Get ready for the drones
A new generation of ‘Super Drones’ is transforming war and industry, with sizes as small as a mosquito, speeds of up to 300 mph, intelligent ‘swarms’ working together without pilots, hi-tech ‘cloaking’ capabilities and single craft able to both fly and swim, experts told the Daily Mail.
Cutting-edge science is being poured into these highly advanced robots, used on battlefields in Ukraine and the Middle East, but also over farmers’ fields, freeways and electrical grid infrastructure at home.
‘It’s pretty remarkable,’ said Virginia Tech drone expert Tombo Jones.
‘Some of the most eye-opening advancements come from really well-engineered programming and algorithms, where the drone is continuously assessing itself and providing feedback.’
‘There’s a lot of training for AI [artificial intelligence] elements in drones to be more autonomous,’ said Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and expert on drones used in the Russia-Ukraine war.
‘All militaries are starting to recognize that the availability of commercial tech that can go into manufacturing a military drone is lowering the threshold for all kinds of actors, state and non-state alike, for the acquisition of a tactical drone force.’
The article doesn’t say, by the way, that the mosquito-sized drones go 300 MPH.
This type of thing is way outside my field of expertise. But the article indicates that battery limitations are an issue, although one that’s being worked on.
I hope we’re developing some sort of defense. At any rate, we seem to be doing something:
In sophisticated swarm technology, hundreds of drones can communicate with each other independently and respond to obstacles while conducting a mission, with minimal input from a single pilot, using the same patterns as swarms of insects.
The Pentagon’s $1billion Replicator program plans to deploy thousands of cheap, autonomous drones working together in swarms by August this year.
The program, launched in 2023, ‘could include autonomous aerial, ground, surface, sub-surface, and/or space systems’ all coordinating, according to a December 2024 congressional report.
Technology has changed the face of warfare. (AGAIN!) The satellite photos, positioning, and comms have made it possible to locate and track your enemy with precision and 24/7.
ECM and stealth materials have made it more difficult to detect and defend against airborne threats. Drone swarms ensure that some of the drones will get to the target.
But the tech will catch up and soon there will be effective anti-drone weapons. Thrust and parry. It began with stone clubs and shields. And so, it continues. Only the end of war will bring an end to it. The beat goes on.
Those mosquito-sized drones done’t even operate wirelessly; batteries, again.
The article looks like a repackaging of a CCP propaganda piece that has been making the rounds for the past few weeks. I first heard about those drones here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBbtX6vMec0&pp=ygUQc2VycGVudHphIGRyb25lcw%3D%3D
Note that serpentza isn’t exactly a neutral actor; he is unapologetically opposed to the Chinese government.
Stanislaw lem predicted this in the 80s
I know there is all kinds of anti missile / anti drone tech on larger American Navy Vessels , but they may want to start making the hulls thicker again like warships were in WW2, just to with stand a few small drones from a swarm that get thru.
One of the cooler autonomous “drones” that’s been around for a while is the sub glider or autonomous underwater glider (AUG.)
The vehicle uses a buoyancy-driven propulsion system, which involves adjusting its internal buoyancy to control its vertical position in the water column: by alternately adjusting their buoyancy and angle of attack, sub gliders can glide up and down through the water, covering large distances while consuming very little power.
https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/1/21
Section 2.3 and Figures 3 & 4 provide structural schematics.
The claim there are mosquito-sized drones is not believable.
But have you ever seen the mosquitoes in northern Finland?
” And fleas (drones) that plague the larger, infinitum ….”
A famous poem that I can’t remember right now.
Drones have already changed the battlefield and at this point advantage drones.
Russia is overwhelming Ukraine air defenses with massive drone attacks using the Shahed (Garen-2) drone first developed by Iran. They’re slow and few make it through, but when you launch 700-800 at one time you only need a few to get through to be effective. And they’re relatively cheap. $30-100K and the air defense missiles used to shoot them down range from $500K for the Stinger to several million for the Patriot.
Israel did use a laser weapon recently– which will greatly reduce the cost per shot to less than $1,000, but they have a limitation in cloud cover and smoke.
Electronic jamming is effective on the battlefield, so small fpv drones are using fiber-optics, but AI will change that as you won’t need to direct them– just give them a target and they will find it and kill it.
AI will make drones even more lethal.
Whether the US military can adapt to the changing technology remains to be seen.
SAS Veteran UNCOVERS Deadly Micro Drone Tactics in Combat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gzCbgWTYiI
Yes the Russians can lob 500-1000 drones and missiles at Ukraine in one night, but witness what Ukraine did to the Russian Black Sea Fleet or more recently the Russian strategic bomber force, so I wouldn’t be singing Vladdy’s praises. If you don’t care what you hit as long as it is in Ukraine, Russia has a drone strategy. Much like their infantry strategy …… see Ukraine and die.
And of course there is the Russian “Safari tactics” used in Kershon; using grenade drop drones and FPV drones to murder civilians. That’s your man Vladdy.
”Russia is overwhelming Ukraine air defenses with massive drone attacks using the Shahed (Garen-2) drone first developed by Iran. They’re slow and few make it through, but when you launch 700-800 at one time you only need a few to get through to be effective. And they’re relatively cheap. $30-100K and the air defense missiles used to shoot them down range from $500K for the Stinger to several million for the Patriot.”
