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Preston, you forgot about two other use cases or type of drones:1) kamikaze drones hunting down Big drones at 1km altitude aprox, and 2) SUVs that launches FPV drones to attack targets (we recently saw the attack on the russian gas infraestructure in the black sea and also a AA system in Crimea)
Return to sender section. You can see at 05:44 the detonation system. There are copper/metal pipes on the front, not touching. When it hits a vehicle or a bunker, etc, the metal leads deform and touch, completing the circuit, and BANG. Also, we are developing drones with a kilometer long wire trailing, and we send a signal and the trailing wire/antenna can pick up the signal when the drone itself is in jam range, but the trailing antenna is still able to pick up the operators signal.
@@rubenskiii Yeah, "jousting drone" or "dogfighting drone" might be better; I haven't seen physical bolos or nets used but it's probably just a matter of time. I'd love to see the old Metalstorm caseless launchers developed for the role of Ukrainian grenadier drones. Right now the Ukes have a great skill set in judging the wind & distance for the dropped grenade, but their accuracy is still insufficient to hit a target in a trench. If the grenade is launched downwards it would all but guarantee close hits.
@@rubenskiii Meh, Lancet doesn't deserve the title. It doesn't have a lance, these Lancer drones do. I therefore propose that Lancets be renamed to "misnomers".
That "chain shot" concept makes complete sense. If the buckshot misses, the chain is strung between them to tear through the drone. Resembles an older anti-aircraft missile warhead (Talos) called a "continuous rod warhead".
Kinda funny to think they're using it. That style of shot has been around forever, but has always been more novelty than anything (at least with US hobby shooters).
Lance, pike, spear, history knows many things that are pretty much just a stick to stab your enemies with. I'd call them lancer drones, it gives it a chivalrous touch.
The solution for cable drones is making it a pair of drones: the actual traditional hunter drone, but back at the base or some distance behind the drone is also a feeder drone whose only job it is to keep the cable high in the sky and take off some of the weight of the cable. It could even be a quite large drone that services several hunter drones.
There is very few problems with the fiber optic cable system. People forget that the cable is unspooling from the drone and it is not dragging a cable with it. Once the cable comes out, it just falls to the ground and is not pulled anywhere. That is why they can make radical maneuvers when needed with the fiber optics and not have issues. Of course sometimes things may fail but not too often.
I feel like Unmanned Ground Vehicles are overlooked. Their role in front line resupply, recovery of wounded and potential for setting up support firing points, in order to attack an objective changes a lot when infantry is scarce.
I would hesitate to have drones recover wounded. It is arguable as whether drones can be distinguished or trusted enough on the battlefield that the general rules of war can be applied. The threat of drones is so high combatants can't really risk misidentification of drone variants.
@@louiscypher4186 I agree in the sense that the distinction principle in the laws of war is difficult to adhere to with drones, but I don't see how this is different for UAV/UGV/USV. The trust build-up requires experience. This experience is already there with UAV and to some extent USV. This is a feels based statement, but I'd rather send a UGV ahead to recover wounded than ride an ATV ahead and do it myself. This is probably even more important, with Ukraine's man-power shortages.
Losing fiber connection isn't a high probability. Imagine a fishing rod. And you hook the line into a tree (drone operator). And you take the rod and run around the woods. It doesn't matter what the line gets tangled on behind you... You still have a spool of line on you (the drone).
Yeah, the biggest con of these drones wasn’t even mentioned here: It’s that you can’t return the fiber-optic back in. Means you can’t use it as a bomber or recon. Only as a one way strike drone. //especially cos the fiber-optic costs more then the drone itself. Although the biggest pro of this drone wasn’t mentioned either. That it could wait. Because of the great ‘signal’ even on the ground level, you can just land it on the ground or a building and use it as an observation post for MUCH longer. And then use it as a remote precision strike ‘land-mine’. Especially if you put an EFP instead of a shape-charge on it - I can’t imagine any counter play to that. Remotely placed, remotely detonated (or launched to attack from a couple meters), no signal, no radar signature when on the ground. Not even sound. All of it kilometres into your rear. And by hundreds of the thousands. There’s more drones than soldiers in this war already. It’s really hard to imagine the next one.
