Ukraine will receive new drones with firearms on board from the USA. The drones are equipped with a 5.56 mm machine gun and anti-tank missiles

5 comments

1. Time will tell, but I just don’t see how this is worthwhile. Maybe I am missing something.

   Look at the itemized daily lists of Russian losses by people like Andrew Perpetua. I’d estimate that 80+ percent of armored vehicle losses are due to FPV drone (mostly) and munition dropping drones. This happens because they are ubiquitous, and are available in large numbers, and though damage per strike can be low, the are very capable in the cumulative sense. So what would be the benefit of strapping a launcher onto a drone to shoot an expensive missile at a tank? Why not hit it with an FPV drone in the first place? Case in point, this recent reddit post heading:

   “A Ukrainian FPV pilot immobilizes a Russian T-90M MBT with an FPV quad, later other drones swarm the tank to take it out completely.” Need more range or power, no problem, they are available for not that much more money.

   The drone moutned gun? I can only see it as more of a patrol or sentry duty tool, and for that you need to be in the technology rich half of asymetric warfare. Other than that, i can’t think of many reasons why a simple FPV kamikaze drone isn’t superior to the drone carried rifle in just about every way. Yes, it gets destroyed upon successful attack, but the costs are so low that it doesn’t matter. And AI guided non-kamikaze drones are entereing service. They can dive down and drop munitions very accurately, before flying home for a reload and recharge.

2. Holy shit

3. The US just wants to try out new weapons and see if they work.

4. Every time somebody is like, “the USA tech is being found out by the Russians” and we’re all, “hey Ukraine check this out, try this rad thing out we just conjured up!”

   Russia isn’t gonna keep up. They haven’t and they can’t. They’re gonna squander their future trying to.

5. Just slaughter the Russian invaders as quickly as possible.