Will the Advent of Drone Warfare bring back the Gun Air Defense
- Thread starter Sailor.X
- Start date
Welp...that's definitely one way to win the drone war.
I honestly think that WW3 is going to be known as the 'Drone Wars', and that the use of drones is only going to increase going forward, not shrink.
Depends entirely on the EW environment. Because cheap drone swarms are worthless when subjected to enough EM energy.
True, but that much EW energy also tends to ground friendly drones, and take a lot of power to sustain long term.
It also fouls your regular comms, and might even mess with a Starlink connection if it is severe enough.
It doesn't need to be on for long. Detection levels find the swarm. Then you amp it up to drop them from the sky.
I'm pretty sure the Aegis Systems are perfectly capable of this already.
I don't doubt that the AEGIS system arrays are capable of jamming/EW neutralizing of smaller drone swarms.
But AEGIS isn't everywhere, and the ground war is showing that fratricidal jamming of drones is a serious issue for both sides.
As i see it, drones are just a clever way to break through the pricing wall of conventional precision munitions, which is what they are. Digital age radio command guided munitions, sacrificing the raw dynamic performance and sensor capabilities of classic precision munitions for the benefit of costing sometimes a tiny fraction of those, often combined with the fact that flying slowly saves energy for a far longer range than flying fast like most precision munitions do, which has its pros and cons.
And once you get out of the territory of cheap kamikaze drones, it's just smaller, or not so small at all aircraft on radio guidance or autopilot, with often similar pricing.
It is only useful in the context of a peer to peer at thw lowest levels. It isn't anything super new either.
US has been facing forms of it before 2022 in Iraq and A-stan as the groups there adapted.
Drones arnt some magic complete change of war.
It adds another tool to a layer that has already existed
US has been facing forms of it before 2022 in Iraq and A-stan as the groups there adapted.
Drones arnt some magic complete change of war.
It adds another tool to a layer that has already existed
LordsFire
Internet Wizard
The big question is going to be what happens when actually competent militaries have to tangle with them.
Overpowering them with ECM seems promising, but will it actually hold up in battlefield conditions?
SPAAGs and small portable flak guns will be making a comeback; will they be cost effective?
Will higher-budget counter-drone drones be a cost-effective way for better militaries to deal with low-end drone spam?
A lot of this stuff we won't really know for sure until it's tested under battlefield conditions.
ECM is the easiest way, but there are plenty of other ways involving just the one method.
It isn't just jamming.
But thay is a sphere I sadly can not comment on
strunkenwhite
Well-known member
Hmm, so the US secret superweapon is spherical...
No...you heard nothing.
The eclipses are not man made I swear
Same problem as with old command guidance missiles. Possibly? Hard to answer definitely, it is a field for very quickly iterating and unpredictable arms race between ECM and ECCM. Ukraine kinda already has that happen.
At scale, possibly. At least not as bankruptcy inducing as 100k a pop missiles. The same digital revolution that made compact drones possible can make widespread light and cheap SPAAGs effective against drones. As i said before, it's possible that soon some of the RWS on all the APCs, IFVs and tanks will double as light SPAAGs.
Some are experimenting even with turning common rifles into an anti drone weapons.
A drone fast enough for interceptions and big enough to soak the recoil of a weapon to do it cheaply... Theoretically possible, but damn won't be cheap, and the control technology may not be reliable and quick enough yet to allow accurate fire.
There's a lot of testing under battlefield conditions now, and with anything regarding drones, other high fidelity testing is also easier than, say, testing anti ship weapons.
Article on Northrop-Grumman's new XM1211 High Explosive Proximity (HEP) cartridge. It's a 30mm proximity airburst round with a tiny RFID style sensor designed to detect drones and other UAS targets at close range, allowing them to be struck without needing a direct hit. Designed for engaging drones weighing in at a svelte 250 pounds (115 kilograms) or less.
taskandpurpose.com
The Army is fielding a new 'proximity' round to take out incoming drones
Blasting drones out of the sky just got a whole lot easier.
taskandpurpose.com
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
I think drones will replace attack helicopters. They both sort of fill the same niche but drones are significantly cheaper.
I don't think so.
Drones are not as nimble as a helicopter, in the sense of CUAV, and FPV drones, while numerous and small, arnt guranteed to always be able to have them over large swathes.
Attack copters are able to cover large areas and have multiple ways of taking out various things
While i have no doubt that attack helicopters can still dishing out, it's how much they can take that's an issue. They work great in permissive environment, but outside of that, they have to cease using many of the capabilities they have and work so cautiously that you may as well use a drone or jet for better effect. If everyone will start spamming light AA against drones, that will also make things even worse for helicopters as a side effect.
And then there are beginnings of drone helicopters, there's already an APKWS armed Firescout variant, Israelis have one too, probably more in the works, without pilot and cheaper, one can afford to use them with less caution than normal attack helicopters.
Nit able to carry AS much as a helicopter
And they were made knowing SHORADs exist. The thing is, it's why we have HARMs that can be fired from helicopters, and things like that.
It allows CAS organic to the Army and a loitering time higher then any drone, due to the fact they are not as capable in the environment we are currently.in, maneuverability wise