141–150 of 226 posts
Dazzle camouflage doesn't work on killer drones. Even civilian LLMs recognize that the object on the photograph is a military truck, except they can't explain why it's been painted to resemble a zebra. Most dedicated machine vision models easily lock in on a boxy shape moving along a road. If anything, the stripes make the trucks easier to see. The real answer to killer drones is a CIWS that can cover 2pi steradians…
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If it actually becomes a problem, I start carrying my shotgun everywhere, but... Even in the US, most Americans aren't particularly good with a shotgun. Enough of us that most places could have a number of people that they just call. Wake up right now and get out because you might need to shoot something, but it's a dangerous job and I really hope that it never comes down to that.
There is video out of Ukraine of Russians with shotguns shooting at drones. It’s not very effective.
It does work at least sometimes. If it didn't work at all soldiers would not bother carrying the shotguns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_shotguns_against_drones https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldiers-best-chance...
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CIWS?
Close-In Weapon System The Phalanx defense systems you see on naval vessels.
They need something in the realm of a big automatic shotgun.
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Your drone needs to be cheaper than what you're killing, so if your target profile is 50k+ USD and up, a $10000 even is fine (not that it would need to be even 10k).
Your oversimplification bakes in too many assumptions. The relative financial cost to the enemy is almost irrelevant if they are much wealthier than you are. What matters most is the intangible military value of the item. In too many situations people think simplistically about dollars, when what matters is invisible or intangible values. The hyperfocus on money is especially egregious among people that don't have mu…
The cost is often proportional to the cost and complexity of making the item.
Yes I oversimplified, but it helps to put into context the cost delta of a patriot and a mini shahed.
Logistics, logistics logistics. Diversity of manufacturing location and suppliers.
Right now for example the US has 1-2 suppliers (and sometimes it's just another sub company) for critical weapon parts.
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CIWS might be effective against fixed wing since they fly mostly in straight lines, it won’t work effectively against multirotors that can quickly change direction and maneuver around, now add swarm of them, and it will overwhelm CIWS. That of course, assuming it was detected which is a whole process by itself.
You’re talking about dodging bullets or shrapnel here. Source on that a multi rotor has that level of manoeuvrability while also carrying a lethal payload and enough battery for a viable engagement range?
After WW II German u-boat captains said they were never particularly bothered by dazzle camouflage. Ten years from now I have a feeling we'll get the same information from drone operators.
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A CIWS can only fire at one direction at a time, so 2+1 drones has an extremely high chance of taking it out for around $2500 or less. CIWS is multiple magnitudes more expensive. Also can't use CIWS near troops and fpvs. P1-SUN and equivalent are the answer there.
Modern dedicated AA gun systems claim multi-km engagement ranges against small drones, and 60 degree/second slew rates. A drone capable of beating that engagement time would be better described as a guided missile, and will certainly not cost $2500. The flaws in gun systems are in the cost required for good coverage, not their effectiveness against targets that do enter their engagement ranges.
Again, great on a ship.
The Army did a bunch of different testing on this recently.
Most drones use thermal cameras, this camouflage rather does not help.
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Close-In Weapon System The Phalanx defense systems you see on naval vessels.
Which is total overkill for the job. It very well might cost more to fire a Phalanx at the drone than the value of the drone. And the Phalanx has IIRC 20 seconds of fire before it needs extensive downtime for reloading. They need something in the realm of a big automatic shotgun.