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French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

politico.eu

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Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#71

Post by mopsi »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #12
ceejayoz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect we're going to see a big resurgence in anti-aircraft guns, like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flakpanzer_Gepard .

why fire ammo when you have laser beams? https://bluehalo.com/c-uas-autonomous-systems/c-uas-directed...

Cost, reliability and simplicity! A WWII-era 20-40mm cannon upgraded with automated targeting system doesn't even have to accurately hit the target if its shell explodes into a cloud of metal fragments that hits propellers and control surfaces or gets ingested into a jet engine.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#72

Post by JumpCrisscross »

AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #42

I read the article but couldn't find any mention of how a radar detects drones? A drone is much smaller than an aircraft, can be confused with birds and can have 0 communication with a command & control station due to AI. So how can anything detect it? Plus, even if you detect it, it's coming towards you at a speed of 100+ kmph with the intent to crash into you and detonate the payload. Any missile you use is way too…

> Any missile you use is way too expensive relative to the price of the drone

Western missiles have been designed for generations assuming they're aimed at something expensive you want to break, or to break something next to something sensitive you'd rather not. We have the technology to create swarms of well-enough aimed small rockets. There simply wasn't a niche until now.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#73

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #67
simmerup wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait until we see what China can produce for a war

China has been supplying the entire world with basically all of modern industrial goods. They have over 10x Russia's industry. Anyone who draws China into a prolonged conflict is too dumb to live.

> Anyone who draws China into a prolonged conflict is too dumb to live

On land. Attacking Taiwan necessitates combined-arms warfare.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#74

Post by ttepasse »

maxerickson wrote: post #46
andrewstuart wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all shapes and sizes. I can imagine a robot M16 attached to a drone spotter might be effective against the sort of small drones that are hitting tanks in Ukraine.

Why not a 20 mm cannon? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

Because the land version of Phalanx, the Centurion, is big, needs a large transport and a lot of energy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_C-RAM

Although an auto cannon seems to be the right thing. The current thing seems to be the mobile, smaller Skyranger systems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyranger_30

That’s still rather big and is a dedicated vehicle. I wonder if there are initiatives of coupling the remote-controlled weapon turrents on normal vehicles with radar and such enabling anti-air capability:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_controlled_weapon_stati...

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#75

Post by ceejayoz »

cm2187 wrote: post #41
andrewstuart wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all shapes and sizes. I can imagine a robot M16 attached to a drone spotter might be effective against the sort of small drones that are hitting tanks in Ukraine.

Plus people will get a lot less worked up about AI picking and aiming at targets in the air vs on the ground.

Until one pulls a USS Vincennes.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#76

Post by temporarely »

boricj wrote: post #19
bell-cot wrote: post #2

> Since the war in Ukraine started, the French government has urged companies to produce more weapons, faster and cheaper. > However, the reality is complicated. > "It's an ongoing process. Up until now, we were producing around 10 radars a year, now the target is over 20 a year,” Descourvieres said. If there was an actual war on, and a nation was taking both combat and operational losses - then 10 or 20 per year har…

If France were to be at war with a nation knocking on our borders, our policy nowadays is to fire a nuclear-tipped ASMPA missile as a warning shot . We do not rely on our conventional forces or anyone else to safeguard our sovereignty should it escalate to that. Our army and arms industry have suffered heavy cuts for thirty years after the end of the Cold War, prioritizing quality over quantity, but we've kept what w…

The Vietnamese plucked your bird rather well if memory serves.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#77

Post by maxerickson »

ttepasse wrote: post #74
maxerickson wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not a 20 mm cannon? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

Because the land version of Phalanx, the Centurion, is big, needs a large transport and a lot of energy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_C-RAM Although an auto cannon seems to be the right thing. The current thing seems to be the mobile, smaller Skyranger systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyranger_30 That’s still rather big and is a dedicated vehicle. I wonder if there are initiatives of coupling the re…

That's a 30 mm cannon.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#78

Post by ceejayoz »

maxerickson wrote: post #77
ttepasse wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the land version of Phalanx, the Centurion, is big, needs a large transport and a lot of energy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_C-RAM Although an auto cannon seems to be the right thing. The current thing seems to be the mobile, smaller Skyranger systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyranger_30 That’s still rather big and is a dedicated vehicle. I wonder if there are initiatives of coupling the re…

That's a 30 mm cannon.

C-RAM is 20, but a bulkier, less mobile system. Raw barrel size isn’t the only consideration.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#79

Post by maxerickson »

ceejayoz wrote: post #78
maxerickson wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a 30 mm cannon.

C-RAM is 20, but a bulkier, less mobile system. Raw barrel size isn’t the only consideration.

My initial comment was mostly a remark on approaching it as a new problem and suggesting small arms, not a statement that I thought the existing system was optimized for all situations.

Re: French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

#80

Post by nradov »

ptero wrote: post #39
boricj wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If France were to be at war with a nation knocking on our borders, our policy nowadays is to fire a nuclear-tipped ASMPA missile as a warning shot . We do not rely on our conventional forces or anyone else to safeguard our sovereignty should it escalate to that. Our army and arms industry have suffered heavy cuts for thirty years after the end of the Cold War, prioritizing quality over quantity, but we've kept what w…

I suspect the doctrine of nuke as a warning shot is less effective today when a small group can launch, either for own purposes or as a proxy for another state, a large group of drones to strike with speed and precision the targets 1000+ km away. With that threat type nuking is not an option and we are back to traditional defense. My 2c.

No small group has the resources to launch large groups of drones with a 1000km range. Those tend to cost >$100K per unit, and require significant support infrastructure.
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