Another category to emphasize is the long range strike drone. Ukraine is launching massive waves of these strike drones deep into Russia (beyond the distance to Moscow, in many cases >1000Km) to strike oil depots, munitions depots, command centers, airfields, and more. They are completely swamping Russian air defenses and in the recent Engels airbase strike they were reported to have ignited several jetfuel containers which burned for 5 days before the Russians got it under control. One report was 20% of the 800,000 Tons of fuel stored there was destroyed.
Cool video as usual, Pressy boi, I have a few thoughts floating around in my head with this one 1. I think a good name for those would be maybe air superiority drones, hunter killer drones, or fighter drones 2. I think we're also gonna see the rise of using servos and computer vision on fighter drones to allow lock-on + fire capabilities with something light that can carry a ton of .22 or something 3. For now, the drone superiority fighting really evokes images of WWI pilots carrying handguns trying to shoot down other pilots, the final form is still to come for sure 4. I think we'll also see the rise of more carrier drones, air land and sea, maybe also acting as a range extender and firing wire guided drones, basically just a drone with a TOW 5. Finally, I think that the rise of FPV drones is simply addressing the pain point of needing lots of cheap precision munitions. There's definitely a world where the controller aspect of the drone disappears and they evolve into just cheaper precision munitions that use quadcopters as a delivery mechanism. IE something like using a spotter drone to designate targets and calling in a fire mission for something analogous to a motor launching a fire and forget drone bomb
Anybody else feel like now is the perfect comeback moment for old fashioned FLAK guns. Cheap ammo, can be hooked up to modern sensors, easy logistics and proven tech.
Yes I agree. Light Flak guns for the 2-6 km range, or around that. With air superiority came a weakness, or neglect of light AA guns, so yeah, we need to look into those again. Even a early WW 2 era German infantry div. had 76 20 mm guns , in single and quad mounts. Today I bet a div. has half that, or less.
@robertsolomielke5134 organic AA in US divisions is tiny compared to in the past. I also think we only have two dedicated AA brigades in the whole active duty army
I've asked so many times about the existence of anti-drone drones, I was wondering why I never hear about them. I even suggested 'spikey' ones so can ram from multiple directions. Some surface drones that submerge on strike approach! Stopped by a cage around the ship.
When I was a kid (30yrs ago) I remember at gun shows my dad would buy different 'bolo' shotgun rounds with 2-3 slugs connect with wire for home defense. Cool to see people still using them
The return to home function can normally be terminated before the drone gets all the way home. Most FPV style drones don't have that functionality so if the remote pilot loses connection the drone's probably gonna crash. At the same time, if that technology is in the DJI drones (which it is) I don't know why smart people couldn't build it into FPV drones. They may already have, I'm not sure, but either way, return to home could save the drone from being disconnected and doesn't necessarily mean it's going to attack it's launch position
I forgot to mention that the home point can be set to wherever you want it to be. So the remote pilot could fly 50 feet or meters away, set the home point there and then commence the mission. If the drone returns to home it won't be where the RP is located exactly.
DJI drones is also known as a camera drone, has GPS receivers & a gimballed camera, as well as intelligent hover and return to home features. Those make it much easier for casual users to operate, at the expense of cost for smart features. FPV drones are meant to be dirt cheap and disposable. It just has its 4 propellors and a forward fixed camera. It has no smart features and flying those is like racing a unicycle. Those are as cheap as a few hundred dollars to carry an anti-tank warhead. As to why they don't return home? Disposable drones are generally flown out to the maximum range their batteries can carry them, with no allocation for returning home. Their simple mechanical fuses also make them very dangerous to handle once armed.
If the fiber optic cable gets caught on branches it is still operational. It is achieved by placing the cable reel on the drone itself. Imagine if you place it on the ground. When it stucks it creates tension on the cable between the drone and the reel. But if the reel on the drone and the cable gets stuck on some branches the reel is still operational. The branches are just a new pin point.
Terrifying time we live in? I grew up with Phantasm man. My mind has envisioned this my whole life. This to me is like 9-12 years old back in the early to mid 1990s. What I didn't know was the possibility of stuff flying into a tank and removing the tank from the battlefield. That's kind of mind boggling considering how easy it looks to launch these tools. I did imagine the possibility of sinking ships and so once upon a time I went into the Navy expecting to meet these types of equipment meet the people who think like I do and I was surrounded by people who absolutely don't think like me such is life.
