The evolution of warfare with drones.

bobcat

bobcat

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Calif
Evolving drone technology has exposed a vulnerability that's hard to defend against. An example can be found in the Russia / Ukraine war. About a hundred or so drones are released at once, and they use visual recognition and mapping AI to find their target, so radar jamming doesn't work, and in mass swarms, trying to shoot them down at night is very problematic because detection is difficult and defenses are overwhelmed.

Ukraine’s drone production has exploded, with more than 500 private firms now manufacturing roughly 200 000 small units per month. By the end of 2025, officials expect to field 30,000 long-range drones as well. This industrial scale is reshaping the conflict. What began as small-unit experimentation has become a national enterprise, shifting the balance from conventional firepower toward swarms of cheap, smart, and expendable weapons.

They just zip tie an explosive device onto a combat drone and send it on the kamikaze mission. It is crippling air travel as flights are grounded, and air raid sirens are going off at night in Moscow forcing citizens to find shelters, thus disrupting sleep, and if the drone is shot down, it comes down in flames and starts fires all over the city. It's like guerilla warfare in the skies. It may be a game changer for warfare, wherever it is.


Drone pics.jpg
 

Russia can also produce large amounts of drones for counterattacks. They also have developed an electronic warfare system that can be used to jam or disable drones. However, if Ukraine would institute or deploy multiple attacks with a significant amount of drones, it would be very difficult to defend against an invasion.
 

The Ukraine war has rewritten the rules. Tanks are being rendered next to useless.

But drones are a double-edged sword. On one hand, the people launching the drones don't have to risk human lives in their offensive. On the other hand, human lives are not at risk. When we move into robotics and AI, we are edging closer to a world where wars are fought by surrogates, with minimal risk to human lives (as in military assets). This makes deployment cheap and guiltless, which isn't a good thing.

I am legit surprised we haven't seen domestic terrorism using drones. It's a real threat.
 
VaughanJB said:
The Ukraine war has rewritten the rules. Tanks are being rendered next to useless.

But drones are a double-edged sword. On one hand, the people launching the drones don't have to risk human lives in their offensive. On the other hand, human lives are not at risk. When we move into robotics and AI, we are edging closer to a world where wars are fought by surrogates, with minimal risk to human lives (as in military assets). This makes deployment cheap and guiltless, which isn't a good thing.

I am legit surprised we haven't seen domestic terrorism using drones. It's a real threat.
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Somehow this reminded me of a Star Trek episode called A Taste Of Armageddon where two neighboring worlds have been at war for over 500 years. Each attack is registered on a computer screen, and the ones who are in that attack circle have to report to a disintegration chamber. In this sanitized war, they have done away with the messiness of actual war, however, the enterprise in orbit is registered in an attack, so they are ordered to comply.

Kirk will have none of this, so he takes matters in hand and is forced to destroy the computers. Now the commander there is horrified because now it will appear they have defaulted on the war agreement, and they will face the brutality of real war. Here is the clip.

 
bobcat said:
Each attack is registered on a computer screen, and the ones who are in that attack circle have to report to a disintegration chamber. In this sanitized war, they have done away with the messiness of actual war, however, the enterprise in orbit is registered in an attack, so they are ordered to comply.
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That was an unforgettable episode. StarTrek had many of those. It was a highly creative series for its day, and still unmatched by most series today.
 
When you think of how much money is spent on the weapons of war each year, it really brings things into perspective. The US spends almost a trillion a year. The UK spends around 60bn (which gives you some perspective). China spent near 320bn last year.

I could go on, but the point I'm trying to make is - the amount of money spent around the globe on weapons of war would solve many a problem. These costs will get lower as cheaper technologies such as drones as utilized, but they're no less deadly.
 

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