Israeli Super Drone Stolen 496
kristy_christie writes "Globes Online reports that Steadicopter's prototype pilotless helicopter was stolen a few days after the completion of its test program and final test flights. Interesting to note that Steadicopter claims that their helicopter is unique and there is no other of its kind in the world."
whoa! That's weird.... (Score:2)
you kinda wonder who and why.
It doesn't get weirder.
Re:whoa! That's weird.... (Score:5, Interesting)
No, not too wierd. One company stealing from another.
Of course, it would be a great insurance fraud as well. Here in the US we just light fire to the build when the business isn't working. Maybe they had somebody steal the device because the project was dying.
Remind me to sell my TEIC [teic.co.il] stocks.
I know what's happened... (Score:3, Funny)
November 12th, 2003: Skynet becomes self-aware.
I just lurvvve the idea of automated military devices, don't you?
James Bond (Score:5, Funny)
Re:whoa! That's weird.... (Score:3, Funny)
This is how Airwolf started.
Re:no, zionists suck (Score:3, Insightful)
Sharon and Arafat have the blood of civillians on their hands. Neither of them is in a position to claim moral superiority over the other.
The Palestinians and the Israelis would be better served if they had different leaders.
The death of Rabin was the death of achieving peace in Israel within this generation. We can keep working to achieve that peace for the next generation.
LK
lemme guess (Score:3, Funny)
Re:lemme guess (Score:4, Funny)
If you'd actually looked at the helicopter [steadicopter.com] then you'd well know that it could not run linux nor was it stolen by terrorists.
Linux would not run on something so hideous.
It has been stolen by environmental extremists to protect the world from having to look at it. Who knows how it might have decimated wildlife died of fright after thinking clams were out for revenge after having become giant and gotten the ability to fly.
Either that or group behind Batteries Not Included [imdb.com] was out to protect future royalties and the potential for a remake.
Re:lemme guess (Score:3, Funny)
George, are you reading this?
Hello?
Re:lemme guess (Score:2)
Regardless of how you say it, the "drooling fanatics" are brave.
Well many are absolutely positive that they will go to heaven and get lots of rewards if they die blowing up "the enemy". Those ones certainly aren't brave.
Re:lemme guess (Score:3, Interesting)
Are they? They have got a lot of headlines, but do suicide bombings actually achieve anything other than convince the target that the terrorists cannot be negotiated with, only eliminated?
Suicide attacks are an admission on the part of the terrorists that they have no other way to further their cause and an inditement on the target for putting the terrorists in that position in the first place
Wait a minute... (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, thats it... (Score:2, Funny)
Re: Wait a minute... (Score:5, Funny)
> Isn't this the plot of a James Bond flick??? I'm just waiting for the perpetrators to be caught, and be named something like "Pussy Galore"...
Alas, James was disappointed to learn that this one was stolen by Dick A. Plenty.
Industrial Sabotage? (Score:2)
Quick! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
not Stolen (Score:4, Funny)
Re:not Stolen / NUMBER 5 ALIVE (Score:2, Funny)
No comment at this time
Holidays ? (Score:3, Funny)
Simon.
Copy of article... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Informative)
That may be true, for a company, however, I've seen a fully autonomous remote control helicopter before. Which is to say, it was a remote control helicopter that flew via onboard computer and did not actually use a remote. In fact, it even has AI that it used to determine it's best route
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Insightful)
though, if the whole nation relies on that maybe it makes sense.
Israel relies on US military hardware and goodwill in a wide range of areas. No surprise there.
Many NATO allies also use GPS-dependent equipment.
Re:Copy of article... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Interesting)
That's not how GPS works. There are two GPS signals, the civilian one and the encrypted military one. The military version is more accurate than the civilion version, and in wartime civilian GPS is degraded to 100 m. accuracy instead of better than 10 m. I presume worldwide military GPS is unaffected, although that is a function of the encryption m
Re:Copy of article... (Score:2)
Actually, the Isrealis have their own electronic systems that they add to US equipment that is often superior to US gear. My guess is that this is partially due to the fact that they dont have to sweat entire planes, just how to make them work better.
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Interesting)
And at present a third of the Israeli air force is grounded because of an arms embargo by my country, the UK. The sole source for power packs for the ejector seats used in their older jets has been prohibited from exporting replacements.
From a strategic point of view there is no reason to avoid dependence on US arms exports since the Israeli ecconomy is entirely dependent on the US.
