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Comment by noncoml | Hacker News Reader

Suicide drone? So... a missile?

I agree, the title seems very clickbaity.

The "Snark" had essentially the same capabilities at the start of the cold war. It was "pilotless bomber" that promised to be cheaper than bomber crews. Basically, it was a giant cruise missile that could return home if the mission was aborted. The big runway at Cape Canaveral was built specifically for it, because it landed with skids rather than wheels.

It did actually reach operational status but was quickly withdrawn.

No, because it can loiter in the air for up to 2 hours in the target area before destroying its target.

A Tomahawk cruise missile can also loiter over the target area.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile)

Presumably you can abort mission with a drone and have it return home. Not sure you can do that with a cruise missile.

the IAI Harop is a missile that can loiter, and if no target is found can Return to Base.[0]

Although, admittedly, the lines between 'drone' and 'missile' have begun to blur.

[0] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Harop

Having your missile return home seems suboptimal.

That Wikipedia article repeatedly referred to it as a stone.

So the difference between a missile and a drone is that one can fly in circles a little long than the other?

British Aerospace delivered an anti-radiation / air-defense suppression missile called ALARM in 1990: it is capable of flying up to 40,000 feet, deploying a parachute and then waiting for the target radar to come online as it floats down.

At that time, it initiates a secondary boost motor and attacks.

We didn’t used to call this a suicide drone; we called it a loitering munition.

so it's a next gen Tacit Rainbow? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-136_Tacit_Rainbow

Supposedly nuclear powered missiles (if they really exist) can cruise for days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto looks both like an amazing idea and something super over-engineered. It looks like it would be relatively easy to spot too... and possibly shot down?

It would be capable of ICBM speeds but maneuverable instead of traveling in a predictable arc

So a drone delivered bomb?

Really strange the 'suicide drone' branding, given this War of Terror and Suicide Bombing, or WWII and Kamikaze attacks. I wouldn't have thought the US military would want to be associated with the word. Maybe they don't, but the media isn't happy with 'loitering'. I guess 'loitering' isn't much better now I think of it, with the term mostly used regarding prostitution.

A missile than can fly from a home far away, hover (or really probably loiter, flying in circles) not too far away from a target area, then accelerate to 5000 mph after receiving a specific target. The benefit being the lag between targeting to delivery being much shorter meaning higher mission success rates, lower collateral damage, and just more flexibility.

If you know your Guardians of The Galaxy lore, think Yondu's Yaka arrows, which are literally called "drone-arrows"

Drones are presumably practical to launch, loiter, and recover. Not so much with missiles. Only in the case of ordering an attack are they similar.

No, because it could cancel and go back home.

suicide for my pocket (tax payer's pocket).

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