Small UAS / Drones and related general thread - NOT Swarming ones.

sferrin said:
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This is one interesting subject. I am however still in opinion that this might not be suitable yet to power anything like swarm drones or large multifunction drone due to large atmospheric spreading and absorption loss.

In a subject of laser power transmission, not only atmospheric phenomenon but also means to adequately transfer the power to all drones in formation. The laser might need to be electronically scanned so it can adequately dwell to provide enough power while fast enough without inertia to "switch" to other drone. The dwell time is i wonder, But the switch time could be about 4 ms (Like basic House UPS/Backup battery, whose "switches" to take over power after prime power loss set to 4ms).
 
defence-blog.com

U.S. Air Force is buying additional laser weapon system

Raytheon Co., one of the world’s largest defense contractors, has been awarded a $13,1 million U.S. Air Force contract modification for High Energy Laser Weapon Systems (HELWS). The modification to the previously awarded contract covers the purchase of one additional HELWS being produced under...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com

USAF buying a single Raytheon HELWS for outside of CONUS testing. It's a Polaris buggy with sensors and a 20-30 shot counter drone laser.
 
News from wars:
It appears that Kargu gets a deployment in Azerbaijan.
From some discussions about the war, Harop gets a manufacturing price tag of $80~100k (supposedly reported in israeli media) per drone, quite cheap if one thinks of 1000km strike range.

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Some other thoughts:
It appears that "next gen" drones that logically evolve with threats have not yet materialized.

First of all, laser blinding would likely be the most common defense, with wide applicability and very low costs. INS dead reckoning, cooperative localization of friend and foe, and non-persistent stare (look only enough to hit, not more) and unpowered/unactuated terminal trajectory is what I'd expect. Hitting what the camera tracks is uninteresting, hitting a target with a group of blinded vehicles is what is impressive.

A higher velocity terminal stage with reduced vulnerability to damage (ballistic trajectory, remove large draggy "cruise" aerodynamic surfaces that can cause instability when damaged, add armor, insensitive warhead, etc) should be generally useful.

The other thing that is rather disappointing is the lack of rapid recovery and turn-around capability. Large saturation attack swarms is too wasteful to be used only once.
 
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUkWkC3telA

Chinese puts 8x60mm or 3x81mm mortar shells on a helicopter with >120km/h speed, 25km range, ~40kg weight, with bombings done at 300m attitude. Since it ain't a quad which means it ain't trash by jsport standards!

Still though, Hard for me to see what this vehicle is particularly good at. Blasting trench lines for very, very cheap?

trose213 said:
shin_getter said:
From some discussions about the war, Harop gets a manufacturing price tag of $80~100k (supposedly reported in israeli media) per drone, quite cheap if one thinks of 1000km strike range.
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Do you have a link to the media where the is quoted price? That seems pretty cheap for the cost of the overall system.
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Well its just reddit post on /combatfootage and /azerbaijan . There was 2 mention of $100k class cost over the past few weeks, without actual posted evidence though. Some other discussion was about how each harop "system" have 8~12+ munitions and india's $100mil purchase involves 10 systems with ~100+ drones, control and launch systems, spares, training and so on.

My short attempt at hebrew via machine translation lands me here: https://www.fresh.co.il/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=459216&highlight=%E4%E0%F8%F4%E9 which repeats the claim on the indian purchase. I guess searching that forum for a while may turn a more reliable source up.

Looking at english media, I think the closest guess I've currently found is: https://www.flightglobal.com/south-korea-deploys-anti-radar-uav/30191.article
Which puts 100 Harpy (systems?) at $50mil (or 500k each). Add in all the support system/training/tech transfer/etc costs I guess it falls in the ball park.

Still would like to get a better pinned down number though. The switchblade is pegged at $70,200 sale price somewhere though that is a far smaller drone.
 
