Sure, but a lot of this is pure scifi at this point.
Black Hornet, in use by British forces, doesn't seem to be scifi on the other hand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hornet_Nano_Unmanned_Air_...
Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
11–20 of 68 posts
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#12These are about as practicable as developing lightsabers. They are:
1. Difficult to build. It's proving incredibly hard to achieve any decent range for electrical road vehicles. This multiplies manifold when trying to cram components into a much smaller space and make the whole thing fly.
2. Difficult to control. Gusts of wind, predatory birds, reliable bandwidth etc.
3. Trivially easy to defend against. Think mosquito nets, burqas and cheap radio jammers.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#13Someday we'll be fondly remembering with our leaders weren't all secluded deep indoors, behind EMP fields, or stuck riding around in popemobiles.
And a decade after that our children will roll their eyes when we tell them that we, their parents, used to walk around without wearing a Faraday suit, external EMP generators, and RA/LIDAR early-alert systems built into our goggles.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#14With the sound off, it could almost be a Lexx trailer.
With the sound on, it sounds as if it is marketed for 14-year-olds. Are military presentations actually like this? Makes me think we need more women in those positions.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#15These are about as practicable as developing lightsabers. They are: 1. Difficult to build. It's proving incredibly hard to achieve any decent range for electrical road vehicles. This multiplies manifold when trying to cram components into a much smaller space and make the whole thing fly . 2. Difficult to control. Gusts of wind, predatory birds, reliable bandwidth etc. 3. Trivially easy to defend against. Think mosqu…
1. I believe that was addressed in the video. These are very short range devices that can be recharged by solar energy or by sitting on power lines.
2. See the video.
3. You might be able to deny access to buildings with mosquito nets but you're not going to stop close range surveillance, painting targets and other uses. Mosquito nets themselves would be relatively trivial to dismantle with a swarm of these (you'd only need to land one with explosives on the net).
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#16I believe most right thinking people in this world are terrified of the military power of the USA. Even I, being a US citizen, am starting to become very concerned with our military weapons and their usage as they seem far more likely to be turned on us then our enemies. Call me a nut job if you want but we are all just a proclamation away from being "domestic terrorists".
Post-9/11 "counter-terrorism" has been almost entirely a pretext under which to develop domestic counter-insurgence. Future political instability is likely due to a number of factors and they may be preparing to maintain federal power in the face of this.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#17These are about as practicable as developing lightsabers. They are: 1. Difficult to build. It's proving incredibly hard to achieve any decent range for electrical road vehicles. This multiplies manifold when trying to cram components into a much smaller space and make the whole thing fly . 2. Difficult to control. Gusts of wind, predatory birds, reliable bandwidth etc. 3. Trivially easy to defend against. Think mosqu…
Mosquitoes are an apt analogy: however, I don't think the analogy is to the detriment of legitimate fear of these.
Mosquitoes have not only overcome those technical obstacles, but thrived as a species. They even manage to kill millions of people a year, inadvertently. Obviously you can't sweep everything difficult about utilizing these bug-drones under the rug as just questions of implementation, but it's pretty clear that they're not inherently unfeasible.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#18These are about as practicable as developing lightsabers. They are: 1. Difficult to build. It's proving incredibly hard to achieve any decent range for electrical road vehicles. This multiplies manifold when trying to cram components into a much smaller space and make the whole thing fly . 2. Difficult to control. Gusts of wind, predatory birds, reliable bandwidth etc. 3. Trivially easy to defend against. Think mosqu…
1. I believe that was addressed in the video. These are very short range devices that can be recharged by solar energy or by sitting on power lines. 2. See the video. 3. You might be able to deny access to buildings with mosquito nets but you're not going to stop close range surveillance, painting targets and other uses. Mosquito nets themselves would be relatively trivial to dismantle with a swarm of these (you'd on…
but those problems were just talked about, not solved. This is the US government we're talking about, so I bet they will never get far, and by the time they have something operational, you'll be able to but something 10x better on Amazon.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#19This sounds quite wonderful --- for the open battlefield. I quite support the use of anything humane that can reasonably improve our soldiers' intel on the ground, as intelligence is everything in a war.
That said. I am terrified of the thought that this could be used against a country's own denizens, be it by the police, or by the military actively seeking out targets of their own. Furthermore, while this is being developed by a country that is actually quite high on the freedom and anticorruption graphs, what happens when either those countries become more of a dictatorship; or, more likely to happen soon, countries that very clearly violate human rights, or generally oppress their people get a hold of them?
It's sad that, when looking at a technology, you have to look at both, "Wow! This is incredible! We'll lose fewer lives on the battlefield, and our soldiers will come safe because we can avoid traps, etc!" as well as "... someday, these are going to be acceptable to point at our own people, in the interest of something that doesn't deserve such invasion of ... everything." Countries are not God, and it's scary when they start trying to recklessly wield such omniscience. I know I couldn't trust myself knowing all that these drones could offer. I'm not sure I could trust many, if anyone, with such knowledge.
Re: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet
#20These are about as practicable as developing lightsabers. They are: 1. Difficult to build. It's proving incredibly hard to achieve any decent range for electrical road vehicles. This multiplies manifold when trying to cram components into a much smaller space and make the whole thing fly . 2. Difficult to control. Gusts of wind, predatory birds, reliable bandwidth etc. 3. Trivially easy to defend against. Think mosqu…
1. I believe that was addressed in the video. These are very short range devices that can be recharged by solar energy or by sitting on power lines. 2. See the video. 3. You might be able to deny access to buildings with mosquito nets but you're not going to stop close range surveillance, painting targets and other uses. Mosquito nets themselves would be relatively trivial to dismantle with a swarm of these (you'd on…
Mosquito net: $5
Swarm of high-tech minidrones plus explosives: $??
A Faraday cage would nullify most of the advantages of the tech and can also be made relatively cheaply.