[sysguest]

well the article writes AS IF the whole intention was to:

"get data for drone warfare" ...in 2021 (before the russian invasion...)

but did we even EXPECT drone warfare to influence the war THIS MUCH back then?

well not me -- I actually thought russia would beat the crap out of ukraine within a month (even after the failed spetsnaz attack on zelensky)

the article's assumptions only makes sense IF some people had time machines, or if CIA has some know-everything future prophet

(not to mention: drones need TOP TO BOTTOM view, not bottom-to-top view)

anyway, my verdict: sensational yellow journal article, nothing more/less

[dgellow]

Drone warfare has been discussed publicly since more than a decade, what Ukraine proved was just how effective that really is, but it was already known and understood. In any case mapping the world doesn’t only benefit drones, it’s something always valuable to the military. Drone navigation is just one use case

[sysguest]

yeah if the article was about "helping the infantry", then I would have 100% agreed.

but... drones? that's just yellow journalism optimized for SEO keyword (and anyone who clicks an article with 'drone')

[roywiggins]

Well, define "drone warfare"- the CIA and the Pentagon has been operating Predators and friends for a long while.

[sysguest]

those predators and friends are really high-altitude drones, and for them these low-altitude (human) level pics don't give them any advantage

[roywiggins]

Very likely. I'm just saying, people in the CIA seeing where the tech might be going and hedging their bets is not that unlikely.