It’s not the drones—It’s everything around them.

Although lessons about particular weapons systems are relevant, the more important lesson is about the ecosystem necessary for these new tools to be effective. Ukraine, for instance, has developed Sky Fortress, a network of 14,000 acoustic sensors that locate Russian drones by sound, even at altitudes radar cannot see, to provide a high-fidelity picture of incoming threats. It also has its own battle-management software systems that direct unmanned surveillance, as well as the Unmanned Services Force, an entirely new military service—alongside the army, navy, and air force—that is dedicated to drone warfare, with its own doctrine, leader development, procurement processes, and even recruiting and basic training. Perhaps most critically, the ecosystem in Ukraine also includes manufacturers that can produce enormous quantities of unmanned systems and constantly refine the software and hardware of those systems in response to developments on the battlefield.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
    4·
    6 days ago

    edit the acoustic sensor network is a fantastic solution, I think Ukraine should absolutely be lauded for fielding that, it is the answer to the question of the air always sounding like drones… make it a liability for the enemy that they always fill the air with the sound of their rotors…

    The consequences are visible throughout Taiwan’s force, which still prioritizes the acquisition of expensive manned platforms. The same pared-down special budget that eliminated domestic drone production, for instance, preserved billions of dollars for purchases of U.S. weapons systems. Taiwan’s military has also not yet settled on a new doctrine for defense and deterrence that recognizes the contributions that unmanned systems could make.

    I disagree, the current noise of drones has lead a lot of nations to foolishly undervalue manned platforms as nodes in swarms of unmanned vehicles. What manned platforms is this article specifically criticizing? Why is there no mention of armored vehicles with 30mm turrets for drone swarms? The Abrams aren’t the most advanced version but if you are going to face waves of drones an Abrams is absolutely the main battle tank you want to be in… plus Taiwan has attack helicopters that can easily be integrated with friendly UAV swarms for air defense and reaction.

    I don’t know, there are definitely valid points but I don’t think the narrative is as simple here as the article seems to be convinced it is.

    I think the problem moreso is tactics and not deploying cages on their tanks/armor like Ukraine has, which is kind of the point of the article but I also want to point out Taiwan has heavy attack helicopters and a lot of heavy armor, that doesn’t necessarily solve the problem but it puts Taiwan in a much different starting place in some ways.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_Army

    • esc@piefed.socialEnglish
      31·
      5 days ago

      You don’t want to be in a tank (or any armor really) when facing not even a swarm but 3-5 drones. There are stories about how this or that armorered vehicle survived 10 (ten TEN!!) FPVs, but they are just emblematic. Vehicles that can survive multiple drones are extremely rare.

      Manned platforms have their place (obviously) but right now they are in extreme disadvantage and there aren’t any universal and effective way to defend against cheap drones.