Chinese MALE, HALE (and rotary, small, suicide) UAV/UCAV thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Evolution completeA flying pistol for law enforcement.
It's a nice toy to execute a contract without blowing a house.A flying pistol for law enforcement.
It's a nice toy to execute a contract without blowing a house.
Boeing wants a couple hundred.
On the topic of small quadcopter UAVs which has come up occasionally over the years, this article is a good summation for why the effect of small UAVs may be ultimately finite in context of a proper air/missile/naval war.
It is high end capabilities (strike aircraft, bombers, high end UCAVs) which permit or deny the other lower end capabilities (including low end small UAVs like quadcopters and the like) to fight and sustain themselves.
It is rare for small UAVs and quadcopters to be able to properly reach out at range to destroy an enemy, including even "long range suicide drones" as they are low performance, slow and may be easily countered by even a marginally competent air defense force.
This is important when people discuss "Chinese UAV production capability" because while China is far and away the leading producer of quad copters and small UAVs and potentially also small suicide drones, their relevance in a high end air-naval-missile fight is limited.
Instead, for a high end fight, it is proper fighters, bombers, high end UCAVs/UAVs, and long range missiles and associated high end sensor platforms which will be much more decisive.
It is high end capabilities (strike aircraft, bombers, high end UCAVs) which permit or deny the other lower end capabilities (including low end small UAVs like quadcopters and the like) to fight and sustain themselves.
It is rare for small UAVs and quadcopters to be able to properly reach out at range to destroy an enemy, including even "long range suicide drones" as they are low performance, slow and may be easily countered by even a marginally competent air defense force.
This is important when people discuss "Chinese UAV production capability" because while China is far and away the leading producer of quad copters and small UAVs and potentially also small suicide drones, their relevance in a high end air-naval-missile fight is limited.
Instead, for a high end fight, it is proper fighters, bombers, high end UCAVs/UAVs, and long range missiles and associated high end sensor platforms which will be much more decisive.
So there are all these reports of mysterious drone swarms around American naval bases in the past year on TWZ.
I do wonder if you could get a case where balloons or container ships carrying massive number of small drones can get close enough to certain critical sites (or even from certain Chinese businesses operating in Baja California (across the border from San Diego) and cause serious damage to sensitive military sensors & communication equipment and such on the outset of a conflict.
I do wonder if you could get a case where balloons or container ships carrying massive number of small drones can get close enough to certain critical sites (or even from certain Chinese businesses operating in Baja California (across the border from San Diego) and cause serious damage to sensitive military sensors & communication equipment and such on the outset of a conflict.
Its funny they think you has to choose between dominating small UAV and dominating "proper" UCAV like GJ11
The piece was written by a retired USAF general and its basically the airforce equivilent of American old men arguing against computers in cars
Also its hilarious he used B2 deployment againt Houthis as argument for the need for expensive bombers... He proberbly wrote this in response to the recent NGAD article
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