Sure. I can't imagine trying this without LENR. Why does a $12 million nuclear drone make economic sense to the US military?
Such a drone can replace a platoon of soldier in Afghanistan. A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two - four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. $1.2 million is the cost of supporting a soldier in Afghanistan for a year. Of course, the least of that is wages or salary for the soldiers themselves. Most of it is due to the sheer lack of infrastructure in Afghanistan; its geographical position as a landlock nation. And the biggest single item in this? Fuel costs. Per troop deployed: $200,000 to $350,000 a year just in fuel costs. With all this heavy stuff that's coming in now, that number's probably going to go up as the oil prices are going up. And then there are the payola and road tolls to Pakistan. This cost structure of logistics is similar to supporting and astronaut on the moon. Since that veteran will also be supported throughout his life in terms of medical, educational, and other vet benefits, the life time cost of that soldier is some multiple of 1.2 million per year. If the military can replace that platoon with a robot, a $12 million drone is a bargain. On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> This huge cost for a nuclear heat source no matter which one they >> selected is extreme motivation to use LENR. One Rossi heat unit only >> costs a few hundred. > > > Sure. I can't imagine trying this without LENR. But I expect the people > doing this project have never heard of LENR. > > The Sandia document does not say a thing: > > http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/sand-uav.pdf > > QUOTE: > > ". . . Various DOE laboratory and contractor personnel and facilities > could have been used to perform detailed engineering, fabrication, assembly > and test operations including follow-on operational support. None of the > results are currently in use by DOE and it is doubtful that they will be > used in the near-term or mid-term future. Currently, none of the results > can be shared openly with the public due to national security constraints." > > - Jed > >
