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Is the attack helicopter dead?

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21–30 of 650 posts

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#21
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fighter jets, gone ?

They will be when there are AI controlled aircraft/drones that can exceed the G-force limits that humans require and can thus out maneuver any human controlled fighter.

Can it out maneuver a missile?

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#22
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fighter jets, gone ?

They will be when there are AI controlled aircraft/drones that can exceed the G-force limits that humans require and can thus out maneuver any human controlled fighter.

This doesn't seem right to me. The limiting factor here is the ability of an air to air missile to hit a target (and to find the target in the first place). A drone might be more survivable (if it's better at avoiding missiles because of the G-forces etc.,.), but it shouldn't be any better at destroying an enemy jet, right?

That theoretical highly maneuverable drone with a highly advanced sensor suite isn't going to be cheap either. At which point, what's the advantage? You wouldn't be bound by the number of pilots, but if the drones are too expensive it doesn't matter.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#23
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fighter jets, gone ?

They will be when there are AI controlled aircraft/drones that can exceed the G-force limits that humans require and can thus out maneuver any human controlled fighter.

Fifth generation fighter jets aren’t built for dog-fighting. They are stealthy, mesh-networked missile and bomb platforms.

Modern fourth generation fighters would be more than sufficient up close. Except that fifth generation fighters hunt in packs and none of them need to be pointed at their target to hit them.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#24
post #2

I think most manned war vehicles are dead now. We are definitely entering into the era of drone-vs-human warfare. Drones are cheap and deadly and can be remotely operated, and soon probably operated by AI.

Humans have a place in high-end weapon systems until there is a locally running AGI in the system. An actual near-peer war never works the way people expected, and fancy new weapon systems tend to underperform initially. In the absence of an AGI, humans can adapt their behavior in the field faster than tech companies can fix their software and deliver new features.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#25
post #2

I think most manned war vehicles are dead now. We are definitely entering into the era of drone-vs-human warfare. Drones are cheap and deadly and can be remotely operated, and soon probably operated by AI.

I highly doubt that such a general presumption holds.

As seen in the case of Russia’s super drone being downed by their own this week after presumably loosing control, only relying on unmanned vehicles en mass leads to a single point of failure.

Disrupt or corrupt signals, disrupt the entire force.

The US is the force it is because it can do combined arms like nobody else.

Unique capabilities don’t matter if your opponent saturates them with low tech or combined arms.

Look at last weeks Iran ICBM barrage vs. iron dome and David’s sling.

Sure, unmanned vehicles bring unique capabilities to any field of battle, but combined arms is as much the future as it was the past.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#26
post #12
post #4

Better discussion by Perun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnoKpXvj41A (there is a saying or word for titles as questions, and the answer is always no)

Betteridge's law of headlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#28
post #2

I think most manned war vehicles are dead now. We are definitely entering into the era of drone-vs-human warfare. Drones are cheap and deadly and can be remotely operated, and soon probably operated by AI.

> I think most manned war vehicles are dead now.

IMO, submarines - especially nuclear subs probably have decades of life left at a minimum.

But yeah - everything else is starting to look very vulnerable.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#29
post #4

Better discussion by Perun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnoKpXvj41A (there is a saying or word for titles as questions, and the answer is always no)

Perun seems to know his stuff. That said, I’d be curious to know more about his research process, as well as that of other Russia-Ukraine war mappers/vloggers. Determining whether grainy drone footage is current or past alone seems difficult to me as an outsider and fan of their work, though I wish it weren’t necessary and that the war were over.

Perun brings lots of citations and discusses his sources regularly, and always adds caveats. I wouldn't liken his weekly video to those of the daily mappers or telegram video collectors. Very different kinds of content.

Re: Is the attack helicopter dead?

#30
post #2

I think most manned war vehicles are dead now. We are definitely entering into the era of drone-vs-human warfare. Drones are cheap and deadly and can be remotely operated, and soon probably operated by AI.

Shouldn't it be more drone-vs-drone?

> Shouldn't it be more drone-vs-drone?

For the sake of humanity, I wish that was the case, but it won't be. Defensive drones will exist for sure, but generally the targets will be human or infrastructure, not other drones.

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