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The line between drone and missile is fuzzy at best. Most of the distinguishing characteristics often cited in these conversations are wrong. For instance,

The line between drone and missile is fuzzy at best. Most of the distinguishing characteristics often cited in these conversations are wrong. For instance, missiles are usually powered by rockets, but many missiles are powered by jet engines instead. Drones are usually meant to be reusable, but the first drones ever made were specifically expendable (which is why they are named after drone bees, which fly once before dying.) Loiter munitions are sometimes considered drones instead of missiles, but nobody doubts that a tomahawk cruise missile is a missile, and yet, a modern tomahawk is also a loiter munition that can cruise in a circle for hours. Sometimes autonomy is cited as a key characteristic of drones. But the first drones were pure-RC with no autonomy at all, while there are a myriad of autonomous missiles and non-autonomous human-guided missiles. So autonomy is not a distinguishing characteristic either.

magicsmoke 5y ago
It feels like most of the recent fascination with drones is due to overlap with civilian off-the-shelf technology and the fantasy of being able to buy something that could potentially go toe to toe with advanced militaries. When in fact, militaries have always had "aerial munitions with varying degrees of intelligence and maneuverability and propulsion methods selected based on speed/maneuverability/range tradeoffs." An off the shelf quadcoptor is as far from military weaponry as a hand calculator is from a supercomputer even if they're both calculating machines. It's weird seeing this fascination with drones yet not seeing an analogous fascination for Toyota trucks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War
- imtringued 5y ago
  >It feels like most of the recent fascination with drones is due to overlap with civilian off-the-shelf technology and the fantasy of being able to buy something that could potentially go toe to toe with advanced militaries. Yes, it's because it's a harmless toy that can turn dystopian. That's why people's imagination is running wild. It's like that Furby horror game (tattletail). It's the "your nightmares are becoming real" kind of stuff.

magicsmoke 5y ago

It feels like most of the recent fascination with drones is due to overlap with civilian off-the-shelf technology and the fantasy of being able to buy something that could potentially go toe to toe with advanced militaries. When in fact, militaries have always had "aerial munitions with varying degrees of intelligence and maneuverability and propulsion methods selected based on speed/maneuverability/range tradeoffs." An off the shelf quadcoptor is as far from military weaponry as a hand calculator is from a supercomputer even if they're both calculating machines. It's weird seeing this fascination with drones yet not seeing an analogous fascination for Toyota trucks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War

imtringued 5y ago
>It feels like most of the recent fascination with drones is due to overlap with civilian off-the-shelf technology and the fantasy of being able to buy something that could potentially go toe to toe with advanced militaries. Yes, it's because it's a harmless toy that can turn dystopian. That's why people's imagination is running wild. It's like that Furby horror game (tattletail). It's the "your nightmares are becoming real" kind of stuff.