8:00 About the return to sender, I do believe the larger copters use that feature frequently. The fpv's could, with the caveat that they go somewhere other than the launch point. I don't think they're able to be recovered, but if they can fly far enough away, they can get out of the jamming range and become available again. I think the bigger issue is that gps is so heavily jammed and spoofed, that the return to send feature likely is unusable if it's been jammed in the first place.
It's wild that they managed to balance the shotty drones so perfectly. Any off-axis kick would pitch the drone significantly, but there is virtually no rotation at all. I wonder if they mount the magazine sideways to prevent a change in moment as it reloads
The RTH (return to home) feature in DJI drones automatically reconnects with the drone as soon as the jammed signal is re-established (every jammer has a limited range), meaning, one can immediately resume control of the drone and send it on an alternate heading to an alternate target. Second, consider battery power: most of these single-use munition drones (suicide drones) are targeting beyond PSR (point of safe return), meaning even if a drone tried to RTH, it would run out of power before reaching home point.
They jam GPS signal which oblies them to land inmediately. They are unable to work without GPS. The only one that does is the Air 3s which is a new model and uses a Lidar camera
Return to sender function on a drone with an IED on it is hilarious. The electronic countermeasures will be jamming/spoofing GPS anyway so relying on any GPS guided vector isn't a good idea. There are much better ways to deal with ECM and still salvage the drone or hit the target.
So, know we have "2025 fashion trends", but for the war, what a time to be alive! Btw, I still can't believe cheap homemade FPV succeed where tailor-made Switchblade failed... Necessity is the mother of invention indeed...
I don’t know if you’ve seen the one where a drone had a line trailing below the drone, looked weighted at the end of the road/line. It took down the drone below it. The one it trapped was tangled up in the road. 😊 But carrying away a drone that’s still operating will indicate where the drone is being taken, so there is that. But a cool idea.
One kind of unmanned vehicle that is a very serious threat for the near future (which hasn’t really been used in combat yet) is an unmanned transmedia vehicle, or UTV. Basically, these are unmanned vehicles that can travel both in the air and underwater, and can rapidly switch between the two. So basically a UTV could be flying in the air until it comes in range of a powerful radar connected to a SAM or IADS, then it could simply drop down into a body of water, conceal itself & continue moving towards its target. I know China is researching such vehicles as is the US, since they’re basically the perfect weapon to avoid both radar & sonar detection, and they could be used very effectively to knock out sensors used on naval war ships.
I would agree with your argument with cable wire drones but usually they continuously dispense optic wire on the battlefield so it won't get it's not an issue unless they want to return that drone or wire that have been dispensed.
A drone with a stick? That’s a Drick… Look at the size of that drick! Wooo that was close, you almost took a drick to the face! They’re coming? Quick let’s get our Dricks out!
Bollo round or bolo not sure about the spelling. It was used on ships to take out the mast/sail and leave it imobilized. In modern combat, I think the force and impact usually tears/breaks that chain but would be a nasty wound channel on a person.
As far as I understand physics, there are only two ways to jam a wired drone: Cut the wire Generate an insanely powerful electromagnetic field strong enough to act like an EMP on the circuit board of the drone So I would guess that only the first alternative is even close to practically viable
You forgot a little cherry at the end: Just after the helicopter shoot, Ukraine sent a drone boat to Crimea, that launched some FPV drones, and took out 2 Pansir SAM's. The scary part is,if you see a drone boat, you don't know what sort of thing it's up to.
Russia adapted quickly after losing the helicopters. Once a sea drone is detected, the helicopter retreats to a safe distance and they launch their own FPV drone to go attack the sea drone. Both militaries have had to deal with an ever changing modern battlefield.
The drone carrying stick very much requires special pilot skills. Targeting a tank or an APC is a very easy task compared to ramming a small drone with another drone (and locating a drone in the air from an FPV drone like the Ukrainians use - which mostly uses a low definition analogue video systems - is a very complex and non trivial task and requires a very well trained pilot) , it will take a few weeks to a few months to train someone (from 0) to do this reliably.
i think finnish steel eagle drone is a horrifying concept, which is basically a flying claymore with remote detonate, other version is one jumping from ground to some 20 meters and detonating 3000 metal balls downwards into a 90 degree cone making the size of effected area about 2,000 square meters. ive heard talks about it being tested in ukraine but havent seen any footage. i really love that jousting drone haha.
They should use the fiber optic drones as relays for the others. Even flying it out, landing it, and just using it as a repeater would boost their signal very well.