Re:Copy of article... (Score:2, Insightful)
The U.S. aid to Israel is only several percent of Israel's gross national product.
Saying that Isreal is depnedant on the US is like saing that, since most of the grain in the world is growen in the US, the only people who are not dependant on the US are those who live in Africe. (they can't pay for US grain...)
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Flamebait)
Israel currently receives over half of all US aid. If Israel can do without that aid I am sure that the US taxpayer would be only too happy to stop paying for it.
The fact is that the Israeli economy is in the tank and almost certain to stay there. The military budget is crippling, added to which there are huge subsidies to various religious factions that have to be bought off and for building 'settlements' on land confisca
Re:Copy of article... (Score:2, Insightful)
As it appears to upset you that Israel is using what you call 'coded references' does it also upset you what the PA does?
"The PA Ministries of Education and Sport have turned the most abhorrent murderers of Jews into role models and heroes for Palestinian youth. [For instance, a] tournament for 11-year-old boys was named for Abd Al-Baset Odeh - the terrorist who murdered 30 in the Passover Seder suicide bombing. This past summer, during the period of the US-sponsored Road Map, numerous summer camps were na
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Flamebait)
It is clear that Sharon is the causal nexus here, as he is fond of pointing out Arafat is irrelevant.
Sharon's strategy appear to be to deliberately provoke attacks in order to justify further provocations. He was personally responsible for starting the current round of violence with his forced entry into the Al Axir mosque.
Sharon is personally responsible for all the deaths since. H
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Insightful)
You know that really is a pretty ironic comment when you think about it. I have not met Prince Bandar, but I know the Saudi regime quite well. It is every bit as miserable as Saddam's regime in Iraq, the secret police are brutal, the courts capricious, critics of the regime tend to 'disappear'. On top of that you have the imposition of Whahabbi Islam, a miserable cult, in a form that is only slightly less severe than that of the Sa
Re:Copy of article... (Score:3, Insightful)
It seems Arafat is more dependant on foreign aid [cbsnews.com] than most Palestinians...
Also, ever wonder why Israel who is seemingly the enemy of the multi-billion dollar Arab oil cartel is doing so much more culturally, scientifically, and humanitary than all of them combined? I mean, the amount of money Israel get from the US is pennies compared to the US dollars pouring into these oil rich Arab nations in aid and oil trade. But Israel has world class Universities, research institutes, and a more diverse economy.
But
Re:Copy of article... (Score:2)
(And incidentally if the aid is several percent of Israels GDP then I don't see how you can say "only!!!" That's a vast amount of money.)
I blame Roy Schieder (Score:2, Funny)
Mind you, between him, Jan Michel Vincent and Famke Janssen its a wonder there are any prototype helicopters that haven't been stolen.
Stolen or Sold? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Stolen or Sold? (Score:3, Interesting)
I rather doubt this is the
Re:Stolen or Sold? (Score:2)
"Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins", a 1985 movie.
Re:Precedent exists (Score:3, Insightful)
bans on inter-racial marriages - did you even read your link? The only kind of marriage that is banned is civil marriage between two jews. And after the last elections, the new goverment's agreements include law changes designed to prevent any situation in which two consenting adults can not be wed (unless relatives). The only limitation on palastinians is in immigration laws, preventing the marriage from giving automatic residency, because of a trend of fictive marriages.
Work permits too
Yes, there are racist marriage laws (Score:2, Offtopic)
Server stolen (Score:3, Funny)
Let's just say this now (Score:2)
Besides, if this helo is so unique that no one else has ever managed to build something like it, then any attempt to sell it or trade it will definitely show up pretty clearly, right?
Who Would Want This? (Score:5, Insightful)
Possible reasons:
- Ransom
- One time suicide mission
- To cause Israel to lose face (and 5 mil)
- Sale (blah, blah... profit)
It's going to take a very impressive effort to get something like this out of the country without being noticed.
Re:Who Would Want This? (Score:2)
Same thing happened to a science fair project of mine...
Re:Who Would Want This? (Score:2)
Re:Who Would Want This? (Score:2, Funny)
It takes a superpower to carry out a burglary? Of a small movable object?
That explains who carries out all the robberies in my area.
