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Re:Drones Are Key to Winning Wars Now. The U.S. Makes Hardly... by delusional on Sunday July 13, 2025 @08:15AM (#44549824)
It wouldn't necessarily, but innovation would separate the product from the commoditized nature of regular consumer drones, which I postulate is what made them cheap. Suddenly you need a special military drone, and that could end up being a moat Lockheed would charge you 20 billion for.

I suppose my concern is that missiles and bombs probably aren't any more expensive to produce than these drones are. There's just a huge markup for military equipment. We are trying to solve a problem of capitalism (or the military industrial complex i suppose) through technology, and that rarely works. It usually just creates a new layer of incumbents that want another 20 billion.

Re:Drones Are Key to Winning Wars Now. The U.S. Makes Hardly... by wkat4242 on Sunday July 13, 2025 @09:29AM (#44550327)
They're cheap because there's just not a lot of stuff in them. They're a lot simpler than even a model airplane, just 4 or more motors with fixed pitch propellers. Before commercial drones people would just make their own in a garage.