by avidiax on 3/20/2025, 5:42:36 PM
by throw__away7391 on 3/20/2025, 5:13:49 PM
I’ve been thinking that the emergence of drone warfare may have a similar impact as the start of the Iron Age, when suddenly instead of needing complex networks of trade to acquire tin and copper to make expensive bronze weapons, cheaper and superior iron weapons became widely available to many groups that previously could not have afforded to arm themselves. There’s a compelling theory that this is what lead to the Bronze Age collapse.
by ryuhhnn on 3/20/2025, 5:22:17 PM
So the “weapons of war” in question are… cameras? But because those cameras are also used by the Russian military that means that China Bad? Meanwhile gun laws in the US would like to have a chat…
by josefresco on 3/20/2025, 4:08:40 PM
by autoexec on 3/20/2025, 6:04:33 PM
It's a shame that Slaughterbots (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO6M2HsoIA) didn't have the intended impact and shortly after the video was released it seems that autonomous drones were used to hunt down humans Libya.
by asadm on 3/20/2025, 5:26:18 PM
What's the defence against a swarm of drones apart from jamming them? If the drone is self-guided (very cheap these days), jamming wouldn't work anyway right?
by nicpottier on 3/20/2025, 5:27:07 PM
Fiber optic cabling is definitely a bigger lift but the idea that the mount to drop something from a drone is something that is difficult for anybody with even a bit of knowledge seems like fear mongering. I mean it's a 3D print and servo away for any appropriately sized drone.
As someone who just picked up flying FPV drones (very fun) I do fear these may turn illegal before long.
by zomg on 3/20/2025, 5:32:14 PM
the fear mongering is real with this article, sheesh.
anything can be a "weapon of war" if desired. actors are using broken up bike chains for shrapnel in IEDs. is my huffy a weapon of war? :/
I feel the other commenters being dismissive of this are overlooking that there is massive proliferation risk with drone technology.
The next time a western country has a civil war, you can expect that one or both sides will be using drones, at least for surveillance if not for offense.
While it's true that the things on AliExpress could be built by a dedicated hobbyist, a typical large city would only have 100 to 1,000 people even capable of putting together a computer vision module in a couple of months' time. Selling a computer vision module on AliExpress puts that capability in the hands of anyone that wants it at the speed of FedEx.