Thanks again ,Preston, for another accessible and engaging video.I believe you've found your calling. If 'necessity is the mother of invention', then fighting for one's survival sharpens the mind, puts R&D on steroids, and lessens the profit motive.When one doesn't have access to unlimited resources, one has to get very creative and mentally live 'outside of the box'. Rock on Ukraine!🔱
Regarding the go back home option when jammed, you are incorrect about this too - Of course you don't want it to come back to the operator in this case, and you don't need it to, you just flip a switch, it flies up a few hundred meters and loiters for a minute automatically, if you get the signal back you try to attack again if not you just disarm the drone and let it go boom far away from the operator.
The one with the stick should be called a Jousting Drone. I don’t know if it’s a sting or not, but I’ve wanted an under barrel, single shot, 10gauge shotgun that swings to the side for loading like the M320 Grenade Launcher unlike the older M203. A 10 gauge shot shell is plenty big enough for a lot of different extreme loads to be put in it. They do already do a lot with 12 gauge. 10 gauge is a lot bigger.
Theoretically, you can still have the same amount of clarity using a fiber optic cable IF there was a receiver on one end, therefore allowing the drone operator to move away from the drone as far as they typically operate, but the drone is tethered to a receiver that promote the signal to the operator. Theoretically, fck if I know. I can see a couple issues: cost. How close enemy jamming equipment is to the receiver. Chances of it being spotted by another drone. You name it.
I would say a 4 guage pipe shotgun loaded with high brass bird shot but up size the shot to like a large nerd size. You could slap 4 on it and set up a hammer that sets off a 22 rim cart no propelent that triggers a firing pin that sets off the main round. All in line, and it can't be recycled except for like as a mine or used as a 1 time use slam fire shot.
You had me dying laughing when you started on about return to sender drones strapped with explosives. That would be straight out of a rush hour or a dumb and dumber movie
TY Preston-My prediction about wire guided drones becomes fact, as new types evolve. I did not forecast the major effect of naval drones, that is not an infantry concern, or my own focus. Big TY for current news on the new way of war. Go Ukraine !
Man the way warfare is going, I feel simply more and more inclined to just say f**k that. I will never be chased down like by a god damn FPV drone ever dude... It just so sick. Studying war and military history has always been a passion of mine, but studying this war in Ukraine in particular has since it began has just left me today with a sickening kind of feeling.
Id have to imagine that when the fiber optic cable is severed it reverts back to the grainy connection we are used to rather than losing all connection/control
Jamming aside, and it is a credible explanation. Altitude can also affect signal strength, the lower the drone the more obstructions such as trees, terrain features and buildings are between the operator and the unit. Obviously, EW will compound this effect dramatically.
Return to sender section. You can see at 05:44 the detonation system. There are copper/metal pipes on the front, not touching. When it hits a vehicle or a bunker, etc, the metal leads deform and touch, completing the circuit, and BANG.
1:41 hey preston. Those shots was use’d to shoot the rigging of the ship. The mast is an to hard of a target to hit. So they are design’d to take our the rope holding the sails,
Not how it works. You can see the spool is on the drone, not at the base. The cable just unspools from the drone as it flies, laying across the landscape but not dragging. Even if it loiters at target, and circles or runs transients, the cable will just drape all over the place, but not get pulled about. There is probably a fishing reel in there.
Those drones that can return home are relying on GPS positioning, and jamming GPS is super easy because the signal strenght from GPS satellites is very weak and easy to jam. Return to Home functions doesn't work in frontlines. Russia is even jamming GPS navigation in Gulf of Finland and Baltic sea from it's base in Kaliningrad causing harm to air travel.
The ones dropping 2 AT Mines strapped together and the thermite drones are nuts as well. An unmanned vehicle dumping thermite on trenches is some shit id expect from warhammer 40k, not modern day earth.
The USVs could be a game changer in a Taiwan Strait scenario for either side. Taiwan could use them to attrit a Chinese invasion fleet and China could use them to conduct area denial missions against a potential US reinforcing fleet. I'll definitely be following who is adopting these and how going forward.
I'm not entirely sure why drones shooting the enemy with shotguns is any worse than dropping grenades on them, because dead from buckshot is still dead.
