Video Drones

Welcome to the video game wars.

Oh, sure, video games aren’t quite as expensive, but the idea remains the same: domination, destruction and death.

Drones with video-game names like Predator and Reaper have made an appearance in arenas from Bosnia to Iraq and Afghanistan. They carry Hellfire missiles – another video-game name – an anti-tank weapon.

The pilots of these drones sit 8,000 miles from their targets – but this is no video game.

Late in June, Northrop Grumman got $276.3 million to develop a communications network for the drones.

That’s petty cash to the military, which spent that much in just a little over two hours in 2008.

This is on top of a cost of $4.5 million per plane just for the Predators, which aren’t as weapons-laden – a mere two Hellfire missiles at a cost of $25,000 each – as their new and improved cousins the Reapers, which can carry eight.

The drones have been raining death on Afghanistan, killing numerous civilians, including women and children. According to one news article, pilots are even learning how to disguise the sounds the drone makes so it can do its work with even more stealth.

It’s a case of overgrown boys with deadly toys.