5 ms·

Pentagon Wants to Buy 1,000s of Small, Cheap, Autonomous Drones in Next 2 Years

46 points by mikece 3y ago

TowerTall 3y ago
Can a small, cheap, drone following modern fighter jet? If these drones are to be a companion to a fighter jets, I would think that they must be able to match speed and range, in order to be useful.
b33j0r 3y ago
I have a DoD background and some would say too many hobby drones. This news sounds 20 years old. Is Lady Gaga’s drone swarm display really 10 years ahead of military doctrine? (No, it’s just ridiculous to see this headline). Would love it if anyone closer to this topic knows a great youtuber or publication that hits this niche (currently following Sandboxx and Task & Purpose).
- halJordan 3y ago
  Hit this niche? This has been a major AF initiative/talking point for years now. You can read about it on any of the defense news sites. Hell even OP's military.com is reporting on it. I can't stand the people who are like "I'm in this industry and even i don't know about it-" if you haven't seen the massive rolling stone barreling at you for the past five years, that's on you.
  - b33j0r 3y ago
    Yeah… I was hoping someone had some super cool forum they look at every day. Definitely played a card there. I guess I am as up to speed as you are.
- imtringued 3y ago
  This is what a "drone" looks like. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qR4t_vSjETA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qR4t_vSjETA
BMc2020 3y ago
Fine, but don't spend a trillion on manned fighters that are obsolete already.
jschveibinz 3y ago
To be clear, what the Deputy Secretary implied was “less expensive than manned platforms,” not less expensive drones. The DoD has a cadre of existing “qualified” (incumbent) suppliers of drone systems, and these contractors will likely be the recipients of additional orders. It’s hard to break into that supply chain.
- ianburrell 3y ago
  These drones are intended to accompany manned fighters. The Air Force is designing the next fighter, NGAD, and drones together. They are basically mini, disposable fighters.
paulkrush 3y ago
And this will lead to toner wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age
whatever1 3y ago
Why just 1000? Why not 100M? From the war in Ukraine it seems that future wars will be fought by swarms of cheap drones. Most of them will never hit a target. Some of them though will do so. Ships, tanks, soldiers, jets, nothing stands a chance. It seems to me that the country that develops the best supply chain of cheap drones will be the one that will be able to win any war.
- halJordan 3y ago
  These are not the quadcopters used to sight in artillery or drop grenades. These are loyal wingmen to be used alongside manned fighters dogfighting j20s deep in the pacific. The 1000 comes from giving the 300-odd f35 fleet 3 wingmen. The cheapness comes from them being 1/10 the cost of a manned fighter.
  - WeylandYutani 3y ago
    Reminds me of Ace Combat 7. Does the US Air Force have a union? They won't be happy being replaced by drones.
  - rasz 3y ago
    For the price of one of those + accompanying Jet you can manufacture >10K autonomous drones with 100km range, enough to overwhelm any carrier defenses and wreak havoc on the deck.
    - dmos62 3y ago
      Keep in mind, that counting small drones is a fairly new problem. What works today might not work tomorrow.
      - rasz 3y ago
        Would US fare better than russia tonight? <50 drones resulting in probably around $300-500mil in hardware damages alone (6x Il-76, potentially refinery and electronics factory). And those are primitive loud improvised drones flying slow and quite high. Even the best AA system will run out of ammo under heavier assault. Patriot in Kyiv got overwhelmed with less than 20 cruise missiles it could easily track, now make that hundreds of targets gliding few meters above the surface to the target.
narrator 3y ago
I was thinking one way the world ends because of AGI is that the strong AGI uses up all the earth's natural resources turning everything into drones to fight an endless drone war.
- mr_toad 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_hypothesis
LegitShady 3y ago
I'd be surprised if they haven't been already doing for the last year. This is just some other kind of small, cheap, autonomous drone.
sillywalk 3y ago
Prediction: < 1000, larger, more expensive, and not in 2 years.
TeeWEE 3y ago
This is the one they are going to buy, not quadrocopter, but fighter jets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_XQ-58_Valkyrie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_XQ-58_Valkyrie

