It could happen here, had an episode that talked about drone use in the middle east. They interviewed people that talked about how horrifying it was to hear that high pitched whine. I get that drones are having a moment, but that moments been going on for quite a while. It's also not going anywhere anytime soon. There's going to be countermeasures to the countermeasures.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Furthermore the drone swarm technology demonstrated PUBLICLY through DARPA then seemingly disappearing is terrifying.

[–] Railing5132@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Shit, Michael Reeves made a drone swarm publicly on YouTube, what, 10 years ago?

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm almost afraid to bring it up; but there's a drone system being/was being used in Africa to deliver medications and whatnot that use blades designed after Owl wings that make almost no sound. It just sounds like a small gust of wind.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Is that those helical rotors? They're supposed to be quite good in many ways, not just the noise.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

~~I don't think so. IIRC it was more about the shape of the blade and that there was only one of them on each rotor with a weight built in to balance it out. With one rotor turbulence is negligible while still providing lift.~~

Here's a video about Owl wings.

Here's ~~the~~ another video about the rotors:

https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=z58RORCUTao

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Incredible stuff! The sound is so buttery. People who understand harmonics and sound engineering amaze me. I'd love to build a quadcopter that sounds like this.

Pretty slick invidious links there too, last time I used that it wasn't a very good experience, glad it's come this far.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

In Ukraine, they're using stock commercial drones. Not even bothering to harden them against EW. It shortens their range significantly, but they're still lauded as "better than artillery".

Hobbyists recently built a custom drone that was able to chase a formula one car around a track and beat it on a straightaway.

The countermeasures will need to be pretty impressive, is all I'm saying.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

They can't put out the kind of rate of fire that artillery can (well, not without a lot of operators being dedicated to them), but it's also a lot easier for a guy launching a drone to hide than it is an artillery piece.

I still think, though, that a big factor in low-end drones playing the role they are right now is because the state of air defenses targeting them isn't fantastic. My suspicion is that that is going to change, and it's likely going to, over the long run, favor the counter-UAS side rather than the UAS operator. That is, I don't dispute the statement that he's making about the battlefield today, but I'm not necessarily sold that that's where it's going to be over the long run. My guess is that there'll also be some be back-and-forth; at the very least, having some longer-range platform deploy shorter-range quadcopter things; as far as I know, that's not currently being done.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

It’s easier to jam a signal than it is to transmit.

My fear is the technology to automate target acquisition is already present and will become standard before the technology to jam the operator comes to bear properly.

Which is fine, because another approach to EW against the drone comes into play but it’s the automated target acquisition that scares me the same way nukes do.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Gepards take them down just fine and apparently Rheinmetall is frankensteining Skyranger turrets onto Leopard 1 chassis -- MBT-wise the Leo1 isn't really combative any more but tons are available, also, Ukraine has already plenty of those chassis and knows how to service them. The Skyranger is a definitive upgrade over the Gepard's cannon and targeting, it can take down whole swarms. Also: New are actually getting built, noone's going to build a new production line for Gepards.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 1 points 11 months ago

They do work well in conjunction with arty, as spotters.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 6 points 11 months ago

I feel like drones are having a moment that will be short-lived as anti-drone technology develops (either electronic countermeasures or active anti-drone defense systems).

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No, actually swords....wink wink!....swords are the best thing to fight Ukrainians with. Swords and rocks. Definitely I wouldn't use artillery, that's old and antiquated. And drones are just to play. So totally, if you're a roosky show up to the front in shorts and a sword. That's the best. Wink 😉.

[–] figjam@midwest.social 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also, don't bother with shields. They are boring and very girly. 2 swords no armor super effective

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Have you seen what artillery does to a hot ruzzian holding two swords ⚔️? Nothing. They are impenetrable!