The future of warfare: A $400 drone killing a $2M tank
The future of warfare: A $400 drone killing a $2M tank
Ukraine’s early adoption of ‘first-person view’ drones tips the scales against an enemy fighting a conventional war.
People whining about 3D printed guns always forget about the much more terrifiying things that can be made with a 3D printer - like a kamikazie drone.
we used to make our fpv drones out of poplar wood from the hardware store, usually we only used 3d printed stuff for like mounting the camera if we wanted to get fancy
To be fair, you do have to get the explosives some other way. (Not that it's hard to get explosives).
Can you also print the payload?
No, nor can you print the battery, motors, flight computer, trans receiver or basically anything other than the frame.
I love my 3d printer, but honestly when people talk about 3d printed weapons I always cringe, 3d printers can't make weapons (well, I guess you could make a plastic rondel dagger or something, doubt it'd work well though), they make plastic. When people talk about 3d printed guns, I don't think that most people realize that the only 3d printed parts are usually the exterior frame of the gun, the parts that make it an actual gun are still made from metal and purchased.
Edit: and before anyone says it, yes you can 3d print metal, but not with anything you're going to find in someone's house - for the cost of an SLS metal printer, you could buy all the usual metal working equipment to just make a gun the old fashioned way
The Australians have a cardboard kamikaze drone. The hard part would be sourcing enough electronics in a warzone.
You mean interconnected drone swarms.
autonomous interconnected drone swarms
If only we could be sure that $400 drones will only ever be used to kill tanks, and never to kill neighborhoods ...
I'm waiting for the panic that will happen at the first political assassination using drones
Im pretty sure I read a few years ago someone tried in like south america, I'll have to look it up
That would make HOA meetings rather ackward... and dangerous.
I wonder if the second amendment people will get behind drones. It isn't like you are going to be able to defend your house when someone across a continent can set it on fire.
Imagine that brave new world. People walking around with a personal protection drone following them. Schools needing to invest in Iron Dome type anti-drones drones.
Oh boi, these autonomous machines will surely never be used against a civilian population!
They're piloted.
They already have.
Whatever war gets cheaper. That honestly might make us do it less.
Well until you get a pop-up with a timer and a live feed of an explosive drone heading toward you and a payment portal with an unskipable ad.
Whatever war gets cheaper. That honestly might make us do it less.
back when all it took was a blade, was the bloodiest time in human history. It's almost like things have been calm only because of the HIGH cost of war for the last few decades. Cheap war = more war.
Holy Hell, Calm down there Satan!
Just wait until they have those quadrapeds all touched up. A screen with ads on one shoulder and a gun pointed at you in the other.
I wonder if Russia is aware that Ukraine is using drones made with parts from China to take out their tanks lmao
Russia is aware and is trying to get China to restrict exports to Ukraine.
Ukraine fears drone shortages due to China restrictions
And China seems to really like the cheap Russian oil they’re buying these days…
What are they gonna do about it? They can't tell anyone anything least of all China. Russia is neutered.
It began ages ago, Ukraine aren't the first to use them in war. They were used extensively in Azerbaijan/Armenia before then.
Your drones are very impressive, you must be very proud.
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TIL a single T-72B3 costs less than $2M.
Black Mirror was a documentary.
We're living the worst parts of both black mirror and Idiocracy.
When Not Sure proved that toilet water made the plants grow, the people embraced him and looked to him for leadership.
In our reality, people continue to send death threats to healthcare professionals and try to run them out of town. And countless death threats to officials.
We are MUCH worse than Idiocracy.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
KYIV — Sergeant Yegor Firsov, deputy commander of a Ukrainian army strike drone unit, sounds exhausted in a voice message he sent to POLITICO from Avdiivka, an industrial city at the center of intense fighting on the eastern front.
Facing an enemy with superior numbers of troops and armor, the Ukrainian defenders are holding on with the help of tiny drones flown by operators like Firsov that, for a few hundred dollars, can deliver an explosive charge capable of destroying a Russian tank worth more than $2 million.
The FPV — or "first-person view" — drones used in such strikes are equipped with an onboard camera that enables skilled operators like Firsov to direct them to their target with pinpoint accuracy.
A typical FPV weighs up to one kilogram, has four small engines, a battery, a frame and a camera connected wirelessly to goggles worn by a pilot operating it remotely.
It can carry up to 2.5 kilograms of explosives and strike a target at a speed of up to 150 kilometers per hour, explains Pavlo Tsybenko, acting director of the Dronarium military academy outside Kyiv.
Battlefield experience has led the Ukrainian government to shift its preference away from conventional military drones, which are miniature fixed-wing aircraft with a long enough range to strike targets inside Russian territory.
The original article contains 1,376 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 85%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I feel like that isn't an accurate price comparison
I went to check something from the autotldr and must say, it's a decent read. First half is a little intro-ie but it's a good reasonable length read. Would recommend.
After the war, the Ucranian flag will have a drone painted in the center.
And Lem is once again proved to be a prophet. Y'all thought he was just the sci-fi writer behind Solaris
How do you "kill" an inanimate object
Make it support java, install iTunes on it, or attach it to a consumer grade HP printer usually does the trick.
Thank you 🙏
With a $400 drone.
With good inantimate objects.