46 points by mikece 3y ago

Can a small, cheap, drone following modern fighter jet? If these drones are to be a companion to a fighter jets, I would think that they must be able to match speed and range, in order to be useful.

b33j0r 3y ago

I have a DoD background and some would say too many hobby drones. This news sounds 20 years old. Is Lady Gaga’s drone swarm display really 10 years ahead of military doctrine? (No, it’s just ridiculous to see this headline). Would love it if anyone closer to this topic knows a great youtuber or publication that hits this niche (currently following Sandboxx and Task & Purpose).

halJordan 3y ago
Hit this niche? This has been a major AF initiative/talking point for years now. You can read about it on any of the defense news sites. Hell even OP's military.com is reporting on it. I can't stand the people who are like "I'm in this industry and even i don't know about it-" if you haven't seen the massive rolling stone barreling at you for the past five years, that's on you.
- b33j0r 3y ago
  Yeah… I was hoping someone had some super cool forum they look at every day. Definitely played a card there. I guess I am as up to speed as you are.
imtringued 3y ago
This is what a "drone" looks like. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qR4t_vSjETA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qR4t_vSjETA

BMc2020 3y ago

Fine, but don't spend a trillion on manned fighters that are obsolete already.

jschveibinz 3y ago

To be clear, what the Deputy Secretary implied was “less expensive than manned platforms,” not less expensive drones. The DoD has a cadre of existing “qualified” (incumbent) suppliers of drone systems, and these contractors will likely be the recipients of additional orders. It’s hard to break into that supply chain.

ianburrell 3y ago
These drones are intended to accompany manned fighters. The Air Force is designing the next fighter, NGAD, and drones together. They are basically mini, disposable fighters.

paulkrush 3y ago

And this will lead to toner wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

whatever1 3y ago

Why just 1000? Why not 100M? From the war in Ukraine it seems that future wars will be fought by swarms of cheap drones. Most of them will never hit a target. Some of them though will do so. Ships, tanks, soldiers, jets, nothing stands a chance. It seems to me that the country that develops the best supply chain of cheap drones will be the one that will be able to win any war.

halJordan 3y ago
These are not the quadcopters used to sight in artillery or drop grenades. These are loyal wingmen to be used alongside manned fighters dogfighting j20s deep in the pacific. The 1000 comes from giving the 300-odd f35 fleet 3 wingmen. The cheapness comes from them being 1/10 the cost of a manned fighter.
- WeylandYutani 3y ago
  Reminds me of Ace Combat 7. Does the US Air Force have a union? They won't be happy being replaced by drones.
- rasz 3y ago
  For the price of one of those + accompanying Jet you can manufacture >10K autonomous drones with 100km range, enough to overwhelm any carrier defenses and wreak havoc on the deck.
  - dmos62 3y ago
    Keep in mind, that counting small drones is a fairly new problem. What works today might not work tomorrow.
    - rasz 3y ago
      Would US fare better than russia tonight? <50 drones resulting in probably around $300-500mil in hardware damages alone (6x Il-76, potentially refinery and electronics factory). And those are primitive loud improvised drones flying slow and quite high. Even the best AA system will run out of ammo under heavier assault. Patriot in Kyiv got overwhelmed with less than 20 cruise missiles it could easily track, now make that hundreds of targets gliding few meters above the surface to the target.

narrator 3y ago

I was thinking one way the world ends because of AGI is that the strong AGI uses up all the earth's natural resources turning everything into drones to fight an endless drone war.

mr_toad 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_hypothesis

LegitShady 3y ago

I'd be surprised if they haven't been already doing for the last year. This is just some other kind of small, cheap, autonomous drone.

sillywalk 3y ago

Prediction: < 1000, larger, more expensive, and not in 2 years.

TeeWEE 3y ago

This is the one they are going to buy, not quadrocopter, but fighter jets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_XQ-58_Valkyrie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_XQ-58_Valkyrie