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OT: Fascinating nighttime FLIR imagery of US drone engaging ISIS fighters

Now that is some pretty powerful stuff.

Check the guy that got it at the 2:35 and 10:19 marks. Wow, they had no chance.
 

"Everyone that runs is a VC; everyone that stands still is a well disciplined VC."

You know, why run? There end result is PARADISE IN HEAVEN. I would think they would EMBRACE being fired upon. If their PARADISE is a TRILLION times better than life on Earth, then you'd think they'd WANT to die.

Anyway, just some thoughts I have from time-to-time.

 
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Wow....powerful and scary.

A friend's son does this from his base here in the states. He shows up to work, sits down to a couple of wide screens, and drives a drone for his shift. When he sees something, he calls in the officers who make the calls from their meeting rooms at some virtual office in the world. Imagine having coffee and donuts while directing the attacks to support allied ground troops.

Crazy times. I pray our enemies never get nor engage with this kind of weaponry domestically. This, to me, is reason #1 we need to project power and keep them on defense.
 
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It definitely dehumanizes war and killing. I can see why the military prefers it this way. You no longer have to look a person in the eyes and then kill him.
 
It definitely dehumanizes war and killing. I can see why the military prefers it this way. You no longer have to look a person in the eyes and then kill him.

Looks like Call of Duty Game....here's the 'Chopper Gunner' perk in use (skip ahead to 1:14):

 
This video is part of information operations against ISIS and their supporters. Unfortunately, we could project strength and that is what gets through to those that want to harm Americans, but we lack a commander in chief with any sort of resolve. Instead, we have a pansy who wants to not offend them and to negotiate. If we want to end the San Bernardino incidents, then we need a CINC who isn't going to apologize for American strength.
Well, you may have hijacked my informative post to the test/politics board. Too bad.
 
You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it.
 
Thanks for sharing. This is most likely an AC-130W gunship, not drone footage. I'm not aware of any drones being equipped with 30mm guns, however, I could be wrong. As others have indicated, drones are pretty bada$$ given you can fight a battle during the day and go home to your family at night. What many people are not aware of is that although troop engagement is primarily done from the U.S, there is still an incredible amount of manpower required overseas in enemy territory. There are crew chiefs, ammo troops, pilots and sensor operators for take off and landing (drones - predators and reapers take off via a ground antenna by troops on the ground before they handoff to troops stateside to fly via satellite). I should also add that contractors from L3 and Raytheon are typically on hand overseas as well for any issues pertaining to satellite communication or imagery issues.
 
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Thanks for sharing. This is most likely an AC-130W gunship, not drone footage. I'm not aware of any drones being equipped with 30mm guns, however, I could be wrong. As others have indicated, drones are pretty bada$$ given you can fight a battle during the day and go home to your family at night. What many people are not aware of is that although troop engagement is primarily done from the U.S, there is still an incredible amount of manpower required overseas in enemy territory. There are crew chiefs, ammo troops, pilots and sensor operators for take off and landing (drones - predators and reapers take off via a ground antenna by troops on the ground before they handoff to troops stateside to fly via satellite). I should also add that contractors from L3 and Raytheon are typically on hand overseas as well for any issues pertaining to satellite communication or imagery issues.
Thanks for the clarification. I was just passing on what I had been told by another, not necessarily an expert. Does it sound to you like there are two aircraft flying over the area, or is the conversation btw one aircraft and someone on the ground somewhere? In any case, remarkable footage.
 
Thanks for sharing. This is most likely an AC-130W gunship, not drone footage. I'm not aware of any drones being equipped with 30mm guns, however, I could be wrong. As others have indicated, drones are pretty bada$$ given you can fight a battle during the day and go home to your family at night. What many people are not aware of is that although troop engagement is primarily done from the U.S, there is still an incredible amount of manpower required overseas in enemy territory. There are crew chiefs, ammo troops, pilots and sensor operators for take off and landing (drones - predators and reapers take off via a ground antenna by troops on the ground before they handoff to troops stateside to fly via satellite). I should also add that contractors from L3 and Raytheon are typically on hand overseas as well for any issues pertaining to satellite communication or imagery issues.
I did some quick research. We might be looking at an A-10 and Reaper drone in action.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tack-planes-strike-militant-targets-days.html
 
There are certainly multiple a/c involved and communication w/ JTAC on the ground.

