4 ms·

I don't think I'm the one missing the point. Drones are usually required to have a low radar surface and loiter far from any associated targets. The launch and

by uuyi 4y ago

I don't think I'm the one missing the point. Drones are usually required to have a low radar surface and loiter far from any associated targets. The launch and landing points need to be masked. Can anyone realistically throw 100kW out to power a <2kW drone with a 1km range without basically sticking a big electronic sign on the transmitter saying where to send the bombs? With some of the wideband phased array sensors out there now you can probably use the incident reflections off the drone to track the location of it as well. It's just a monumentally stupid idea end to end.

dogma1138 4y ago
Drones are useful for observation, search and rescue as well as defense/offense if they are say kamikaze drones. Surface vessels already are lit like a pulsar due to their radar… Civilian marine radars can easily reach upto 25kw. The AN/SPY-1 which is the radar of the Aegis Combat System has a power output of 6MW….
- uuyi 4y ago
  Those radar are pulsed not continuous power. It’s far more difficult to locate pulsed sources hence things like burst encoding.
  - dogma1138 4y ago
    It pulses multiple times a second and even tho in search mode it’s average power is 1-2% in tracking mode it can be as much as 50%. It still lights you up like an xmas tree. You also assume that the power delivery will be continuous instead of essentially just being used for charging a small UAV. Every modern system we have is usually completely inefficient but the price of that efficiency allows you to do other things. Our food production is extremely energy inefficient but it frees up the majority of the population to do other things, it improves sanitation in cities by pushing animal husbandry further out and it allows most of us to enjoy a wide selection of foods that taste good which has enormous societal benefits. The fact that something is inefficient doesn’t make it useless or ineffective. Heck sail ships are also far more energy efficient than airplanes but we kinda benefit greatly from being able to take off and land at any point on the planet within 24 hours or less.

by uuyi 4y ago

dogma1138 4y ago

Drones are useful for observation, search and rescue as well as defense/offense if they are say kamikaze drones. Surface vessels already are lit like a pulsar due to their radar… Civilian marine radars can easily reach upto 25kw. The AN/SPY-1 which is the radar of the Aegis Combat System has a power output of 6MW….

uuyi 4y ago
Those radar are pulsed not continuous power. It’s far more difficult to locate pulsed sources hence things like burst encoding.
- dogma1138 4y ago
  It pulses multiple times a second and even tho in search mode it’s average power is 1-2% in tracking mode it can be as much as 50%. It still lights you up like an xmas tree. You also assume that the power delivery will be continuous instead of essentially just being used for charging a small UAV. Every modern system we have is usually completely inefficient but the price of that efficiency allows you to do other things. Our food production is extremely energy inefficient but it frees up the majority of the population to do other things, it improves sanitation in cities by pushing animal husbandry further out and it allows most of us to enjoy a wide selection of foods that taste good which has enormous societal benefits. The fact that something is inefficient doesn’t make it useless or ineffective. Heck sail ships are also far more energy efficient than airplanes but we kinda benefit greatly from being able to take off and land at any point on the planet within 24 hours or less.