s another ball of fun and games.))

Even Iran has shown the American MIC how its done, and look where we sit now. Americans firing off million dollar missles like candy to bring down a swarm of $1000 dollar drones. If war is business, the margin loss is unacceptable.

The scope of war has changed.

And with current course and speed of AI, that scope may change even more. I can hope otherwise, but I’m not betting that way. Time will tell.

(I’ll keep good ol’ Mr. Percolator around for that day,,,)

More laters,,, maybe something not so dark.

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WINGS OF CHANGE

What happens when a wounded veteran, a computer genius, and a handful of fiercely independent misfits decide that the best way to change the world is to stop waiting for someone else to do it?

G has spent years flying from a wheelchair, learning to make the sky obey him even when his body won’t. T is a computer wizard with a mysterious past, an enormous extended family, and a talent for turning impossible ideas into working machines.

Together, they build things that shouldn’t exist.

Aircraft that push the limits of what remote flight can do. Technology born in garages and workshops instead of corporate boardrooms. And a community of people who have decided that family isn’t necessarily something you’re born into.

But building extraordinary machines attracts attention.

Soon G, T, and their growing family find themselves caught between government agencies, competing agendas, and people who would very much like to know exactly what they’re capable of. What began as tinkering and experimentation is becoming something far more consequential.

Because when you build something powerful enough to change the rules, eventually somebody comes looking for the keys.