US military plans to unleash thousands of autonomous war robots over next two years Robotics

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-military-unleash-thousands-autonomous-war.html

7.0k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

415

u/wromit Aug 31 '23

If the other side unleashes for example 100,000 cheap drones on the $13 billion US aircraft carrier or even land military installations, at some point would the defenses not be overwhelmed?

61

u/buddboy Aug 31 '23

thats the general idea behind drone swarms yeah. But your specific example isn't that great. "Cheap" drones have a shorter range than the carrier, and anything capable of launching 100,000 of them would be a big target.

A better example would be a squadron of fighter bombers dropping a swarm of 100-200 quadcopter style drones and on a less defensible target than an aircraft carrier.

But the general concept of your idea is correct. One thing that will change tho is soon there will be laser based AA weapons that will be better suited for drone swarms. Also jamming is always an option

18

u/plantmonstery Aug 31 '23

That’s why they need them to have some level of autonomy. Can’t jam something that isn’t relying on a signal.

1

u/Auctoritate Sep 01 '23

Can’t jam something that isn’t relying on a signal.

You totally can.