(02-01-2016 03:09 PM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 11:42 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 11:35 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 11:34 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Seriously...one quarter? A quarter which while slow still showed a small growth mind you?

The hoops that some have to jump through...lol

Have a feeling the world is going to pull us down for a while going forward.

Probably. The economy is continually moving in a more global direction. And while yes, we may see some downturn, look at China and other places. We're still by far the most stable.

Link?

It's mostly my opinion and just about every group that comes up with a list has a differing set of criteria, and "stability" is pretty subjective.

But here's one ranking us at #1. And it's actually the most recent one I could find:

Quote:1. United States
The US economy is the largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP (measured at current prices in US dollars). The $17.41 trillion US economy is approximately 22.44 percent of the gross world product. The United States is an economic superpower that is highly advanced in terms of technology and infrastructure and has abundant natural resources. However, the US economy loses its spot as the Number One economy by a slight margin to China when measured in terms of GDP based on PPP. In these terms, China’s GDP is $17.63 trillion and the US GDP is $17.41 trillion. However, the US is way ahead of China in terms of GDP per capita (PPP)-- approximately $54,678 in the US versus $12,893 in China.

The World's Top 10 Economies

(01-30-2016 08:33 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I apologize if this is hijacking the thread, but the subject matter is closely related, and I'd rather post to a thread that is still active. Here is the latest comment on the earlier crew seizure from http://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2016/01...0879578135

Quote:The Iranian seizure of the US boats story grows more bizarre with every new Navy informational release. USNI News website now reports that the Iranian seizure of the two US boats and crews was the result of navigational error rather than a failure of equipment (1).
“Several sources confirmed to USNI News that the crews of the two boats, assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, had misjudged their location when they mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters off of Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 while trying to meet a ship for refueling. The sources said the mistake was a result of human error, not a failure in navigation systems.…
The crews of the boats were determining their position and repairing a mechanical problem with one of the boats when forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) – the units responsible for costal defense in Iran – interdicted the U.S. RCBs and took both the boats and their crews to Farsi Island.”
This is damning in multiple ways.
If there was no failure of navigational systems then how could the crews have possibly not known their position? All they had to do was to look at the GPS nav system. To ask us to believe that highly trained boat crews with fully functioning nav systems were lost and none of them thought to merely glance at their GPS display is beyond belief.
This also asks us to believe that high trained, professional boat crews had no knowledge of navigational methods other than GPS? No knowledge of the myriad navigational methods that have been known to sailors for thousands of years? This also asks us to believe that none of the crew thought to simply call and ask for a position fix from some other unit?
Alternatively, if the crews were unsure about their position but, presumably, believed they were in international waters since they were not allowed to enter Iranian waters and did not, to the best of their knowledge at the moment of seizure, do so, then they allowed their boats and themselves to be seized in what they believed to be international waters, to the best of their belief. In their minds, they allowed an act of war to be committed against the US without resisting.
The crews and their entire chain of command need to be court-martialed and discharged.
(1)http://news.usni.org/2016/01/28/u-s-boat...rs-by-iran

The official explanation makes no sense. This author thinks the crew and chain of command should be court-martialed. I don't think that will happen because I don't think higher-ups want the true story to come out. This still smells like a set-up to me. Call it a conspiracy theory if you like, but it makes more sense than the obvious lies we are being fed.

That IS very strange.

Back to the drone situation, are the ships' radar systems able to pick up a tiny drone?

(02-01-2016 03:23 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-30-2016 08:33 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I apologize if this is hijacking the thread, but the subject matter is closely related, and I'd rather post to a thread that is still active. Here is the latest comment on the earlier crew seizure from http://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2016/01...0879578135