THE CHINESE
And the superpower that carried out this awe-inspiring Mission Impossible feat of stealing a small movable object, is going to:
a) Ransom the heli - because superpowers need every million they can get;
b) Cause Isreal to lose face - because China, Russia and the US know that the theft of a small heli from a private company is a major loss of face;
Re:Who Would Want This? (Score:2)
They should steal all of the US's military items from Israel too, but you would need a million people working for a million days to do that
Re:Who Would Want This? (Score:2)
Yeah, but notice the distinct lack of balsa wood or rubberbands on this model.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah right (Score:5, Funny)
It's obvious to me that the simplest explanation is that it has become self aware, and left under it's own volition, using it's advanced sensor technology to navigate through doorways, air ducts and windows in search of freedom.
Re:Yeah right (Score:2)
I Worked With an Israeli Super Drone Once (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I Worked With an Israeli Super Drone Once (Score:2)
Useless (Score:5, Interesting)
The shmucks stole the device but not the software?
Whatever country tries to reverse engineer this thing is going to have a bitch trying to control it.
In some closed office in a secret country somewhere, some geeks are reading slashdot. The hardware guys are jumping around with the new toy they've got to play with. The software guys are pissed as hell the they've got to write code for this thing.
Re:Useless (Score:3, Insightful)
Which suggests it is an inside job. They already copied the software. Such an ambitious peice of theft would be difficult without some type of insider.
Again, this suggests industrial espionage. Company A (with expertise in such a thing) implants an employee in company B (with expertise in such a thing). There can only be a limited number of people in the world who could peform this theft and make use of it.
Re:Useless (Score:4, Informative)
So how do they know the software wasn't stolen?
The best thing about software, when someone copies it, you still get to keep it...
Re:Useless (Score:2)
Re:Useless (Score:2, Informative)
Any 2-bit tech can ghost a harddrive onto a laptop/clamshell in well under 20 minutes with an external USB2-to-IDE connector.
How the hell can you assume they didn't do just that?
Re:Useless (Score:2)
Whatever country tries to reverse engineer this thing is going to have a bitch trying to control it.
Let's see. They knew exactly where it was being stored, and didn't need the software? If it was, as it sounds, an inside job then it's fair to assume they already have a copy on CD-ROM or uploaded to an anonymous FTP server.
Phillip.
Re:Useless (Score:4, Interesting)
The shmucks stole the device but not the software? Whatever country tries to reverse engineer this thing is going to have a bitch trying to control it.
Not really. Flying a helicopter drone by remote control isn't that hard. [gamestop.com] :-)
Stolen so easily... In the security-paranoid land? (Score:3, Interesting)
From the article you can guess that the thing was stashed in a barn, close to a room full of cash...
the so called "sucessful" test was recorded and witnessed?
Looks like a cover-up for a failed technology and a drain for (more) money...
Easy? (Score:2)
Surely it is relatively easy to make a helicopter that can fly itself? Seriously. All the need to be able to do is go up, down, forward and turn. The tricky bit would be landing, but then all they have to do is have a flat surface because they can land just by going down.
An self-flying plane would be much harder, and any vehicle that needs to navigate on land due to all the obstacles.
Not impressed. If the only reason is newsworthy is because it has been stolen, why does should it be considered "news for n
Re:Easy? (Score:3, Insightful)
What happens when a big gust of wind hits it, or it flies into an area of much different air pressure?
Don't forget, there are a number of piloted helicopter accidents each year, from CAREFlights to the guys in Hawaii who fly tourists around. It's very easy to lose control.
Not to mention all the software needed to interact with the payload, which might be any
Re:Easy? (Score:2)
The computer corrects for it and it continues to fly as it normally would. This is really a minor point and is easily solved by something as simple as a gyro and/or an altimeter. Childs play. It's been addressed for many, many decades now.
Don't forget, there are a number of piloted helicopter accidents each year, from CAREFlights to the guys in Hawaii who fly tourists around. It's very easy to lose c
Re:Easy? (Score:2, Informative)
That having been said, the algorithms and sensors do exist (and have for a while) for autonomous flight at some performance level. The tricky bits include landing, as you suggest, but also include generating sufficient disturbance rejection and flight technical accuracy to accomplish whatever mission the UAV is intended for (say, operating a laser tar
Re:Easy...NOT! (Score:5, Interesting)
"The tricky part" is managing to keep it in the air at all.
It is way, WAY easier to make an automated flixed-wing airplane, which is why most commercial airliners ARE automated (can take off, fly to their destination, and land unaided), and have been for years.
