Posted on 02/26/2025 4:11:28 PM PST by lowbridge
They’re small, but mighty — and deadly, too.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ reliance on cheaper, more compact drones has altered the look of warfare for good, operators and experts tell The Post.
Instead of the hulking craft used by nations like the US — which cost hundreds of millions of dollars — many of Ukraine’s aerial attacks against Russian forces are conducted with simple kamikaze drones worth between $300 and $1,000.
If flown by an experienced pilot, a 6.5-pound drone found in any hobby shop can carry enough explosives to take out an armored vehicle, Andrii Federov, the co-founder and CEO of Ukraine-based Nomad Drones, told The Post on Wednesday.
“If you hit it smartly in the vulnerable parts of a tank, you can even destroy a tank,” Federov said. “So basically, you can cause far more damage for a low cost.”
“I think it changes pretty much everything,” he added of the kamikaze drones. “This is modern warfare.”
Drones are common in armed conflicts. The US has notably used them to conduct airstrikes against terror suspects in places like Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria.
Since the last American forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, the US has relied heavily on drones to conduct so-called “over the horizon” operations, so named because they are done without putting troops on the ground nearby.
What sets Ukraine’s drone operations apart is the type of craft — typically measuring between eight and 12 inches — that can be used and the frequency with which they can be manufactured.
Nomad alone builds “thousands” of drones per month with a workforce of roughly 60 employees, according to Federov, who declined to give exact production figures, citing operational security.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Far more difficult is getting them to operate together, and choosing targets themselves
Boomers love the Ukraine because they cannot move past the 70s and 80s. What in the hell do we owe to totalitarian Europe?
This is ridiculous.
It will end soon. I’m shocked that it hasn’t already.
And scraps of chicken wire are defending against the drones quite effectively. Up next the troops will be issued blunderbusses.
Sounds like the Uke doesn’t need our billions of tax dollars they just need to raid our old radio shack warehouses.
AI will take care of that. We really need Asimov's three laws of robotics, but since AI was always intended to be weaponized...
Largely bogus.
This is how all drone stuff is presented. It’s couple of pounds max of explosives. They all say if you just hit exactly the right place, you can kill a tank.
Well, you can kill a tank if you hit exactly the right place with a slingshot too.
2 pounds of explosives do nothing. If 2 lbs was compelling, the Air Force would not have Mk82 500 lb bombs. And btw, those are smallish nowadays.
It’s not like everybody else isn’t. Humans in warfare will be a minority.
“What in the hell do we owe to totalitarian Europe?”
Your soul.
https://www.newadvent.org/summa/
GFY filapina.
The US military’s lowest cost drone is $700K.
Hmmm
“They all say if you just hit exactly the right place, you can kill a tank.”
And they do kill tanks, in vast numbers.
The key is hollow charge warheads, many of them these days are tandem warheads. Most tank armor above the horizontal plane is vulnerable to RPG class warheads. So it isn’t really exactly the right place, but a very large part of the vertical surface of a tank. Or the sides, rear, louvres, etc.
I thought you were off slaughtering foreigners?
Korean War era “super bazooka” delivered less than 2 pounds of high explosive.
It could penetrate 11 inches of armor.
Sounds like those flying scorpions mentioned in Revelation.
Drone shows are advertising use of 5000 drones.
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