Pet peeve and a nit to pick... "Kamikaze Drones"??

[WarGamer]

This is really dumb...

I mean... something that's designed and intended to hit a target and blow up isn't a "Kamikaze" right?

It's not like taking a US "Reaper" Drone and crashing it into a target out of desperation...

These Iranian drones are "loitering munitions" meaning basically it's a cruise missile that flies in circles above an area searching for a target and then swooping down to hit it.




It's like calling a sub based torpedo a "Kamikaze Torpedo"

[CentralMass]

1. A Torpedo's purpose is to travel to another vessel and explode. Drones typical

mission is for surveillance or to launch missiles, not crash into targets. So. IMO, the "kamikaze" tag seems appropriate.

[WarGamer]

2. One more time. THIS drone is designed to strike a target.

It's a "essentially" a cruise missile that can pick and choose a target.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

9. But cruise missiles don't typically "loiter" in order to acquire targets

that's what causes these to fall under the nickname of "drones" as opposed to cruise missiles.

Since most drones are not designed to explode into targets, "kamikaze drone" is a colorful nickname that conveys the difference of this type of weapons.

Call them "loitering munitions" if that's your preference.

[WarGamer]

10. Reminds me of a few summers ago when the media made up a fancy name for some bee...

Just seeking clicks.

Super Mega Saber Tooth VelociRaptor Bee??

[Just A Box Of Rain]

13. Human beings have a propensity for coming up with descriptive names for things.

I think the argument could be made that "kamikaze drone" gives people a better sense of what these weapons do than the standard alternative "loitering munitions" provides.

The purpose of language is communication, after all.

[WarGamer]

15. I hear ya...

Bu when I htink of Kamikaze... I think of WW2 where an actual human pilot made the ritualistic sacrifice of his own body and life to strike an enemy.

I'm sure the Iranian ailerons and gps receiver didn't have much emotion about their mission.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

20. But the human part of "kamikaze" is negated by the other part of the term,

which is what makes "kamikaze drone" so descriptive. People hear that term, and they get it.

That's assuming a basic knowledge of kamikazes from WWII.

In contrast, "loitering munition" might leave someone who was not familiar with the term scratching his or her head. KWIM?

[maxsolomon]

17. Murder Hornet

Because they kill people in Japan.

Whatever it takes; those Asian Giant Hornets have been eradicated from the US/Canada border area of the PNW.

[aka-chmeee]

3. Not that I want to be a contrarian,

But, I can see the linkage. A weapon which rather than firing a missile or other ordnance, attempts to hit the target itself to destroy the target and in doing so, destroys itself as well. A torpedo is not a Kamikaze, but a submarine ramming a target might be.

[WarGamer]

4. What's a cruise missile?

What's an anti-aircraft missile?

What's an anti-tank missile?

They're all built, designed and intended to "run into" an enemy and blow up.

BTW, the anti aircraft missile also flies around, following a target then striking it. They're "guided"...

[Effete Snob]

5. A "loitering munition" you say? I have bad news for you....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loitering_munition



Ah, okay, so by "loitering munition", you mean they are kamikaze drones.

Got it.

[WarGamer]

6. That doesn't change what I wrote, lol...

I think it's DUMB that they're also called Kamikaze drones.


A lowered car is also called a "hooptie" and I think that's dumb too.

[Effete Snob]

7. Are you referring....

...to the ones with a flammable payload or an inflammable payload?

[WarGamer]

8. The hooptie? :)

Re: the drone...

I don't know. If it's made of wood, maybe it's flammable?

[Effete Snob]

11. You know...

I knew a guy who rigged up his hoopty wagon with remote control to blow up when it hit something.

It was a kamikaze hoopty

[WarGamer]

12. Was it a Lada?

[Kaleva]

14. Used as an adjective, kamikaze means reckless or self-destructive

[WarGamer]

16. I think th emost obvious definition would be the WW2 definition.

[Kaleva]

18. Used as a noun, yes but it can be used as an adjective

[WarGamer]

19. I hear ya...

[Effete Snob]

28. Did you know that Minuteman missiles take longer than a minute to fire...

...and don't have a man in them?

[WarGamer]

30. that's just outrageous... and the F-15 doesn't have feathers...

[sop]

21. In WWII kamikaze meant a "Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate

suicidal crash." Pilots committing suicide made this form of attack unique. These "kamikaze drones" don't have pilots, so by definition it's not a suicide attack, and not really a kamikaze.

[Shermann]

22. It's too good of a word to relegate to history

There are no more "real" kamikazes, so it may as well refer to drones now (and motorcycles).

[Just A Box Of Rain]

23. Hence the second part of this compound-term, which is "drone,"

which signifies un-manned.

[sop]

25. But who's committing suicide?

[Effete Snob]

26. Anyone reading this thread

[WarGamer]

31. We're just having fun... it's all a "IMO" type thread.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

27. Same with "Shahed."

The unmanned drone drone is destroying itself by crashing into a target. This is an action that isn't currently typical of most drones.

That's what one needs to look at this as a compound-term.

In that light, it is quite descriptive.

[WarGamer]

29. How about the US "Flying Ginsu Drone" I never saw it referred to as a Kamikaze.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

32. Because "Flying Ginsu Drone" is more descriptive of a drone that cuts people to bits

rather than one that explodes.

It goes back to the earlier comment about "communication."

[Effete Snob]

33. Try THAT with a tomato

[Just A Box Of Rain]

24. On a side note, these Iranian "drones" are called Shahed 129s.

Shahed is a loan word from Arabic that refers to martyrs who sacrifice their lives in the service of Allah/God.

It is a similar example of anthropomorphizing this (and other) weapons systems.

Not dissimilar to the use of "kamikaze."