Technology

59374 readers

3767 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

368

Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future (www.economist.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

159 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

This is a lightweight AA Gun that can be mounted on a cheap pickup truck. This isn’t a “Static” defense,

It's static from the standpoint of being required to meet an incoming Shahed-136, which can move more quickly than it; you cannot substantially reposition vehicles on ground-based vehicles to meet incoming attacks from the air. The critical factor is whether you can concentrate your defenses in time to meet an attack, once you have detected that incoming attack.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The critical factor is whether you can concentrate your defenses in time to meet an attack, once you have detected that incoming attack.

Force concentration is a job for fighter jets. Most jets can fly at Mach 1, or even Mach2 (700mph to 1500mph). At which point, a 120mph Shahed-136 is basically standing still.

Different weapons for different tasks. The AA Gun is cheap and meant to be widely deployed across the whole frontline. Infantry could use them against other infantry (30mm airbursts will still wreck enemy infantry), and also rely upon those guns to protect themselves vs enemy drones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Different weapons for different tasks.

I think that we may be violently agreeing. What I had in my original comment:

They may both have a role.

If you know that a given point is at risk of attack, using a static defense like AA guns is practical. Say you have some sort of specific, high-value target that you can put AA guns around. That may be a very sensible thing to do.

But the problem, if you intend to rely only on those, is that there is then a concentration of force issue. The attacker can choose which point to attack; they get the initiative.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I guess I read it differently earlier.