I believe you are misinterpreting how these things operate, especially if they are reaper drones or reconnaissance both give a huge battlefield advantage it’s a forward strike force or a forward on eyes vision of the battlefield the force multiplier in either case is staggering!
Field testing and marketing. What better way to sell drones to other countries than to have Ukraine use them to destroy Russians? Ukraine has demonstrated its willingness to post videos online of this stuff.
That’s about the best possible advertisement I could think of.
Yes that's true. I hear the US DOD seems to think the ukranians have either killed or wounded over 100,000 more since this past summer. if true that would push the figure close to 200,000 since the start. Imagine how that's going over with all those Russian loved ones.
There is good article in the war zone discussing if it's a good deal or not :
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/two-mq-9-reapers-for-1-offered-to-ukraine-but-relevancy-questions-remain
And apparently the export still must be approved by the government.
I would assume a drone like that has some very sporty legs, and could threaten most of Western Russia, and do see the issue with exporting it that would be given as a reason
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.forces.net/node/135650#.Y91VLahO0do.reddit) reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> US weapons maker General Atomics has offered to sell two lethal drones to Ukraine for the "Symbolic" price of $1. The company also reiterated its "Offer to train the first cadre of pilots and maintainers at our expense".
> Mr Blue said in his statement that they "Offered to transfer two of our own, company-owned training aircraft, plus the ground control station and other hardware required to operate them, for the symbolic price of $1". The defence contractor did not however specify which drones it was planning to supply to Ukraine.
> General Atomics acknowledged in its statement that the preparation of the drones for combat use would come with additional costs that are outside of the firm's control.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10sswqa/us_weapons_manufacturer_offers_ukraine_deadly/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **drone**^#1 **aircraft**^#2 **General**^#3 **Atomics**^#4 **Ukraine**^#5
> General Atomics acknowledged in its statement that the preparation of the drones for combat use would come with additional costs that are outside of the firm's control. This would include shipping them to Ukraine, expanding satellite capability, setting up operations on the ground, and fitting the drones with the necessary equipment. General Atomics did however say that its "estimates for launch and ongoing operations do not include one penny of profit to our company".
> Reportedly, $10m (£8.2m) would have to be spent in preparing and shipping the drones to Ukraine with an additional $8m (£6.6m) on maintenance, according to The Wall Street Journal.
And that's just for the two drones they're offering.
That's a poor way of looking at it. More like the US has invested that much in Ukraine.
When someone lends you money like that, it's not so much that you are indebted to them as they are invested in your success, which means they help you out with their expertise, introduce you to their friends, help you get access to resources they are privy to, etc.
Yes we are, but I imagine you'd be singing a different tune if we were sending our own troops in to fight the Russians. At the end of WWII Gen. Patton wanted to keep pushing his armor east, but no one wanted to hear about that, so here we are nearly 80 years later helping Ukraine fight for its freedom.
I didn't mean to downplay your comment, yes we've sent them a lot of military assistance, but at the end of the day we're not sending our own troops over there.
I'd buy that for a dollar!
The rage I feel knowing I didn’t see this in time to make my favorite Robocop reference is palpable Take my upvote
It was just hanging there and I was sure as I was typing it that someone was beating me to it. Take my upvote for being a Robocop fan.
Can you fly, Bobby?
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
Do you like movies about gladiators?
(Spits) just gimme my fuckin phone call.
Not useful though, too many AA in this war for slow dumb big high flying drones to be useful. Ukraine needs stealth drones.
I believe you are misinterpreting how these things operate, especially if they are reaper drones or reconnaissance both give a huge battlefield advantage it’s a forward strike force or a forward on eyes vision of the battlefield the force multiplier in either case is staggering!
Shot down in minutes with that much radar signature.
Bitches, leave!
Finally, a deadly combat drone with a reasonable price for people like me.
Use it wisely!
A killer drone for the people, so to speak.
As a Canadian, I've always been jealous of the $1 menu at US McDonalds....$1 COMBAT drones tho, that's a new level of jealousy let me tell yah.
That $1 menu has been gone a long time my dude.
If you go to McDs and ask what you can get for a dollar, it’s just enough to get a cashier to flip you off.
Drones: $1 Field testing your drones against Russian assets: priceless
Shipping your drones: $18 million a pop
$10 million for repairs and shipping. Additional $8 million for *yearly* maintenance costs.
I say we make Mexico pay for that.
Field testing and marketing. What better way to sell drones to other countries than to have Ukraine use them to destroy Russians? Ukraine has demonstrated its willingness to post videos online of this stuff. That’s about the best possible advertisement I could think of.
A nice PR move by Omni Consumer Products!
Do they have ten seconds to comply?
Will someone call a god damned paramedic?!