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www.ndtv.com

Pak Terror Groups Under Probe After Drone Strike At Jammu Air Base

In what is believed to be the first use of drones in a terror attack on an Indian military facility, two blasts took place at the Air Force base in Jammu Airport in the early hours of Sunday.
www.ndtv.com www.ndtv.com

www.ndtv.com

2 Drones Seen Near Military Station In Jammu, Were Fired At, "Flew Away"

The army says a major threat was averted after two drones were seen last night near a military station in Jammu and fired at by alert troops, hours after drones were used in a terror attack on the Jammu Air Force base.
www.ndtv.com www.ndtv.com

Indian air port attacked by small drones.
 
github.com

GitHub - uzh-rpg/agile_autonomy: Repository Containing the Code associated with the Paper: "Learning High-Speed Flight in the Wild"

Repository Containing the Code associated with the Paper: "Learning High-Speed Flight in the Wild" - uzh-rpg/agile_autonomy
github.com github.com
Flying High-Speed Drones into the Unknown with AI
Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a new approach to autonomously fly quadrotors through unknown, complex environments at high speeds using only on-board sensing and computation. The new approach could be useful in emergencies, on construction sites or for security applications.
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m89bNn6RFoQ
 
It's quite worrysome. Not unexpected mind you. Many did trigger the alarm bell long ago.
 
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That will be interesting to see who can adapt first: the programmers (with their daily routines, wifes kids and a 30 years generational cycle (birth, education and early experience)) tip typing the codes on their computers... Or the birds, adopting an evolution strategy matured through thousands of years to cope with yet a new variable in their complex environment from a couple of years of life to the other.
Popcorn, any?
 
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ucIm6g9llg

The kind of thing you can expect out of the box. ($10k for drone, $30k for the dock setup)

Small numbers compared to the musings in previous posts, but it is happening nonetheless

www.theguardian.com

The drone operators who halted Russian convoy headed for Kyiv

Special IT force of 30 soldiers on quad bikes is vital part of Ukraine’s defence, but forced to crowdfund for supplies
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Some combat results

www.bellingcat.com

Myanmar’s Rebels Get Resourceful With Improvised Drones - bellingcat

Two rebel militias in Myanmar appear to have appropriated a strategy used by other non-state actors around the world.
www.bellingcat.com www.bellingcat.com
This is not too surprising, what is interesting is this absolutely meme video to come out of the conflict
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=697762131361212
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=697762131361212


www.army-technology.com

ST-35 Silent Thunder Loitering Munition, Ukraine

ST-35 Silent Thunder is a new loitering munition being developed by Athlon Avia, a Ukraine-based producer of unmanned aircraft systems.
www.army-technology.com www.army-technology.com
Fairly interesting configuration for long range loitering munition
 
SNAP has introduced Pixy, the flying camera. I might have one heavy Starlink drone with a web of these.
 
shin_getter said:
View attachment 668584
Can't find more info on this, does anyone know where this is from?

Also this category of vehicle is absolutely necessary for drone swarms deployment, there is still a lot of relevant systems that is not fully developed. Rearm/refuel systems, launch systems, recovery systems, on board maintenance/repair capabilities, command and control and so on....should be a interesting field to watch
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These things (or similar) are proving so effective.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-5Y-Jpmlo

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gJPqn2b-c

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afKmOxpbzzY
 
Does the pilot of a Switchblade have to steer it to the target manually, or can the drone do that itself once a target has been selected?
 
Forest Green said:
Does the pilot of a Switchblade have to steer it to the target manually, or can the drone do that itself once a target has been selected?
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I believe the operator can select the target and the drone will engage it, though I've never seen footage of it and I'm not sure if that apply to a moving target.
 
Josh_TN said:
Forest Green said:
Does the pilot of a Switchblade have to steer it to the target manually, or can the drone do that itself once a target has been selected?
Click to expand...
I believe the operator can select the target and the drone will engage it, though I've never seen footage of it and I'm not sure if that apply to a moving target.
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I've only seen this. There appears to be a box on the target, but not clear who/what is steering it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1528991112257470472
View: https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1528991112257470472
 
A loitering munition without lock-on functionality is likely to suffer from communication cut out during the terminal dive. I suspect that is what happened with Russia's less than accurate attack on M777 with ZALA KYB that was published.
 
That looked like an unguided mortar round that blew off course to me, but perhaps I saw a different video.

Re the switchblade, Wiki indicates it can be given a set aimpoint to dive on and that it also can track a moving target. Given that Mavericks had an ability to lock onto a high contrast image decades ago I'd think todays electronics would allow for an image or object to be tracked pretty easily.
 
Seems to me some kind of hybrid EVTOL is the right way to do it.

www.vice.com

Look at This Huge Drug Drone Seized by Cops in Spain

The drone, with a wingspan of 4.3m, was uncovered as part of an investigation into gangs trafficking drugs from Morocco to Spain.
www.vice.com www.vice.com

I guess the war just happens to be fought at the time where this technology is not fully mature, so manned helicopters have to do.
 

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