Quote:The Iranian seizure of the US boats story grows more bizarre with every new Navy informational release. USNI News website now reports that the Iranian seizure of the two US boats and crews was the result of navigational error rather than a failure of equipment (1).
“Several sources confirmed to USNI News that the crews of the two boats, assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, had misjudged their location when they mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters off of Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 while trying to meet a ship for refueling. The sources said the mistake was a result of human error, not a failure in navigation systems.…
The crews of the boats were determining their position and repairing a mechanical problem with one of the boats when forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) – the units responsible for costal defense in Iran – interdicted the U.S. RCBs and took both the boats and their crews to Farsi Island.”
This is damning in multiple ways.
If there was no failure of navigational systems then how could the crews have possibly not known their position? All they had to do was to look at the GPS nav system. To ask us to believe that highly trained boat crews with fully functioning nav systems were lost and none of them thought to merely glance at their GPS display is beyond belief.
This also asks us to believe that high trained, professional boat crews had no knowledge of navigational methods other than GPS? No knowledge of the myriad navigational methods that have been known to sailors for thousands of years? This also asks us to believe that none of the crew thought to simply call and ask for a position fix from some other unit?
Alternatively, if the crews were unsure about their position but, presumably, believed they were in international waters since they were not allowed to enter Iranian waters and did not, to the best of their knowledge at the moment of seizure, do so, then they allowed their boats and themselves to be seized in what they believed to be international waters, to the best of their belief. In their minds, they allowed an act of war to be committed against the US without resisting.
The crews and their entire chain of command need to be court-martialed and discharged.
(1)http://news.usni.org/2016/01/28/u-s-boat...rs-by-iran

The official explanation makes no sense. This author thinks the crew and chain of command should be court-martialed. I don't think that will happen because I don't think higher-ups want the true story to come out. This still smells like a set-up to me. Call it a conspiracy theory if you like, but it makes more sense than the obvious lies we are being fed.

That IS very strange.

Back to the drone situation, are the ships' radar systems able to pick up a tiny drone?

In a generic answer, yes. Drones aren't exactly tiny as you put it, and their anti aircraft and anti missile defenses can pick up targets roughly the size of a telephone pole (anti-ship missiles) so a drone (50% size of a small fighter) would probably be detected the vast majority of the time.

(02-01-2016 04:10 PM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 03:23 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-30-2016 08:33 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I apologize if this is hijacking the thread, but the subject matter is closely related, and I'd rather post to a thread that is still active. Here is the latest comment on the earlier crew seizure from http://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2016/01...0879578135

Quote:The Iranian seizure of the US boats story grows more bizarre with every new Navy informational release. USNI News website now reports that the Iranian seizure of the two US boats and crews was the result of navigational error rather than a failure of equipment (1).
“Several sources confirmed to USNI News that the crews of the two boats, assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, had misjudged their location when they mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters off of Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 while trying to meet a ship for refueling. The sources said the mistake was a result of human error, not a failure in navigation systems.…
The crews of the boats were determining their position and repairing a mechanical problem with one of the boats when forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) – the units responsible for costal defense in Iran – interdicted the U.S. RCBs and took both the boats and their crews to Farsi Island.”
This is damning in multiple ways.
If there was no failure of navigational systems then how could the crews have possibly not known their position? All they had to do was to look at the GPS nav system. To ask us to believe that highly trained boat crews with fully functioning nav systems were lost and none of them thought to merely glance at their GPS display is beyond belief.
This also asks us to believe that high trained, professional boat crews had no knowledge of navigational methods other than GPS? No knowledge of the myriad navigational methods that have been known to sailors for thousands of years? This also asks us to believe that none of the crew thought to simply call and ask for a position fix from some other unit?
Alternatively, if the crews were unsure about their position but, presumably, believed they were in international waters since they were not allowed to enter Iranian waters and did not, to the best of their knowledge at the moment of seizure, do so, then they allowed their boats and themselves to be seized in what they believed to be international waters, to the best of their belief. In their minds, they allowed an act of war to be committed against the US without resisting.
The crews and their entire chain of command need to be court-martialed and discharged.
(1)http://news.usni.org/2016/01/28/u-s-boat...rs-by-iran

The official explanation makes no sense. This author thinks the crew and chain of command should be court-martialed. I don't think that will happen because I don't think higher-ups want the true story to come out. This still smells like a set-up to me. Call it a conspiracy theory if you like, but it makes more sense than the obvious lies we are being fed.

That IS very strange.

Back to the drone situation, are the ships' radar systems able to pick up a tiny drone?

In a generic answer, yes. Drones aren't exactly tiny as you put it, and their anti aircraft and anti missile defenses can pick up targets roughly the size of a telephone pole (anti-ship missiles) so a drone (50% size of a small fighter) would probably be detected the vast majority of the time.

Well, some things that they're calling drones nowadays are pretty tiny but you're right, something that Iran would have used was likely not that small.