How soon till we see sea drones with wire guided FPV drones? 10 km inland from the coastline? That covers many a valid militarily relevant targets. Even small shaped charges hitting critical spots radar/AAA Systems, ammo/fuel or even just below water line hulls of ships will cause damage disproportional to their size/cost. Any vehicle or aircraft sitting around would be easy targets as well. Remote mining will also receive new options.
Technically any drone that isn’t meant to scout or blow up it’s purpose is to deny enemy drones from coming into your space. We can call them drones for Aerial denial or DAD for short
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And as always, thank you all so much for your continued support!
boat (sub) drone value has been know for 10 years now - maybe not as a toy/camera in the costumer space.
Preston!? You been to Champagne!? I was born and raised in Danville IL just 45 min down I74! What brought you through my neck of the woods?
Preston, you forgot about two other use cases or type of drones:1) kamikaze drones hunting down Big drones at 1km altitude aprox, and 2) SUVs that launches FPV drones to attack targets (we recently saw the attack on the russian gas infraestructure in the black sea and also a AA system in Crimea)
Return to sender section. You can see at 05:44 the detonation system. There are copper/metal pipes on the front, not touching. When it hits a vehicle or a bunker, etc, the metal leads deform and touch, completing the circuit, and BANG. Also, we are developing drones with a kilometer long wire trailing, and we send a signal and the trailing wire/antenna can pick up the signal when the drone itself is in jam range, but the trailing antenna is still able to pick up the operators signal.
The drone carrying a stick should be called the lance drones. Drones with sticks are like modern jousts in the sky.
Soon we'll have knight fights in the sky, with drones
Cool but kinda sounds like Lancet, the Russian drone.
@@rubenskiii Yeah, "jousting drone" or "dogfighting drone" might be better; I haven't seen physical bolos or nets used but it's probably just a matter of time.
I'd love to see the old Metalstorm caseless launchers developed for the role of Ukrainian grenadier drones. Right now the Ukes have a great skill set in judging the wind & distance for the dropped grenade, but their accuracy is still insufficient to hit a target in a trench. If the grenade is launched downwards it would all but guarantee close hits.
@@rubenskiii Meh, Lancet doesn't deserve the title. It doesn't have a lance, these Lancer drones do. I therefore propose that Lancets be renamed to "misnomers".
And the drones with shotguns should be anti-air drones.
"Begun, the Drone Wars have."
You could call the stick drone a unicorn drone 😂 🦄
The Narwhal 😂
You forgot about how sea drones are also launching FPVs now, Pantsir got destroyed that way
Little know about but they attacked some Oil Rigs held by Russians and used for heli logistics this way too
Ukrainian nesting doll 😂
2 destroyed pantsir and s400 if I remember correctly
@@rffromusa83191 pantsyr and 2 OSA claimed by ukraine MOD
That "chain shot" concept makes complete sense. If the buckshot misses, the chain is strung between them to tear through the drone. Resembles an older anti-aircraft missile warhead (Talos) called a "continuous rod warhead".
Continues rod warheads are still commonplace for air to air missiles
...and similar to "age of sail" chain-shot, which was intended to destroy rigging and sails.
Chain shot style attacks also sound like they'd be potentially effective against fiber optic drones.
I've seen at least one or two "chain shot" rounds fired on the Taofladermaus channel.
Kinda funny to think they're using it. That style of shot has been around forever, but has always been more novelty than anything (at least with US hobby shooters).
Lance, pike, spear, history knows many things that are pretty much just a stick to stab your enemies with. I'd call them lancer drones, it gives it a chivalrous touch.
A Winged Hussar, perhaps ?
I think there is already a " lancet drone" so why not.
@@nicholassmith3566 yeah, a lancet is used in surgery though. Which makes sense, they're trying to hint at the drones surgical precision.
The solution for cable drones is making it a pair of drones: the actual traditional hunter drone, but back at the base or some distance behind the drone is also a feeder drone whose only job it is to keep the cable high in the sky and take off some of the weight of the cable.
It could even be a quite large drone that services several hunter drones.
That would too much tension i am afraid
There is very few problems with the fiber optic cable system. People forget that the cable is unspooling from the drone and it is not dragging a cable with it. Once the cable comes out, it just falls to the ground and is not pulled anywhere. That is why they can make radical maneuvers when needed with the fiber optics and not have issues. Of course sometimes things may fail but not too often.
I wait everyday for one of your vids to come out. I’m not online much but your one that helps me keep up with the new stuff. So thanks!