The only reason Ukraine uses Stingers and Patriots against Shahads is because the Trump administration killed the transfer of more appropriate defense systems to Ukraine. Joe Biden had approved the transfer of the APKWS air defense system to Ukraine, and the first units had made it to Poland when Pete Hegseth cancelled the transfer (apparently without either the knowledge or consent of President Trump himself). They’ve now been pulled back out of Poland.
The APKWS adds a laser guidance kit to a standard 70 mm Hydra rocket. It has been used in a truck-mounted version and a version fired from F-15s and F-16s, among other aircraft. The kits cost about $20,000 each and the base rockets about $3,000 each (cheaper than a Shahad). About 10 million Hydra rockets have been built since 1996, with most available for conversion.
The reason we haven’t provided Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win is not because we don’t have them — for 75 years we’ve built our whole military and its weapons for fighting the Russians in Europe — it’s because neither the Biden administration nor the Trump administration wants Ukraine to win. To the eternal shame of this nation.
mkent, I’m not trying to get into a debate, but was pointing out that cheap/high production drones used in swarms can overwhelm air defense systems.
The fact that we are using air defense systems that have a 5-20/1 cost disadvantage makes it more likely the enemy would use this strategy. That’s certainly Iran’s strategy as well. What Israel has against Iran that Ukraine doesn’t have against Russia is the ability to take out their launchers.
The vampire/hydra system does have a problem. They are ineffective against Iskander-M missiles and Russia has been sending some cruise missiles mixed in with the Shahed drones. I don’t see why we haven’t sent more systems, given their cheap cost and the fact they are a completely defensive weapon.
Their guidance system uses a laser and faces the same problem all lasers share– their effectiveness is diminished in cloud cover or smoke.
It would seem the advent of laser weapons themselves would be the best defense, except for the glaring limitation. They will be cheap to operate.
Ukraine does have a laser weapon that is effective against Shahed drones, but not against cruise missiles. These are also short range weapons.
‘Final moments’ of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar captured on drone footage
A drone video showed a man wrapped in a scarf inside a ruined Gaza apartment in what the Israeli military said was footage of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar shortly before his death.
He had a wounded hand and was [last] seen throwing a stick at the drone.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Sinwar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYuHqBnCdrw
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I am haunted by this video. Obviously I am no fan of Sinwar, but the plight of this fellow, hiding, wounded, half-camouflaged in his dusty rags in a bombed-out living room, then a drone comes in to spy him out.
Sinwar defiantly throws a stick at the drone. The drone can’t kill him directly (yet) but the image gets back to the IDF and a tank finishes the job.
” The vampire/hydra system does have a problem. They are ineffective against Iskander-M missiles and Russia has been sending some cruise missiles mixed in with the Shahed drones.”
Well, yeah. Now you’re moving the goalpost to the other side of the field. Your original complaint was that Ukraine (and by extension, us) was shooting down $100,000 Shahads with multi-million-dollar Patriots. So I pointed you to a system capable of shooting down Shahads for a fraction of the cost of a Shahad, and it’s highly up-scalable to boot.
Yes, more capable missiles will need more capable anti-missiles to defeat them. Which is why Ukraine has also received NASAMS systems using standard Sidewinder and AMRAAM missiles and even more capable Patriots. If we wanted to, we could also provide THAADs to protect against Russian IRBMs, but that would be pricey.
There’s not much Russia could throw at Ukraine that American weapons systems couldn’t defeat. We lack the will to send those weapons, not the ability.
”I am haunted by this video.”
huxley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-2tpwW0kmU
I first saw this video over six years ago. If you knew who first showed it to me, it would terrify you.
“battery limitations are an issue”
Electric cars have the same problem. Back around 1900 the LA Times predicted that electric cars would soon dominate. It didn’t happen because batteries have low energy density. Thats why your gasoline powered car can get by with a 15-gallon tank (about 100 Lbs. of gasoline) and your electric car has to haul around half a ton of batteries.
Ray
And that gas load will get you fifty percent further.
WRY drones. I suspect that the smaller, the less dwell time a high intensity laser would need to kill or damage it
(Pictures a laser waving back and forth in an area radar says has a swarm. )
Drones will be used as terror weapons against civilians as the Russians have demonstrated. Attack the farmers in the fields. Kill their high tech farm equipment and livestock. Kids playing soccer. Public gatherings of all kinds.
The Drones were a cacophony that went on and on with a monotonic tone.
In 1994 I recall reading in the Sunday London Times a feature story about the future of mini drones and how it predicted the future of warfare. It showed a mosquito like drone on the wall of a house ready to inject a lethal dose of poison into an unsuspecting victim. Made a big impression on me. The future is now. The world will never be the same when anyone may be taken out at any time with no trace of what happened.
This sort of thing scares me quite seriously. Civilian populations will be defenseless against these things.
That there are mosquito-sized drones going 300 mph, filled (their payload) with a deadly toxin is not believable.Who is designing, building and outfitting them? Tiny humanoids? With microscopic fingers? C’mon.
I am troubled there are so many here who simply take this as fact instead of wishful thinking.
@ om, this is your poem, with which I am quite familiar, although I had to look it up to get it right.
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on
Via Wikipedia:
“Siphonaptera” is a name used[1] to refer to the following rhyme by Augustus De Morgan (Siphonaptera being the biological order to which fleas belong):