Lol, I wonder if the MSS will buy some. You just gave me flashbacks to this:Another brochure on the TD-11 UAV. Interestingly, it says TD-11 is capable of facial recognition.
I wonder if this means that it can be used for assassination missions. Drop it from high altitude, and it automatically maneuvers to a pre-designated area where the target is suspected to be located; then it conducts area surveillance and try to match faces to that of the target; if it finds a match, it will then take him/her out.
Chinese UAV/UCAV development
- Thread starter AssassinsMace
- Start date
- Status
Jammers, high powered microwaves, point defense lasers.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Lasers and jammers would probably be the most cost effective way.
It should also be possible to airburst AAA shells and/or SAMs to bring down large numbers of swarm drones at once, especially if they are in the close formation cruise phase as opposed to dispersed attack phase.
Good old fashioned barrage balloons anchoring large nets might also be a cheap and effective means to protect point targets from small swarm drones.
Considering most swarm drones are prop driven, maybe you can develop softkill counters around spamming high strength low weight filaments that can stay airborne for some time and potentially entangle the props.
If we look further into the future, you may have counter-swarm drone drones. That grenade launcher toting Chinese drone posted not long ago would be a potentially good starting point. Give it a laser rangefinder and programmable airbrushing shells and it could potentially do a good job dropping swarm drones almost autonomously.
PiSigma
"the engineer"
That's like some cannibalistic drones... When Skynet becomes active, it will come for you first.
In all seriousness, swarming drones is still a rich countries game, since most are one time use. The defence might cost as much or more than the attacking drones. Depending on the value of the protected target, sometimes it may not be worth it.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
From forbes. this swarm uav is difficult to defeat
China Releases Video Of New Barrage Swarm Drone Launcher
Contributor
I'm a South London-based technology journalist, consultant and author
CETC, a state-owned Chinese company, claiming to show the successful test of a ‘barrage swarm’ that launches 48 attack drones to saturate a target. It is described as the first practical Chinese swarming drone system.
The launch vehicle, with 48 cells for drones, is based on the Chinese version of the Hummer.
CETC
The details of the tests carried out in September were released on Tuesday by the Institute of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The drones are launched from a vehicle based on the Dongfeng Menshi, which evolved from a license-built version of the U.S. Hummer H1.
The drones are launched with compressed air, then unfold their wings and fly to the target area with an electric-powered propeller. The kamikaze drones carry high-explosive warheads, potentially powerful enough to destroy tanks and other armor. The concept is similar to , but deployed in much larger numbers, with multiple drones aiming to swamp defenses.
China has long had tactical loitering munitions like the 20-pound CH-901, which cruises over the target area beaming back video for the operator to locate a target, then diving in to destroy it on command. In 2018 China displayed a launch vehicle with eight CH-901s, which would be launched one at a time. The difference here is the swarming technology, which means the operator only needs to designate the target. Swarming software ensures that the drones will fly together without colliding, and will co-operate to ensure that all targets are attacked rather than every drone going for the highest-value vehicle.
China Releases Video Of New Barrage Swarm Drone Launcher
Contributor
I'm a South London-based technology journalist, consultant and author
CETC, a state-owned Chinese company, claiming to show the successful test of a ‘barrage swarm’ that launches 48 attack drones to saturate a target. It is described as the first practical Chinese swarming drone system.
The launch vehicle, with 48 cells for drones, is based on the Chinese version of the Hummer.
CETC
The details of the tests carried out in September were released on Tuesday by the Institute of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The drones are launched from a vehicle based on the Dongfeng Menshi, which evolved from a license-built version of the U.S. Hummer H1.
The drones are launched with compressed air, then unfold their wings and fly to the target area with an electric-powered propeller. The kamikaze drones carry high-explosive warheads, potentially powerful enough to destroy tanks and other armor. The concept is similar to , but deployed in much larger numbers, with multiple drones aiming to swamp defenses.
China has long had tactical loitering munitions like the 20-pound CH-901, which cruises over the target area beaming back video for the operator to locate a target, then diving in to destroy it on command. In 2018 China displayed a launch vehicle with eight CH-901s, which would be launched one at a time. The difference here is the swarming technology, which means the operator only needs to designate the target. Swarming software ensures that the drones will fly together without colliding, and will co-operate to ensure that all targets are attacked rather than every drone going for the highest-value vehicle.
These drone swarm concepts seem neat in concept, but I'm still not sure how they make sense economically.
The cost of one drone must still be in the $1000's minimum if they are to carry any sort of meaningful payload.
One 30mm round is maybe $100 tops? I doubt they would be agile enough to avoid even a few shots from an autocannon with proximity bursting ammo.
The cost of one drone must still be in the $1000's minimum if they are to carry any sort of meaningful payload.
One 30mm round is maybe $100 tops? I doubt they would be agile enough to avoid even a few shots from an autocannon with proximity bursting ammo.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Let's say they're $10K each. A truck-load is $480K with 48 of them. 5 truck-loads is is $2.4M and they launch 240 drones. 10 truck-loads is $4.8M and 480 drones. If they're enough to overload target defenses and the autocannons can't take enough of them out, the ones that strike can incapacitate (at the most critical moment) or destroy a target that cost hundreds of millions or over a billion dollars.
- Status