A few tidbits I saw/heard and just sharing my thoughts:
-You can see the video shake w/ the firing of the 30mm which indicates it's not a drone.
-Also, just speculating here but I think multiple gunships may be involved as around the 2:10 mark the communication w/ another a/c indicates they 'fixed' the gun - which you have gunners/loaders available to actually 'fix' the gun on the gunship as verse to the drone or A10 (other than a hard reset/recycle of power).
-Video seems to be a constant left orbit around the target also leads me to believe it's a gunship since the guns are on the left side and there is communication around the 2:30 mark talking about gun restraints and the request to keep coming 'left' due to the gun movement being restricted. The reason for the left orbit can also simply be so they stay in their window to fly to eliminate conflict w/ other a/c.
-At the ~4:45 mark they say that they Winchester the 30mm and will be setting up for hellfire would eliminate any drone or A10.

As for NitneLiun indicating it's not ISIS, I would be guessing here but my theory is that this footage is most likely in Afghanistan although I am not discounting the fact that ISIS might be infiltrating Afghanistan. I'm curious to hear his feedback.
 
weapons_ac130_gunship.gif
 
As for NitneLiun indicating it's not ISIS, I would be guessing here but my theory is that this footage is most likely in Afghanistan although I am not discounting the fact that ISIS might be infiltrating Afghanistan. I'm curious to hear his feedback.

I too think this is from an earlier campaign in Afghanistan. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't know that we have too many combat or other strategic friendly elements 'on the ground' as indicated in this video. The presence of what appears to be a gunship would also sort of indicate a more intimate engagement, which is not really what we're doing against ISIS targets at the moment. To my knowledge, our efforts now are mostly drone strikes and bombing runs.

Having said that, this video is still very powerful and indicative of the kind of might ready and available if and when need be. Scares the hell out of me.
 
Somebody knows some history, that's refreshing.
Actually I expected some of the other scholars on here to notice that. Instead I was accused of embracing bin Laden.

That was an amazing prediction that came true with total accuracy. Interesting how history provides us with lessons which we choose to ignore.
 
Thanks for sharing. This is most likely an AC-130W gunship, not drone footage. I'm not aware of any drones being equipped with 30mm guns, however, I could be wrong. As others have indicated, drones are pretty bada$$ given you can fight a battle during the day and go home to your family at night. What many people are not aware of is that although troop engagement is primarily done from the U.S, there is still an incredible amount of manpower required overseas in enemy territory. There are crew chiefs, ammo troops, pilots and sensor operators for take off and landing (drones - predators and reapers take off via a ground antenna by troops on the ground before they handoff to troops stateside to fly via satellite). I should also add that contractors from L3 and Raytheon are typically on hand overseas as well for any issues pertaining to satellite communication or imagery issues.

I had the same opinion. It reminds me of an Apache helicopter attack. A gunship cannot stay stationary as the footage shows. They, unless modified, do not have rockets. An Apache has both.
 
Actually I expected some of the other scholars on here to notice that. Instead I was accused of embracing bin Laden.

That was an amazing prediction that came true with total accuracy. Interesting how history provides us with lessons which we choose to ignore.
sadly, that is all too accurate
 
Yeah - we're tired of it; they're dead of it. Yawn.
they won, we lost- for you armchair warriors, the quote we were talking about wasn't OBL, you can look it up to see who it was- and you should, believe me you can use the education

(not to suggest that you are an armchair warrior, as know nothing about your service, but there ARE a lot of them)
 
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It was an Apache. AC-130's don't have Hellfire missiles. Also, the mountainous terrain leads me to believe it is Afghanistan. As far as I know, we have not had any engagements against ISIS using attack helicopters. Another note -- this footage is old. I saw it more than a year ago.
 
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