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Comment by blackflame7000 | Hacker News Reader

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blackflame7000·

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

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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?

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