Wednesday, July 16, 2025

In Case You Have Been Asleep for Several Years

The Ukraine War has demonstrated that the future of warfare is drone-based.  You have all seen aerial drones dropping grenades into trenches and tanks stupid enough to leave hatches open. The maritime drones have also demonstrated their ability to sink Russian ships.  This video shows ground drones often salvaged from car parts but with very little visibility.  Some are carrying mines.  Some have machine guns.  Some 20mm cannon.  All have been very effective. 

Why this matters.  Ukraine like Russia is facing a demographic crisis.  WW2 and its echoes means they must avoid getting too many soldiers killed in combat.   Drones save lives.  

These drones are pretty cheap.  I hope the U.S. Navy, which is beginning to build maritime drones, is paying attention to this cost issue.  If you can build maritime drones that cost a few thousand dollars, you can swarm Chinese ships in such numbers that they cannot get all of them.  I also want our captains to have a nearly unlimited supply of these available to launch.  Make them cheap enough and manufacturing scales nicely.

1 comment:

  1. C'mon, It is the US military:

    What SHOULD cost a few thousand dollars will end up being several tens of thousands because they gotta make the contractors happy,

    Usefulness and warfighting ability come second to profits and post-retirement income.

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