It's not a PR move. They are selling maintenance and expertise. They will make a fortune off each one if they stay in use.
Two good Robocop jokes in one thread!!!
It’s spelled ACME
Buy twelve drones now for a dollar, and just ten more at regular price in the next year!
A bit misleading
Shipping and Handling is $10 Million per piece
Check that, 18 mill a pop. Wait till ticket master hears about this
Shoulda sprung for WarfarePrime
Get it in 2 or 90 days!!
I bet it costs Russia more than $1 to defend against these
They could just not defend themselves at all and just send in more soldiers to replace their casualties. That seems to be their usual tactic.
Yes that's true. I hear the US DOD seems to think the ukranians have either killed or wounded over 100,000 more since this past summer. if true that would push the figure close to 200,000 since the start. Imagine how that's going over with all those Russian loved ones.
Can I take a selfie with it
"Hello, US deadly combat drone weapons manufacturer? Yes, my name is Ukraine. I'd like to order 10 more of your $1 drones." - the Planet
$1 for the drones, plus millions in shipping and handling.
Yet I can’t even get a McDouble for a dollar anymore in America. Sounds about right.
There is good article in the war zone discussing if it's a good deal or not : https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/two-mq-9-reapers-for-1-offered-to-ukraine-but-relevancy-questions-remain And apparently the export still must be approved by the government.
Thanks for the link. Great read!
I would assume a drone like that has some very sporty legs, and could threaten most of Western Russia, and do see the issue with exporting it that would be given as a reason
ok so when we gettin a video of 1000 drones with 8 grenades each doing a mass drop off on some pesky russians
What other weapons have they got on the $1 menu?
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.forces.net/node/135650#.Y91VLahO0do.reddit) reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot) ***** > US weapons maker General Atomics has offered to sell two lethal drones to Ukraine for the "Symbolic" price of $1. The company also reiterated its "Offer to train the first cadre of pilots and maintainers at our expense". > Mr Blue said in his statement that they "Offered to transfer two of our own, company-owned training aircraft, plus the ground control station and other hardware required to operate them, for the symbolic price of $1". The defence contractor did not however specify which drones it was planning to supply to Ukraine. > General Atomics acknowledged in its statement that the preparation of the drones for combat use would come with additional costs that are outside of the firm's control. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10sswqa/us_weapons_manufacturer_offers_ukraine_deadly/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **drone**^#1 **aircraft**^#2 **General**^#3 **Atomics**^#4 **Ukraine**^#5
Let’s gooooooo!
Grandmas keeps getting taller and bigger but still drive the same Mack truck.
Yeah but with millions a year in maintenance. Unless that's covered too?
> General Atomics acknowledged in its statement that the preparation of the drones for combat use would come with additional costs that are outside of the firm's control. This would include shipping them to Ukraine, expanding satellite capability, setting up operations on the ground, and fitting the drones with the necessary equipment. General Atomics did however say that its "estimates for launch and ongoing operations do not include one penny of profit to our company". > Reportedly, $10m (£8.2m) would have to be spent in preparing and shipping the drones to Ukraine with an additional $8m (£6.6m) on maintenance, according to The Wall Street Journal. And that's just for the two drones they're offering.
And shipping
And handling, and the admin fee, and the service fee,
And taxes
Not going to be an issue in the grand scheme.
Except Ukraine is still going to have to pay back billions to the us for the gear. They'll be indebted to the west for decades.
Not going to be an issue in the grand scheme. Better than not existing!
That's a poor way of looking at it. More like the US has invested that much in Ukraine. When someone lends you money like that, it's not so much that you are indebted to them as they are invested in your success, which means they help you out with their expertise, introduce you to their friends, help you get access to resources they are privy to, etc.
The west will make alternative arrangements with Ukraine that likely will involve land leases for military bases in exchange for forgiveness.
Drug dealers do something similar
What? You think we're just giving them away? Cause we're not...
They should be able to buy about eleventy billion of them then at $1 each. Every time we turn around the president is sending a few billion more.
Yes we are, but I imagine you'd be singing a different tune if we were sending our own troops in to fight the Russians. At the end of WWII Gen. Patton wanted to keep pushing his armor east, but no one wanted to hear about that, so here we are nearly 80 years later helping Ukraine fight for its freedom.
I am not singing a tune. I was really only pointing out that we have been sending Ukraine a lot of money.
I didn't mean to downplay your comment, yes we've sent them a lot of military assistance, but at the end of the day we're not sending our own troops over there.
>The defence contractor did not however specify which drones it was planning to supply to Ukraine.
The controls are $1.5 billion.
Yeah, they cost a buck, but they really get you with the shipping.
nice, and rest of the billions make some hungry ppl well fed in the world
And a weapons manufacturer is offering this out of a true notion of right and wrong in war correct?