Sinking to new lows

Houston Chronicle ^ | 6/26/2010 | Dane Schiller

[Lurker]

Park it next to an NG carrier and they won’t need a nuke.

[cynwoody]

Here's the half-built Bogota boat mentioned in the article:

It was 100 feet long. The naval architects were apparently imported from the former Evil Empire.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Those Russians are getting paid very well for what they are doing.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"Imagine one packed to the gills with explosives, drive right up underneath a cruise ship or the real nightmare is one carrying a crude nuke. "

Or an Oil rig. Easy non moving target.

Just what did they think those SWAT teams were capable of doing? Protecting us from high pressure blowouts? Hardly!

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

A ton of cocaine, has a US street value of approx $25 million

Estimated value per load: 4 X $25 milion = $100 Million.

Therefore, a $1 M investment (approx 1%, and a great ROI no matter how you cut it) in each sub is minuscule, compared to the possible profits.

As an aside, with the type of profits involved in the drug trade, I doubt we will ever see any substantial victory in the ridiculous "War on Drugs!"

[LouD]

they're made to sneak loads up from South America to Mexico, where the drugs are offloaded and taken overland into the United States.

Interesting to note that it is apparently easier for the Narcos to infiltrate their product over the Mexican border than to use subs to smuggle it into the U.S.

[wildbill]

I predicted this ploy more than 10 years ago as US countermeasures against surface boats became more effective.

My next prediction was the use of gliders. Gliders have minimal metal parts, are made of fiberglass and fly slow, and therefor have negligible radar signature so they are almost invisible to our countermeasures based on radar.

Gliders can soar or be towed to over 10,000 ft near the border and with an enhanced glide ratio (many gliders have 50 to 1 or better) can go cross country on one descent into our interior for at least 100 miles—far ourstripping our border coverage which is predicated on stopping smuggling near the actual border.

If the pilot can use thermals to regain height, the glide can be extended almost indefinitely as long as the Sun can heat the land below. Glider flights of hundreds of miles are common.

Another advantage is they don’t have to use roads or obvious trails, so they can land ‘em where we ain’t near predesignated GPS rendezvous points for off-road vehicles.

It’s only a coincidence, but one motto of glider pilots is:
“Get high and stay high.”

[TomasUSMC]

Imperial Beach Ca., lots of washed up stuff.

[TomasUSMC]

Send a fleet of them packed with boom boom to Iran.