Well it finally turned out that the visionaries like General Aesop and Peter Grant got it right! Sorta, anyways. Quite awhile ago Pete and Aesop were wringing their hands in fear because terrorists were going to weaponize small hobby drones in a manner that would kill millions and revolutionize the battlefield of the future. They’d use small hobby drones to drop powerful explosives on the hapless squaddies below.
And.. both sides in the ‘Kraine/Russia conflict are now doing it. Apparently there are some super light submunitions out there were you can take them apart, put some 3D printed fins on them, and the larger hobby drones can be modded to drop them. I’ve seen perhaps a dozen vid clips that confirm it can be done. BUT…the munitions in question are very, very weak. Haven’t seen any squaddies from either side actually killed by them. They are wildly inaccurate and in the few cases they actually hit the target…I have yet to see lethal results. I saw one bomblet dropped on a Russian who caught it and contemptuously threw it away. As far as lethality goes? I’d put it up there with those flash-bang things the SWAT guys use on TV… quadcopters are not magic. To carry a serious, lethal load of explosives, you need a serious large airframe to carry it.
And unfortunately… when you go that big… your expensive, heavy lift Crapcopter becomes an entertaining target for the squaddies below. What a prize! What we have here double hexcopter. That machine is easily $20~$30k US.
I’m not a squaddie. But dropping bombs is an exacting business. You need to be steady, you need time to aim - and the machine will be vulnerable during the process. Then…it has to get away. This thing is going to set up a hellush racket when it flies - there will be no stealth. If I were going to take a shot at a group of surly squaddies…there are just too many better weapons to do it with.
Concentrated chemical weapons would be more effective than explosives.
ReplyDeleteCC
The problem with those is that when the wind changes, they are as dangerous to the good guys as the bad guys.
DeleteA gooseneck gun or 2 in every infantry company oughta solve that problem.
ReplyDeleteBest use for the quad copters (IMO) is recon. My little quad is basically invisible at 100 meters. Hell, 25 meters if I'm trying to be half ass sneaky. Decent camera. Folds up to pocket sized.
Absolutely. Those gyro stabilized cameras are as good as it gets. I don't see these weaponized ones gaining much real traction on the battlefield...
DeleteSeems like a good use for the drones would be to equip them with a powerful laser and a video camera, and use them to designate targets for laser guided munitions of some kind.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Why - that idea is so good... I won't be at all surprised if they aren't already doing it.
DeleteIf artillery is the king of the battlefield does that make munition drones the whiny bitch of the battlefield?
ReplyDeleteSteve S6
We have some big problems with our wonder weapons Steve. Take the Javelin - I have seen several tanks take multiple hits from those things and just shrug them off. The electronics are so unreliable in the cold and hard knocks on the battlefield - that the Ukes were throwing them away.
DeleteI think the experimental Switchblades might be the way to go. They are certainly not the tank busters they were originally sold as... but them might do well against personnel and soft targets?
There has been plenty of vids on SouthFront showing both sides dropping the bomblets you describe with effective results. Effective, as in requiring said Russian and Ukie squadies to be wounded enough to be carried off the field. If you kill them, they just lay there, pissing off their buds at you. Wound one and it takes 2 to 4 guys to evac his ass. Now 3-5 are gone, not shooting at you, that's better and cheaper. Slavs are notoriously cheap.
DeleteSame with fmj ammo, you want that round to zip through and leave the guy alive and screaming to demand urgent medical help. Again, 3-5 guys gone, not fighting you. Kind of a take off on Conservation of Utilities (HAMMERED into my head in basic and tech school), USAF 69'-73'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fa9lVwHHqg
ReplyDeleteAh yes, a 12 ga shottie with 3" shells loaded with 0000 Buck shot. 19" pattern out to 40 yards. Tested!
ReplyDelete"Drone, No I didn't see no drone occifer."
You're still swinging at that ball, eleven months after your prediction was overtaken by events?
ReplyDeleteYou missed the boat. Off the shelf consumer DJIs are dropping 30mm Russian grenades all day long, and there are only 2000 YouTube videos, from both sides.
You bet on a nag. Take the "L" and move on.
Otherwise, video a live one dropping next to you and going off, and show us what you're made of.
Anything else is Captain Queeg telling the court how the strawberries proved the crew was against him.