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'Spiderweb' drone attack marks a new threat for top militaries

31 points by petethomas 1y ago

fisherjeff 1y ago
s/surveil/attack/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28262841 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28262841
getcrunk 1y ago
It’s only a matter of time before governments with the money and the sense adopt automated anti drone radar/turrets. It’s funny that they haven’t already. I mean it’s about “national security.” This threat has been looming for 10 maybe 15 years now
- heyitsguay 1y ago
  At Allen Control Systems, we're working on deploying automated anti drone turrets (radar or passive EO detection) right now! Development in the space is happening at a breakneck pace. We're hiring pretty aggressively, if this sort of thing seems interesting, check it out! https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/company#jobs https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/company#jobs
- pooralaska 1y ago
  What do you mean haven't already? They most certainly have been working on it (this video is over 6 years old for example): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-miBH10bdCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-miBH10bdCs
  - impossiblefork 1y ago
    Yes, but even now I don't think people have understood. I suspect these turrets are fine with a couple of drones, but what if it's 5000? What if they're autonomous so that they can fly at 1/2 a metre? With autonomy and something to allow long-distance flight it actually challenges the whole capable-airplane paradigm. People aren't thinking like this at all. They aren't thinking real saturation, i.e. let's say, an attack with 10000 modernized V-1s, either. I believe that 10,000 modernized V-1s could cost as little as 50 million USD. So less than a single F-35, which has no chance of even reaching more than a couple during such a saturation attack.
- flowerthoughts 1y ago
  This was in Who's hiring? yesterday > Building AI-driven turrets that stop hostile drones. We need sharp, hands-on engineers: (And not the same company already mentioned here.)
idiotsecant 1y ago
Forget the military threat, imagine the chaos a person could cause with a few thousand dollars worth of shape charge drones if they wanted to, for example, disable a national power grid. Large substation transformers have lead times measured in years. It would cost a few hundred bucks to destroy one. I imagine a guy in a box truck doing a tour of the US, dropping a shape charge drone or two with cellular data connections outside 30 or 40 major substations and activating them all at once. Once the grid goes dark we're going to suddenly find out that black start of an entire electrical grid is a very difficult thing to do.
moi2388 1y ago
If these drones are so successful, why are their defences in the billions? Why don’t you have hunter drones targeting any potential drone coming in?
- heyitsguay 1y ago
  Defense needs them everywhere, offense needs one gap in the defense.
- Zanfa 1y ago
  I think Ukraine is already using mothership & hunter drones to target slow-flying drones (Shaheds and similar). Very soon the most challenging part of anti-drone defence is going to be detection since fiber-guided drones can already fly tens of kilometers at low altitudes where they’ll be virtually undetectable with radar. You can literally fly them just above ground if necessary.
- ls612 1y ago
  Ukraine is already using interceptor drones, Perun did a patron special episode discussing the development of these.
  - moi2388 1y ago
    Ah cool, must’ve missed that one I’ll check it out. Love me some Perun
aaron695 1y ago
[dead]
0x38B 1y ago
Adding on to the photos in the article, here are the drones stacked and then staged in the warehouse pre-attack: https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/145230 https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/145230
amai 1y ago
Sounds like a usecase for world strongest handheld laser https://youtube.com/watch?v=UBVlL0FNbSE https://youtube.com/watch?v=UBVlL0FNbSE
ChrisArchitect 1y ago
Lots of discussion: How Ukraine’s killer drones are beating Russian jamming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44168658 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44168658 Ukraine destroys more than 40 military aircraft in drone attack deep in Russia https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44150789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44150789

31 points by petethomas 1y ago

s/surveil/attack/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28262841 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28262841

It’s only a matter of time before governments with the money and the sense adopt automated anti drone radar/turrets. It’s funny that they haven’t already. I mean it’s about “national security.” This threat has been looming for 10 maybe 15 years now

heyitsguay 1y ago
At Allen Control Systems, we're working on deploying automated anti drone turrets (radar or passive EO detection) right now! Development in the space is happening at a breakneck pace. We're hiring pretty aggressively, if this sort of thing seems interesting, check it out! https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/company#jobs https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/company#jobs
pooralaska 1y ago
What do you mean haven't already? They most certainly have been working on it (this video is over 6 years old for example): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-miBH10bdCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-miBH10bdCs
- impossiblefork 1y ago
  Yes, but even now I don't think people have understood. I suspect these turrets are fine with a couple of drones, but what if it's 5000? What if they're autonomous so that they can fly at 1/2 a metre? With autonomy and something to allow long-distance flight it actually challenges the whole capable-airplane paradigm. People aren't thinking like this at all. They aren't thinking real saturation, i.e. let's say, an attack with 10000 modernized V-1s, either. I believe that 10,000 modernized V-1s could cost as little as 50 million USD. So less than a single F-35, which has no chance of even reaching more than a couple during such a saturation attack.
flowerthoughts 1y ago
This was in Who's hiring? yesterday > Building AI-driven turrets that stop hostile drones. We need sharp, hands-on engineers: (And not the same company already mentioned here.)

idiotsecant 1y ago

Forget the military threat, imagine the chaos a person could cause with a few thousand dollars worth of shape charge drones if they wanted to, for example, disable a national power grid. Large substation transformers have lead times measured in years. It would cost a few hundred bucks to destroy one. I imagine a guy in a box truck doing a tour of the US, dropping a shape charge drone or two with cellular data connections outside 30 or 40 major substations and activating them all at once. Once the grid goes dark we're going to suddenly find out that black start of an entire electrical grid is a very difficult thing to do.

moi2388 1y ago

If these drones are so successful, why are their defences in the billions? Why don’t you have hunter drones targeting any potential drone coming in?

heyitsguay 1y ago
Defense needs them everywhere, offense needs one gap in the defense.
Zanfa 1y ago
I think Ukraine is already using mothership & hunter drones to target slow-flying drones (Shaheds and similar). Very soon the most challenging part of anti-drone defence is going to be detection since fiber-guided drones can already fly tens of kilometers at low altitudes where they’ll be virtually undetectable with radar. You can literally fly them just above ground if necessary.
ls612 1y ago
Ukraine is already using interceptor drones, Perun did a patron special episode discussing the development of these.
- moi2388 1y ago
  Ah cool, must’ve missed that one I’ll check it out. Love me some Perun

aaron695 1y ago

[dead]

0x38B 1y ago

Adding on to the photos in the article, here are the drones stacked and then staged in the warehouse pre-attack: https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/145230 https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/145230

amai 1y ago

Sounds like a usecase for world strongest handheld laser https://youtube.com/watch?v=UBVlL0FNbSE https://youtube.com/watch?v=UBVlL0FNbSE

ChrisArchitect 1y ago

Lots of discussion: How Ukraine’s killer drones are beating Russian jamming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44168658 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44168658 Ukraine destroys more than 40 military aircraft in drone attack deep in Russia https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44150789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44150789