Comment on Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future

• tal@lemmy.today ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is a lightweight AA Gun that can be mounted on a cheap pickup truck. This isn’t a “Static” defense,

  It’s static from the standpoint of being required to meet an incoming Shahed-136, which can move more quickly than it; you cannot substantially reposition vehicles on ground-based vehicles to meet incoming attacks from the air. The critical factor is whether you can concentrate your defenses in time to meet an attack.

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  • dragontamer@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The critical factor is whether you can concentrate your defenses in time to meet an attack, once you have detected that incoming attack.

    Force concentration is a job for fighter jets. Most jets can fly at Mach 1, or even Mach2 (700mph to 1500mph). At which point, a 120mph Shahed-136 is worthless.

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    • tal@lemmy.today ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Different weapons for different tasks.

      I think that we may be violently agreeing. What I had in my original comment:

      They may both have a role.

      If you know that a given point is at risk of attack, using a static defense like AA guns is practical. Say you have some sort of specific, high-value target that you can put AA guns around. That may be a very sensible thing to do.

      But the problem, if you intend to rely only on those, is that there is then a concentration of force issue. The attacker can choose which point to attack; they get the initiative.

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      • dragontamer@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I guess I read it differently earlier.

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• cynar@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The game will iterate further. A machine gun works against current drones. It can be countered however. E.g. use a ducted drone, with a few layers of Kevlar facing the gun. It doesn’t need to win, or even survive. It just needs to soak up the fire. The other drones rush in, either behind it, or from various angles.

  Even things like chaff and smoke can mess up targeting for long enough to rush in.

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  • dragontamer@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    [deleted]

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    • cynar@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      If it fires big, heavy rounds, then they are slow and of limited numbers. You then bait it at range, or swarm it. If it uses lighter round, to get higher speeds, or more shots, then you use a different platform to soak its shots.

      You’re also likely vastly overestimating the final engagement ranges.Right now its long flights at relatively high altitudes. A properly designed drone swarm could hug terrain to close, or be deployed early and loiter on the ground in cover.

      A good chunk of the swarm would also be small. 10cm would be big enough to carry just enough teeth to not be ignored. They would also be nimble as hell. It would be a numbers game.

      As for the use of smoke. You use 3 or 4 types of drone. A smoke bomb lays down cover. Camera drones fly through and around it to triangulate on your gun. Finally a sniper platform drone moves out of cover and shoots blind, using the camera drones feeds. A coordinator might be required to sort the data. Critically, only cheap, disposable drones are exposed to fire.

      The key is that you can mix and match drones on the offensive. Your defence needs to be able to react to all of them.

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      • dragontamer@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        30mm systems carry 700+ rounds and fire 10 per second.

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