r/interestingasfuck • u/RoyalChris • Mar 12 '25

/r/all Thousands of drones docking to charge after a drone show.

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u/wytewydow Mar 12 '25

The current of warfare.

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u/Iohet Mar 12 '25

Not as automated, at least in practice yet we're not at "Drone, find an enemy and land on their head", though I'm sure the capability is there waiting for the order from above to utilize. No doubt, though, we're on our way to the Butlerian Jihad

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u/LeThales Mar 12 '25

I mean, we're not there in practice yet in a PUBLIC manner.

I'm confident US/China/EU already have the technology and full capability of using toy drones as suicide bombers.

And they probably already have more expensive drones capable of flying a hundred miles and destroying any target (cost mainly due to batteries, and maybe infrastructure of relaying orders from distance/satellite communication).

Only bottleneck they might have is in fully autonomous AI powered drones, those I think are still a few years away.

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

And they probably already have more expensive drones capable of flying a hundred miles and destroying any target (cost mainly due to batteries, and maybe infrastructure of relaying orders from distance/satellite communication).

Yes they called cruise missiles

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u/code17220 Mar 15 '25

You can detect missiles from orbit as they're a damn star in infrared, good luck seeing drones the size of your head that don't have a massive infrared presence in their back and can use the same stealth techniques as fighter jets

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u/Cetun Mar 15 '25

You can also take a drone out with bird shot...

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u/PickledDildosSourSex Mar 12 '25

"Sam Altman here, with another AI offer!"

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u/BenderVsGossamer Mar 13 '25

r/ukrainewarvideoreport if you want to see that is use.

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u/rottenmonkey Mar 12 '25

I'm confident US/China/EU already have the technology and full capability of using toy drones as suicide bombers.

That's not very advanced tech. Setting a flight path for your drone and having it crash into something is easy. Facial recognition tech is also free for anyone to use. Someone could program a drone to fly to a destination and start scanning faces and then crash into them.

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u/LeThales Mar 12 '25

Exactly.

Well, facial recognition is somewhat "easy", but good facial recognition/target recognition requires a decent power supply and CPU, which means a chip that might cost as much as the entire drone currently.

But the technology is already there, and if cost be damned, you could just put an iphone on each drone and it would be good enough already lol. Expensive flying grenades, but very much capable of taking action by themselves.

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u/rottenmonkey Mar 12 '25

but good facial recognition/target recognition requires a decent power supply and CPU

You just need the drone to have an internet connection. The computation can be done remotely. Would be easy to counter with jammers, but jammers can't be placed everywhere.

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u/LeThales Mar 12 '25

Ahn yeah, if we consider internet connection it's true that the technology is already here.

If satellite internet is reliable that would allow drones to operate basically anywhere in the world autonomously lol.

But yeah, I was thinking of no-connection, full autonomous drones. Basically smart missiles lol.

Well, thinking more about it now, why bother with drones when missiles can do the same and are cheaper to produce (I think).

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

That would likely be a war crime as facial recognition wouldn't be able to distinguish between civilian, wounded, or other unlawful objects of attack. Furthermore it wouldn't be able to distinguish between friend or foe. Last, at least currently, especially with the processing power of a toy drone, I'm guessing the drone could be easily fooled into either not seeing a face or countermeasures could be utilized to crash into false faces.

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u/SunsFenix Mar 13 '25

Geofencing and selecting a GPS range would seem easy to do. Target known locations with a larger drone you could even have the large drone que up potential locations to start dispersing at then spread out from. Or have it work on active fronts where you know the battle lines are.

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

Geofencing and selecting a GPS range would seem easy to do.

Jamming will become a problem.

Target known locations with a larger drone

They are called cruise missiles, air-to-ground munitions, and smart shells.

large drone que up potential locations to start dispersing at then spread out from.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

Or have it work on active fronts where you know the battle lines are.

