Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

Re:Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude so... by Aspos on Monday October 16, 2023 @05:39PM (#37907031)

Shooting down an airplane at 20km altitude requires an expensive rocket and reveals position of the launcher. No, can't use cheap MANPADs for this.

My gut feeling tells me this airplane is potentially cheaper than a rocket, so if it is shot down, it is a win already. If it detects launcher position while rocket is on the way it is even bigger win.

It is difficult, expensive and risky to jamm objects at that altitude. In the current Ukraine-Russia war russians would probably not bother jamming it.

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Re:Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude so... by denton-scratch on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @08:35AM (#37913977)

I don't know how they communicate with FPV drones 20-30Km away on the battlefield. They can't use cellphone networks, because they're compromised. I doubt you can fit a starlink terminal to a drone.

But this thing could be fitted with frequency-hopping comms, and could control a swarm of attack drones from 70,000 feet. It could also have a backlink to the pilot, allowing him to control any drone in the swarm.

I imagine the Ukrainian nerds are already all over this sort of idea.

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Re:Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude so... by inemesitaffia on Wednesday October 18, 2023 @05:01AM (#37926340)

The Ukrainians have infact fitted starlink to aerial drones. One of the reasons for their disputes with SpaceX.

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