3 ms·

> "a swarm of 500g drones" Which have laughable range and can't handle anything heavier than a stiff breeze, let alone weather conditions at sea.

asdff 4y ago
Pack them in a torpedo that releases them right next to the boat.
- ThrowawayR2 4y ago
  Surely you are joking. If a hostile can get a torpedo that close to the target without being detected, they would just use a ordinary torpedo and warhead instead.
  - asdff 4y ago
    Maybe the ordinary torpedo with a warhead is too large and visible on radar. The drone torpedo could be much smaller, maybe the size of a common fish in the area. Maybe you have a bunch of them herded together traveling under water in the same manner as a school of fish might appear on radar.
    - MichaelCollins 4y ago
      Torpedoes aren't visible on radar, you mean sonar. You're not going to sink a ship with 500g explosive fish-shaped torpedo-launched drone things. This plan boils down to a really weird and elaborate method of throwing hand grenades at a super-carrier until it sinks. This whole line of discussion is absurd.
      - jiggawatts 4y ago
        What good is a carrier where half the crew is dead or dying, and every plane onboard has had a hole blown through the core of its jet engine? ... and is on fire?
robocat 4y ago
There is probably a place for hydrogen filled (electrolysis[1]?) blimp drones[0], although needs height since blimps are slow and large targets, so perhaps fixed wing always more useful. Deploy when wind is favourable? [0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCqXmzzWFA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCqXmzzWFA [1] https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/images/pubs/Chisholm-Chapter_16_2016.pdf#page7 https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/images/pubs/Chisholm-Chapt...
jiggawatts 4y ago
Think of them as smart cluster bombs. A ballistic missile warhead could release a cloud of these things kilometers above a ship. They could drop passively and power up just a few tens of meters above the target. If you don't think drones of the future will be the most horrifyingly effective weapons of war, you lack imagination.

asdff 4y ago

Pack them in a torpedo that releases them right next to the boat.

ThrowawayR2 4y ago
Surely you are joking. If a hostile can get a torpedo that close to the target without being detected, they would just use a ordinary torpedo and warhead instead.
- asdff 4y ago
  Maybe the ordinary torpedo with a warhead is too large and visible on radar. The drone torpedo could be much smaller, maybe the size of a common fish in the area. Maybe you have a bunch of them herded together traveling under water in the same manner as a school of fish might appear on radar.
  - MichaelCollins 4y ago
    Torpedoes aren't visible on radar, you mean sonar. You're not going to sink a ship with 500g explosive fish-shaped torpedo-launched drone things. This plan boils down to a really weird and elaborate method of throwing hand grenades at a super-carrier until it sinks. This whole line of discussion is absurd.
    - jiggawatts 4y ago
      What good is a carrier where half the crew is dead or dying, and every plane onboard has had a hole blown through the core of its jet engine? ... and is on fire?

robocat 4y ago

There is probably a place for hydrogen filled (electrolysis[1]?) blimp drones[0], although needs height since blimps are slow and large targets, so perhaps fixed wing always more useful. Deploy when wind is favourable? [0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCqXmzzWFA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCqXmzzWFA [1] https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/images/pubs/Chisholm-Chapter_16_2016.pdf#page7 https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/images/pubs/Chisholm-Chapt...

jiggawatts 4y ago

Think of them as smart cluster bombs. A ballistic missile warhead could release a cloud of these things kilometers above a ship. They could drop passively and power up just a few tens of meters above the target. If you don't think drones of the future will be the most horrifyingly effective weapons of war, you lack imagination.