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Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by randomtoast on Thursday June 05, 2025 @05:03AM (#44189784)
And Great Britain just announced plans to deliver 100,000 of them to Ukraine. Ukraine lacks the manpower compared to Russia. It seems logical to strengthen their forces by deploying these flying mini terminators. I believe we are not far from large-scale drone warfare. In World War II, we had epic tank and aircraft battles; now, the time has come for autonomous drone battlefields.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by jajko on Thursday June 05, 2025 @08:24AM (#44190976)
China will do the same pretty soon from the other side. I really hoped they would be smart and stay away from this war to gain some moral ground while solidifying their situation for more important things lined up in their pipeline, but alas it seems I overestimated how smart they are.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by MetaWhirledPeas on Thursday June 05, 2025 @11:19AM (#44192527)
I hope this scares nations away from warfare altogether, given the unpredictability of outcomes with heavy drone usage. Even China: they may have a lot of the little buggers, but that Ukraine attack took a lot of scheming. I doubt China can out-manufacture human and AI trickery.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by NoOn3 on Thursday June 05, 2025 @03:54PM (#44195207)
I'm afraid they won't have a choice. Without Russia The West and Nato will crush China fast.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by NoOn3 on Thursday June 05, 2025 @04:25PM (#44195457)
Only The West and Ukraine can stop this, the East part has no choise in that case, becase If they lose, they will cease to exist...
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by pjc50 on Thursday June 05, 2025 @08:30AM (#44191024)
Missed that news; https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/britain-p...

I think we're already deep into large-scale drone warfare. Destroying a third of the enemy heavy bomber fleet is pretty substantial. It feels to me like that attack operated like Pearl Harbor, a marker that the old way of surface naval warfare / air attack was being replaced by a new one.

Don't forget that Russia has their own drones. They were the first to deploy the fiber-optic cable drones as an anti-ECM measure. And of course both sides are ordering parts from China.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by IshKebab on Thursday June 05, 2025 @05:39PM (#44196046)
$4k per drone... ouch.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by pjc50 on Thursday June 05, 2025 @06:19PM (#44196275)
A lot of money if you're a UK benefits recipient, not a lot of money for a piece of military equipment. Slightly more than the annual allowance of one asylum seeker.

Whole program is about a third of the cost of a Type 26 Frigate.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by CommanderData on Friday June 06, 2025 @03:22AM (#44198557)
The asylum seeker comparison is interesting.

While I want to reduce the number, I can't but help think how we essentially create them in the first place by destroying the countries which create the economic conditions they flee from.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by dash2 on Friday June 06, 2025 @09:29AM (#44200696)
Asylum seekers are not fleeing bad economic conditions, or at least they are claiming not to. Also, we didn't create refugees from Syria or Ukraine - Syria and Russia did.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by CommanderData on Saturday June 07, 2025 @04:13AM (#44208218)
Not entirely, I think western powers had much more involvement then you have summarized.

Destabilising a country, causing military coups, arming rebel forces all play a part.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by ponector on Thursday June 05, 2025 @07:19PM (#44196544)
Kamikaze FPV drones starts from $400 (without warhead), from $1000 if it has 20km of optic fiber or is an interceptor. If it is not a kamikaze, like heavy bomber or reconnaissance - $10k+.

Extremely affordable!

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by throwaway2037 on Friday June 06, 2025 @01:24AM (#44198017)
How much does 20km of optic fibre weigh? Why don't these fibre strands suffer from the same physical limits as cabling used in suspension bridges? To be clear: I am not doubting that multi-kilometer optic fibre controlled drones do not exist. There are plenty of highly quality news sources and YouTube videos about them.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by IshKebab on Friday June 06, 2025 @02:20AM (#44198265)
Presumably they are lying on the ground.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by vbezhenar on Friday June 06, 2025 @09:26AM (#44200667)
https://www.wildberries.ru/catalog/423372174/detail.aspx

Weight: 2.2 kg Price: 78 000 ₽ ($1000)

Just to clarify, this 20km fibre spool is installed on the drone itself and unwinds automatically as drone flies.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by rhcom2 on Thursday June 05, 2025 @10:23PM (#44197294)
One Tu-22M is $100 million.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by vbezhenar on Friday June 06, 2025 @09:24AM (#44200630)
It is priceless. It's not produced anymore. You can't exchange $100 million for new Tu-22M. Not exactly priceless, you probably can replicate the production by rebuilding the factories for every component and all related production chains. But that'll be much more than $100 million.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by SergeAx on Sunday June 08, 2025 @07:15PM (#44220092)
Current price of a 155mm artillery shell (risen from $2k before 2023).
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by londons_explore on Friday June 06, 2025 @06:28AM (#44199458)
Current warfare is drone Vs people.

Future warfare will be drone Vs drone, and we might see the main battlefield entirely devoid of people until one or other side runs out of drones.

Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by gusfoo on Thursday June 05, 2025 @02:35PM (#44194452)
The UK has also released some details of a new 'in bulk' RF-based drone takedown DEW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1vY5efYXMQ
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by ponector on Thursday June 05, 2025 @07:41PM (#44196639)
100k kamikaze drones are not that many for the current stage of war. Millions are consumed annually.
Re:Autonomous drone defeats human champions in racing first by londons_explore on Friday June 06, 2025 @06:31AM (#44199472)
Future children will walk through the forests collecting drone motors to make their next school project...