To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand their key strengths

Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by magicsmoke on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @01:02PM (#27437780)

A drone with the same range as a missile would be indistinguishable from a missile. A drone without the same range as a missile would likely have its carrier detected and destroyed before it can get in range to release it's drones. Drones are great for irregular forces that can hide among civilian populations or in dense terrain to have short ranged air strike capabilities cheaply, but they are not substitute for long range naval strikes.

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by justaguy88 on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @01:08PM (#27437886)

The drone swarm can have a carrier vehicle, like a (perhaps autonomous) big plane or sub to get it within range

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by ericd on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @01:15PM (#27437995)

Or perhaps a missile full of drones, similar to those bombs with lots of guided submunitions.

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by aerostable_slug on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @02:09PM (#27438744)

Tomahawk TLAM/D carries 166 submunitions in 24 canisters. There's no reason those submunitions need to be dumb — or stationary for that matter.

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by racnid on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @10:08PM (#27443448)

I can't seem to find any reference for what actual submunitions a Tomahawk carries but conventional cluster munitions can already be smart:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBU-97_Sensor_Fuzed_Weapon

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by MikeDelta on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @01:20PM (#27438075)

Indeed, cheap and available in massive amounts also makes very dangerous.

Funny that we see this in various computer games, ships with drone bays. What you mention would be a drone missile perhaps?

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by imtringued on Wednesday June 09, 2021 @02:37AM (#27444924)

Or just a UGV following infantry.

https://youtu.be/hXNJhB41L-M

https://youtu.be/H_O85m6VXn8

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by magicsmoke on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @02:22PM (#27438873)

And I suppose the carrier vehicle is somehow invulnerable to missiles? In fact, why wouldn't it just carry missiles in the first place?

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by cma on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @07:44PM (#27442513)

A missile blows up in all directions, whereas a small drone can focus fire and concentrate energy on individuals. A swarm of tiny drones in a concentrated population area can potentially end up with a similar kill to mass ratio as early nuclear bombs. It is similar to the difference between a large conventional bomb and a cluster bomb but taken to another level.

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Re:To protect against weaponized drones, we must understand ... by jollybean on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @07:52PM (#27442587)

Drones are distinguishable by the fact they are lumbering, slow targets.

Most of these Turkish style drones will be null in any real fight because there is (or will be soon) tech to instantly neutralize them.

The 'smaller' drones in civilian areas - yes - that's a different story, but thankfully they have more limited range.

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