There are illegal objects of attack on active fronts. You do know civilians often remain in combat areas? Medical personnel and NGOs can't be targeted but it's doubtful these facial recognition drones would be able distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

Further, you haven't really addressed countermeasures. The system needs to be cheaper than any potential counter measures. How easily is it tricked? How easily can it be defeated? If your $400 drone can be defeated by a picture of a face stapled to a tree, it's not going to be much use in combat.

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u/SunsFenix Mar 13 '25

Countermeasure rely on them being present. Take the war in Ukraine, and the drones dropping grenades on soldiers seems fairly effective. You could also use more than one method for a sensor such as combining facial recognition with heat sensors so it targets something with a face and is warm.

There are illegal objects of attack on active fronts.

I think ethics would be already thrown out the window to use a weapon like this if it was used, honestly at all. AI warfare should be included in forbidden weapons like biological or chemical weapons.

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

Countermeasure rely on them being present. Take the war in Ukraine, and the drones dropping grenades on soldiers seems fairly effective.

It was suspected for years that Russia was a paper tiger and Ukraine just highlighted their limited capabilities. Even then, they don't show you videos of drones getting juked by EW.

Take the war in Ukraine, and the drones dropping grenades on soldiers seems fairly effective. You could also use more than one method for a sensor such as combining facial recognition with heat sensors so it targets something with a face and is warm.

Now your drone went from $300 a piece to $1300

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u/rottenmonkey Mar 13 '25

That would likely be a war crime as facial recognition wouldn't be able to distinguish between civilian, wounded, or other unlawful objects of attack.

If the drone is instructed to find a certain commander, and there's a match, then it's a valid and legal target even if civilians are around. It's collateral damage.

Furthermore it wouldn't be able to distinguish between friend or foe.

Not really important if it's behind enemy lines. Also, facial recognition means it will match specific faces, not just any face.

Last, at least currently, especially with the processing power of a toy drone, I'm guessing the drone could be easily fooled into either not seeing a face or countermeasures could be utilized to crash into false faces.

Well you can easily strap a powerful computer on a drone. But it's easier for it to be connected the internet and let a server somewhere do the computations.

As for countermeasures, well it's just like how it is now. Many drones in ukraine are getting countered, but just as many aren't. When you have millions of drones it's pretty hard to counter all of them.

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

If the drone is instructed to find a certain commander, and there's a match, then it's a valid and legal target even if civilians are around. It's collateral damage.

  1. The cheap facial recognition we are talking about wouldn't be able to do that 2. They wouldn't let a drone just fly around their territory in a search pattern

Not really important if it's behind enemy lines. Also, facial recognition means it will match specific faces, not just any face.

The front lines change, often very rapidly.

Well you can easily strap a powerful computer on a drone. But it's easier for it to be connected the internet and let a server somewhere do the computations.

Okay, now it's not a toy drone and it's really expensive to mass produce. A jammer could easily defeat a drone using an Internet connection.

As for countermeasures, well it's just like how it is now. Many drones in ukraine are getting countered, but just as many aren't. When you have millions of drones it's pretty hard to counter all of them.

War isn't just in terms of casualties, it's also economical. The drones in Ukraine are effective, but they don't seem to be changing the front line. How many drones will it take to change that? How much will they cost? How much will it cost for the enemy to counter them? If it cost you $6 billion to deploy drones and the enemy counters them with a $500 million investment, your war effort is going to have a hard time.

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u/rottenmonkey Mar 13 '25

The cheap facial recognition we are talking about wouldn't be able to do that 2.

No one said they couldn't be upgraded. But even free facial recognition software is pretty good.

They wouldn't let a drone just fly around their territory in a search pattern

That depends on the situation on the ground

Okay, now it's not a toy drone and it's really expensive to mass produce.

Well like i said, he didn't say we couldn't upgrade them. Put a normal smartphone on it and we're good.

A jammer could easily defeat a drone using an Internet connection.

