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British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

thedrive.com

11–20 of 332 posts

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#11
post #6

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I think what a lot of countries, like Germany (German here), for a lesson, is that your current stock of weapons is most useful in the beginning of a conflict as the conflict rapidly changes weapon development and your weapon will need heavy upgrades or they are no longer useful.

All western weapons get less useful by the minute.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#12
post #6

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Funny they should put mirrors on the walls to make numbers appear greater.

I'm sure drones are a breakthrough, but using Russia (which lost perhaps hundreds of armored vehicles to drones) as the one making the breakthrough is rather funny.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#13
post #3

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I disagree. Being able to put a pilot inside a weapon and then have them fly, react, deploy and return is a lot better than building stacks of drones and then just hitting a wall of RF jamming, which will soon be everywhere on the battlefield, even more so than was in Iraq for counter IED work.

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Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#14
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Being able to put a pilot inside a weapon and then have them fly, react, deploy and return is a lot better than building stacks of drones and then just hitting a wall of RF jamming, which will soon be everywhere on the battlefield, even more so than was in Iraq for counter IED work.

It's "soon" (which is always 5 to 7 years out) vs cheap $35k drones taking out German Leopard II tanks [1] in an active war right now. The drones are already here and are winning. [1] https://twitter.com/colonelcassad/status/1677615793956171776

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Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#15
post #12
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Funny they should put mirrors on the walls to make numbers appear greater. I'm sure drones are a breakthrough, but using Russia (which lost perhaps hundreds of armored vehicles to drones) as the one making the breakthrough is rather funny.

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Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#16
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Being able to put a pilot inside a weapon and then have them fly, react, deploy and return is a lot better than building stacks of drones and then just hitting a wall of RF jamming, which will soon be everywhere on the battlefield, even more so than was in Iraq for counter IED work.

"a wall of RF jamming" When using AI controlled I think the poster meant local AI controlled, no RF. We probably will also see laser communication from satellite to drones, which will be much more difficult to jam.

Having AI kill humans on their own without any supervision is an extremely controversial move. It will result in friendly fire sooner or later, and the resulting controversy is pretty much guaranteed to terminate the program.

Laser comms are neat, but they suffer from things like clouds or smokescreens. And once you figure out the wavelength, a hostile laser comms sat can trivially jam it.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#17

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By the way, the drone didn't dodge the missile, the missile didn't detonate because its fuse wasn't activating against such a small target.

You don't need a direct hit. Here is an example of an APS hitting "drone sized" targets with a much smaller explosive payload than an anti air missile: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I0ymxZruvvI

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#18
"FTA: they would involve placing aluminum AM-2 mats along a strip of highway, up to 1,500 feet long. This will be sufficient for the stealth jets to carry out short takeoffs and vertical landings while protecting the road beneath them."

"AM-2 matting consists of 1 1/2" x 2' steel rectangles coated with a epoxy nonskid material, available in both 6 and 12 foot lengths, and are assembled in a brickwork pattern to form runways, taxiways, parking and other areas required for aircraft operations and maintenance. Thirty ISO containers can be constructed to form a 1,500 square foot vertical, short landing and take off airfield and can accommodate up to a total of eleven CH53, UH1, AH1 and AV8B aircraft. " [1]

I wonder about FOD. i.e. all the crap in and around a highway that could damage the engines..

[1] http://www.cassholdings.com/AM2.htm

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#19
post #15
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny they should put mirrors on the walls to make numbers appear greater. I'm sure drones are a breakthrough, but using Russia (which lost perhaps hundreds of armored vehicles to drones) as the one making the breakthrough is rather funny.

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I hope you keep comments of this type off HN.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#20
post #3

[flagged]

I disagree. Being able to put a pilot inside a weapon and then have them fly, react, deploy and return is a lot better than building stacks of drones and then just hitting a wall of RF jamming, which will soon be everywhere on the battlefield, even more so than was in Iraq for counter IED work.

Nobody gives a toss about the use of hand grenades or mines, and yet the recent chip shortage due to covid has highlighted some irrefutable facts.

One drone with a cpu, toroidal props for increased range, speed and silence, and a range of onboard sensors are far better at attacking target objects than SAS soldiers dug into a ditch for several days trying to remain down wind of a dog.

In other words, lithium ion batteries mean drones can be dug in for longer observing or waiting to assassinate than biological robots aka the military.

That changes the window of opportunity despite all the current surveillance methods in place today, like our computers, mobile phones, bank accounts, payment cards and loyalty cards, whilst also pleasing some of the animal rights group, who havent bought the so called free press lies through omission.

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