I am in "Shock and Awe" at the expense of this war.

To those of you who are upset that ABC News has run this story on new weaponry, relax. Understand what the military's public affairs office does. You can go to the Air Force's own website and there's a page with a profile of the aircraft for all to read. It's really no secret. Again, the story doesn't impede the weapon's effectiveness; it's victims will not know a Hellcat ATG missile is coming at them...

The military option should be THE LAST ALTERNATIVE. Sending these things into a foreign nation is a sure fire recipe to generate MORE anti-US sentiment. Sure there are folks there who hate this nation... but there are folks EVERYWHERE who hate this nation, or are by virtue of their actions, destroying this nation such as the misguided right-wing of our government who are driving this nation right into an early grave.

"It doesn't matter that we announce the Reaper. It is flying so high that the enemy won't know it's there until the hellfire missile drops into their cave they call a house....."

To RJP -

I repeat - Why do we announce this to our enemies?
What ever happened to utilizing the element of surprise to our advantage? Why should we give them the opportunity to go even deeper into their caves and/or spend more time in their caves making it more difficult to kill them? Do you have a problem with the concept of using the element of surprise to our advantage? Is there some advantage that I'm missing in annoucing this weapon in advance of using it?

Well what good is it having these toys if you don't get to use them? Hey! Did anybody see any of the Terminator movies?

Just Wondering, the advantage of announcing this stuff is for psychological terror or warfare, whichever you choose to refer to it as. I'm sure we wouldn't be involved in terror of any kind, however. (snic)

I can't beleive all of you who think that this flying piece of crap is so great!!!...This isn't going to end the war or even slow it down!!..It's a waste of our money!!!

One reason why the expense is worth it is not mentioned in this article. This system can engage AQI/Taliban where US troops are not permitted [at least officially], in Pakistan.

I always figured Bin Laden would be 'found' just when it could be most beneficial to Bush and his cronnies.

Forget just being sent, Reapers are already over in that Sewer. Osama Bend Over is the poster boy of the U.S military - Industrial complex. They love the guy.

Don't you remember (ww2) loose lips sink ships

You can bet your bottom dollar that they've been deployed for some time now. Go get 'em. What better way to give them what they want...martyrdom.

Just more poor innocent civilians killed. By the powerful Deathstar. The Great Satan. The Republican Guard.

When are you people going to get it. We are not the good guys. We are the bad guys. And obi wan kenobi (OBL)and is Jedi warriors are going to stop us.

"Don't you remember (WW2) - loose lips sink ships?"

To Farancis Shean -

Too bad more people don't seem to remember that concept!

Gearbox => That works out pretty well all around because Dubbya is the poster boy for AQ's recruiting efforts. Kinda' like a snake biting it's tail, ain't it?

We have the M-1 tank, B-1 and B-2 bombers, bombs that are smarter than our president and victory isn't in sight any time soon. The enemy are alive and well in Pakistan. We are winning over the Afghan peoples. We kill 50 civilians to get 20 terrorist. Why don't these people love us? It's the same crap with a different name. This weapon doesn't kill any better than a AC 130. This enemy doesn't have ADA, SAM's or the Tor-M-1. Rarely does a helicopter get shot down. This is Bush's way of giving dummies something to cheer about.

To all you armchair generals out there screaming mad that this is being revealed...you should stick to munching cheetos and watching Sean Hannity on TV. The US military has weapons you can't even begin to dream of...that aren't EVER announced publicly. You think this is their state-of-the-art? You know NOTHING. You're NAIVE.

War is different now, our enemies already know more than we do and they most likely knew about this already. Also the psychological effect on our lower echelon enemies is valuable as well. If this thing does as it is claimed to be able to, then it should save American lives and that is (to coin a phrase) “priceless”.

In Response to ArmyMom 's comment.

You are so correct. Marry me :P

The Reaper wouldn't be any more useful in the tribal areas since, if U.S. forces aren't allowed there, U.S. forces aren't allowed to shoot into there either. It'd cause a diplomatic ruckus.

As for the effectiveness of the Reaper.. pffft. Just an expensive toy that won't win the war. Big bombs and missiles are great if you have a target. The current Predators carry two Hellfires, and they don't fire them the vast majority of the time. The Reaper would simply be carrying more payload and burning fuel doing the same thing.

We need more actionable intelligence on where AQ is; that's where we need to be spending the money. We've already got enough firepower in the region to blow the living snot out of any enemy we manage tolocate.