The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
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The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
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Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#2> Several news sources have reported that a single TB2 drone can be purchased for a million dollars, but Bayraktar, while not giving a precise figure, told me that it costs more. In any event, single-unit figures are misleading; TB2s are sold as a “platform,” along with portable command stations and communications equipment. In 2019, Ukraine bought a fleet of at least six TB2s for a reported sixty-nine million dollars; a similar fleet of Reaper drones costs about six times that.
It seems to me there is still a lot of opportunity in the low end with even smaller and cheaper UAVs with a few kilograms of payload. There have already been numerous instances of COTS UAVs being jerry-rigged to drop mortar shells, and it seems to work pretty well in a lot of scenarios. Particularly for smaller governments dealing with relatively unsophisticated insurgencies.
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#3I wish more people would talk about the Switchblade loitering munitions (kamikaze) drones.
We've already had western made drones on the battlefield for decades, this is nothing new, just much cheaper than what the west makes while doing the same job equally good.
But the man portable kamikaze drones are the real game changer.
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#4I’m a little surprised that drones in Ukraine haven’t been discussed widely on HN. Ukraine doesn’t have the air force, pilots are expensive and take a lot of time of to train
Here are a few interesting stories that I saw over the past couple of months
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-rapidly-developed-ghost-dro...
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-technology-bu...
https://www.popsci.com/aviation/black-hawk-helicopter-first-...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/24/ukraine-war-...
Super cheap drones could make a difference too:
https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-cheap-drones
Something super simple with GPS for reconnaissance, for example
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#5I’m a little surprised that drones in Ukraine haven’t been discussed widely on HN. Ukraine doesn’t have the air force, pilots are expensive and take a lot of time of to train Here are a few interesting stories that I saw over the past couple of months https://www.reuters.com/world/us-rapidly-developed-ghost-dro... https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-technology-bu... https://www.popsci.com/aviation/black-ha…
Ukraine did have some air force even in 2014 where its army was barely functioning, and it surely has air force now. What's left of it at this stage.
Ukraine is a large country.
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#6I wish more people would talk about the Switchblade loitering munitions (kamikaze) drones. We've already had western made drones on the battlefield for decades, this is nothing new, just much cheaper than what the west makes while doing the same job equally good. But the man portable kamikaze drones are the real game changer. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G9xLyNfPzQ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8Flu53…
Artillery with spotters accomplished the same task.
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#7There were protests at SpaceX when it was revealed the Turksat 5B satellite would command and control these TB2 drones, extending their range from operator line-of-sight to near global.
Elon decided to go ahead with the launch. At some point we need to start calling SpaceX a defense company.
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#8There were protests at SpaceX when it was revealed the Turksat 5B satellite would command and control these TB2 drones, extending their range from operator line-of-sight to near global. Elon decided to go ahead with the launch. At some point we need to start calling SpaceX a defense company.
Correction: Turksat 5A
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BCrksat_5A
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#9There were protests at SpaceX when it was revealed the Turksat 5B satellite would command and control these TB2 drones, extending their range from operator line-of-sight to near global. Elon decided to go ahead with the launch. At some point we need to start calling SpaceX a defense company.
Is a trucking company a defense company if they ship something for the military? Or the same with air transport?
Re: The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare
#10There were protests at SpaceX when it was revealed the Turksat 5B satellite would command and control these TB2 drones, extending their range from operator line-of-sight to near global. Elon decided to go ahead with the launch. At some point we need to start calling SpaceX a defense company.
Do people not consider SpaceX a defense company? At the very least I thought people always considered it dual-use