• TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I can’t find the link, but I saw a video of a training exercise where an F-35 dropped a shit-ton of autonomous drones, and they circled until they each had an individual target, then plunged right into them.

    Fuck that. You have zero warning because you can’t see the F-35 and you can’t see the drones until they turn your lights off.

    • zephyreks@lemmy.mlOPM
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      1 year ago

      If the F-35 is operating within small drone range, it’s probably detectable on infrared tbh. If it’s a larger drone, then there’s not really much of an advantage of launching it by F-35 because you’d probably be outside of radar range anyway. The F-35 is most useful when it IS accomplishing the role of CAS because it has the benefit of a pilot.

      As it stands, I feel like the primary role of jets today is to maintain aerial superiority to drop heavy bombs (which are far cheaper than building an equivalent drone).

      • Ooops@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        The secret here is the word “drop”. As in drop them on drones beyond their limit maximum height.

        • zephyreks@lemmy.mlOPM
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          1 year ago

          Even cheap consumer-grade FPV drones (e.g. from DJI) have a service ceiling of like 6km. They’re just legally not allowed to fly that high lol.

        • zephyreks@lemmy.mlOPM
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          1 year ago

          That’s going to be easily within infrared detection distance, right? Sounds like it would only work against insurgents who don’t have access to advanced guided munitions.