Helicopters are a vastly more complicated technology, which is why even the US Army, which has the best and most advanced helicopters in the world, continues to suffer repeated fatalities from training accidents and normal operations.
It is a truism in the helicopter industry that "they don't fly...they're so ugly that the earth itself repels them."
Spend some time here How They Fly [helis.com] before you next post :-)
Re:Easy...NOT! (Score:2)
Re:Easy? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know about easy, but it's been done before (Score:2)
who would want a UAV prototype? (Score:3, Interesting)
In many ways, the current American UAV industry resembles the fledgling aircraft industry of 1920's America--a large number of small, independent, recently formed companies, each vying for a share in a dawning, potentially lucrative market. Now, just as then, government support will be crucial to ensuring America's UAV industry not just survives into, but fluorishes during the coming century.
i doubt there are many organisations capable of stealing a prototype of this sort (and weight) in one of the most security consious nations on the planet..anyone want to hazard a guess?
Mossad? Other UAV manufacturers? (Score:2)
Hell - even I'd want one! Wouldn't you??
In other news.... (Score:2)
in other news (Score:5, Funny)
The American air force has developed a new stealth recon helicopter. Surprisingly it has been one of the cheapest innovations ever to come out of the US military which not too long ago was under fire for its mismanagement of funds, and loss of a multi million dollar jet.
"We never even realized we had it until a few days ago." Stated Cornel Smith, "But what's most surprising is that it came from our Delta force. They have no R&D budget, do they... this is like that time we discovered Canada has battle ship [satirewire.com]."
This technology has not yet been perfected insiders say; they are still having trouble finding some software which will make the damb thing run. No one seems to understand how the Delta force has created something so technically perfect, and yet has no idea about how to make some compatible software.
The Air Forces initial position was surprisingly "no comment", however after the initial posting of this article they responded that "The Delta force doesn't exist... you can't prove anything".
Re:in other news (Score:2)
Unique? (Score:2)
Man that bird is ugly (Score:2)
So its unique - So Georgia Tech etc are lying. (Score:5, Interesting)
Have a look: HERE [gatech.edu] and especially HERE [gatech.edu]
Not to mention Berkeley who are it it too. [berkeley.edu]
In fact there are a plethora of companies and universities across the globe who already have advanced UAV helicopter designs so what on earth makes Steadicopter's design unique?
Yes, I know, someone is going to say it; nobody else has exactly the same design but thats not really the point.
Why Unique? (Score:2, Informative)
"The Fire Scout syst
I Saw This Movie... (Score:2)
Surely all they need to do is hire Steve Guttenberg to find the helicopter
Re:I Saw This Movie... (Score:2)
Find it? He's already got it and is using it on the set of his soon to be smash hit comeback film 'Cyborg Academy'. After all, you can't go wrong with chopper jokes.
Uhh... (Score:5, Funny)
Someone stole the latest James Bond script! (Score:2)
art imitates life.... or is it the other way around?
Not again! (Score:2)
Cover-up for failure? (Score:2)
This seems most likely, for one specific reason.
1. Really, even a thief engaging in industrial espionage would have taken at least the money.
2. If the software had been taken too, then it would have been a possibility that a similar product would show up on the market a while later, and fingers could point and go "gotcha", presumably. If, h
Consider this (Score:2)
So then they sent out the Self-Destruct signal (Score:2)
No?
Ummmm, not for long! (Score:2)
By definition... (Score:2)
Conspiracy! (Score:2, Funny)
Just imagine ... (Score:2)
Firefox! (Score:2)
The Collector (Score:2, Funny)
Says who? (Score:2, Interesting)
RIAA should learn from them! (Score:2)
Re:Producing a unique design. (Score:2)
For $1.5m it must have been a mini-uav, not a fullsize heilo. That would make it farily portable with a normal 2.5 ton truck. As far as security, normally a locked building would suffice ...a $1 mill
Re:Invested how much? (Score:2)
Re:Invested how much? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, it was rear view mirrors (the RIO rear view mirror on a late model F-4 is visible here [b-domke.de]), and the original apocryphal tale is about the Israeli Air Force being somehow "smarter" than the US Air Force because they thought to put mirrors in for use in dogfights and the USAF somehow never thought to do that. The truth is, however, that the US
Re:While we're at it... (Score:2)
Re:Not interesting. (Score:2)
Our NEW Washing Powder, with UNIQUE formula!
Really unique stuff.