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"Meanwhile, on the military side, the Pentagon is still buying Boeing Scan Eagles at hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop when they can buy a similar capabili
by datadrivenangel 4mo ago
"Meanwhile, on the military side, the Pentagon is still buying Boeing Scan Eagles at hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop when they can buy a similar capability for only a few thousand dollars at a local hobby shop."
1.Your local hobby shop drone will not be able to fly for 20 hours like a fixed wing Scan Eagle. Bad comparison.
2. Modifying drones to be used for combat is cheap if you don't count the labor cost, and in relative peace time counting the labor costs and overall cost of fielding a system is fair. If you take a $5,000 consumer drone and want it to *reliably* explode on someone, at small volumes that will likely take enough labor time to verify, let alone certify, that it pushes the price up to closer to the price of the new dedicated loitering munitions...
- mysterydip 4mo agoNot to mention logistics. It’s easy to support one of something. Supporting spares, upgrades, obsolescences, etc (plus documentation and training) for hundreds of drones across the globe is another story.
- dzhiurgis 4mo ago> will likely take enough labor time to verify, let alone certify All that to say that US desperately needs to copy Ukrainian model. Lots of small manufacturers and an excellent skunk works team for very quick iteration.
- IAmBroom 4mo agoUKR is in survival mode. They don't need to worry about a worldwide distribution net. They don't integrate these into larger systems. UKR can still feasibly kill a RUS soldier with a Molotov cocktail or hunting rifle. That doesn't mean US Army platoons should carry deer rifles and bottles of gasoline.
- SubiculumCode 4mo agohttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-a-team-of-marines-built-the-corps-fpv/id682478916?i=1000775020002 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-a-team-of-marines-... Moreover, as this War on the Rocks podcast shows, all levels of drones are being integrated.