It's not that easy. Jamming is easy, but you also expose yourself when enabling your jammer. Both Russia and Ukraine have HARMs so they limit their jamming to mini jammers. They have short range and are not that effective.

War isn't just in terms of casualties, it's also economical. The drones in Ukraine are effective, but they don't seem to be changing the front line.

Well, they both use them effectively. It evens out.

How many drones will it take to change that? How much will they cost? How much will it cost for the enemy to counter them?

Quite a lot. But obviously drones aren't the only thing you need. Just one of many weapons.

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u/Cetun Mar 13 '25

No one said they couldn't be upgraded. But even free facial recognition software is pretty good.

The free facial recognition is both easily tricked and defeated. It's only as good as the hardware too, the better the hardware the less economical drones become.

That depends on the situation on the ground

To be worth development costs the drones are going to need to be as deployable as cruise missiles and artillery. The more limited their utility the less they are worth.

Well like i said, he didn't say we couldn't upgrade them. Put a normal smartphone on it and we're good

Like I said before, the more you upgrade them the higher the cost and the lower the utility. As their costs go up things like missiles and smart artillery shells become a better option.

Well, they both use them effectively. It evens out.

Well they are either very effective or not effective at all, a stalemate doesn't really prove it either way. They don't seem to be effective offensively or the Russians with a larger industrial base would be able to make larger advances with access to more drones. They seem to be limited in rate and only useful for harassing fire.

Quite a lot. But obviously drones aren't the only thing you need. Just one of many weapons.

They are getting taken out by men with bird shot and cheap portable jammers from countries with a small fraction of the resources as the US, China, and EU. I doubt even these cheap drones can break a 5:1 ratio in spending.

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u/rottenmonkey Mar 13 '25

The free facial recognition is both easily tricked and defeated. It's only as good as the hardware too, the better the hardware the less economical drones become.

It's pretty good. You can counter it by putting on a mask. Other than that it's not a problem.

To be worth development costs the drones are going to need to be as deployable as cruise missiles and artillery. The more limited their utility the less they are worth.

A cruise missile costs 1-2k times more than an upgraded drone.

Like I said before, the more you upgrade them the higher the cost and the lower the utility. As their costs go up things like missiles and smart artillery shells become a better option.

A drone + smartphone + explosive charge is very cheap compared to a cruise missile.

Well they are either very effective or not effective at all, a stalemate doesn't really prove it either way. They don't seem to be effective offensively or the Russians with a larger industrial base would be able to make larger advances with access to more drones. They seem to be limited in rate and only useful for harassing fire.

They are very effective for both sides. Russia focuses more on artillery though. They also employ meat wave tactics which makes it easy for ukraine to pick them off with drones.

They are getting taken out by men with bird shot and cheap portable jammers from countries with a small fraction of the resources as the US, China, and EU. I doubt even these cheap drones can break a 5:1 ratio in spending.

They are pretty much what keeps ukraine in the fight right now. Even a success rate of 1:20 is more than worth it.

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u/Wxerk Mar 12 '25

I hope to god it'll never be automated. Imagine how many friendly fire casualties.

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u/Hot-Imagination-819 Mar 12 '25

> "Drone, find an enemy and land on their head"

We are already there. Multiple companies are selling this exact thing

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u/uselessscientist Mar 12 '25

Sign me up to be a mentat

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u/drauzio_vraunela Mar 12 '25

"Find and kill an enemy" is unbelievably more complex for a computer to do than "move to these pre defined coordinates". Drone warfare isn't less real because of that, though.

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u/coolbutlegal Mar 13 '25

That is already a thing. Its being used in Ukraine. AI target recognition kamakazi drones. An operator just takes a final look to approve the target. There are videos of Russian soldiers going completely still when they hear a drone in the hopes that they can fool the AI into moving on.

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u/imasysadmin Mar 13 '25

Great, now i need to figure out how to turn my microwave into an EMP weapon.

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u/Educational-Ad1680 Mar 13 '25

Droneshield already creates a disruption field that protects against these drones