Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unmanned fighter jets

Re:Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unman... by stackedinserter on Thursday April 25, 2024 @11:15AM (#40158549)

Frontline on both sides is saturated with electronic warfare system which are essentially microwaves with open doors. Both sides put them on trucks, armored vehicles, set up near trenches and even carry on their backpacks. There were absurd cases like this https://imgur.com/a/4LqgLED

Drones evolve under this pressure. Dynamic frequency changes, computer vision, maneuvering (like "go up when lost signal") and many more counter measures are adopted on both sides.

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Re:Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unman... by mig39 on Thursday April 25, 2024 @01:12PM (#40160258)

Consumer drones already deal with a hostile RF environment well. Finding the frequency with the least interference, using a wide bandwidth for control, and a different one for video, and programmable signal-loss behaviour.

Cities are hugely hostile to low power transmission, especially in the 2.4 and 5ghz frequencies.

The effective range of cheap DJI "mini" drones in cities is measured in kilometres. If you get away from the city, you can double and triple your effective range.

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Re:Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unman... by Gud on Thursday April 25, 2024 @03:19PM (#40161842)

We are not talking "interference", but an enemy actively looking for your signals and overpowering it with massive high powered RF.

Flying your drone around in a city is not the same as flying it against an opponent skilled in electronic warfare.

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Re:Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to develop unman... by RealityVoid on Thursday April 25, 2024 @06:21PM (#40163806)

Most drone RC systems use FHSS. Those make them resistant to naive jamming. You can get fancy with jamming, but so can the way the FHSS works.

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