That’s awesome, really appreciate your support!
@ well i appreciate you too. And your service. Have a happy day
Thanks for keeping up the great content!
I feel like Unmanned Ground Vehicles are overlooked.
Their role in front line resupply, recovery of wounded and potential for setting up support firing points, in order to attack an objective changes a lot when infantry is scarce.
_Don't worry, 'Perun' showed them some love by dedicating an entire episode to UGVs._
They are still few and far between compared to others and have many more handicaps.
I would hesitate to have drones recover wounded.
It is arguable as whether drones can be distinguished or trusted enough on the battlefield that the general rules of war can be applied.
The threat of drones is so high combatants can't really risk misidentification of drone variants.
@@louiscypher4186
I agree in the sense that the distinction principle in the laws of war is difficult to adhere to with drones, but I don't see how this is different for UAV/UGV/USV.
The trust build-up requires experience. This experience is already there with UAV and to some extent USV.
This is a feels based statement, but I'd rather send a UGV ahead to recover wounded than ride an ATV ahead and do it myself.
This is probably even more important, with Ukraine's man-power shortages.
It is fascinating to see technology change so quickly.
Thanks for covering this.
Yes nobody saw drone on a stick coming.
Losing fiber connection isn't a high probability. Imagine a fishing rod. And you hook the line into a tree (drone operator). And you take the rod and run around the woods. It doesn't matter what the line gets tangled on behind you... You still have a spool of line on you (the drone).
Yeah, the biggest con of these drones wasn’t even mentioned here:
It’s that you can’t return the fiber-optic back in. Means you can’t use it as a bomber or recon. Only as a one way strike drone.
//especially cos the fiber-optic costs more then the drone itself.
Although the biggest pro of this drone wasn’t mentioned either.
That it could wait.
Because of the great ‘signal’ even on the ground level, you can just land it on the ground or a building and use it as an observation post for MUCH longer.
And then use it as a remote precision strike ‘land-mine’.
Especially if you put an EFP instead of a shape-charge on it - I can’t imagine any counter play to that.
Remotely placed, remotely detonated (or launched to attack from a couple meters), no signal, no radar signature when on the ground. Not even sound.
All of it kilometres into your rear.
And by hundreds of the thousands. There’s more drones than soldiers in this war already. It’s really hard to imagine the next one.
Price difference is still negligible. At most it's twice the price of regular fpv. For any government it's still very very cheap@@andrejjjj2008
The sarcasm makes these videos fun to watch 😂
Another category to emphasize is the long range strike drone. Ukraine is launching massive waves of these strike drones deep into Russia (beyond the distance to Moscow, in many cases >1000Km) to strike oil depots, munitions depots, command centers, airfields, and more. They are completely swamping Russian air defenses and in the recent Engels airbase strike they were reported to have ignited several jetfuel containers which burned for 5 days before the Russians got it under control. One report was 20% of the 800,000 Tons of fuel stored there was destroyed.
Jeez!!!
Drones have changed Warfare forever! Just like how Maxim machine guns changed war forever!
Its the start of the Drone Wars
Thanks, Preston. The way this war is being fought should be a learning school for future wars.
Morning Wood Drone
The Dry Humper is on the field.
12:30 You can really SEA where it's gonna go LOL
Cool video as usual, Pressy boi, I have a few thoughts floating around in my head with this one
1. I think a good name for those would be maybe air superiority drones, hunter killer drones, or fighter drones
2. I think we're also gonna see the rise of using servos and computer vision on fighter drones to allow lock-on + fire capabilities with something light that can carry a ton of .22 or something
3. For now, the drone superiority fighting really evokes images of WWI pilots carrying handguns trying to shoot down other pilots, the final form is still to come for sure
4. I think we'll also see the rise of more carrier drones, air land and sea, maybe also acting as a range extender and firing wire guided drones, basically just a drone with a TOW
5. Finally, I think that the rise of FPV drones is simply addressing the pain point of needing lots of cheap precision munitions. There's definitely a world where the controller aspect of the drone disappears and they evolve into just cheaper precision munitions that use quadcopters as a delivery mechanism. IE something like using a spotter drone to designate targets and calling in a fire mission for something analogous to a motor launching a fire and forget drone bomb
Next: Naval drones launching torpedoes.
Just wait till they start to carry nukes
I mean a Magura V5 has been configured to be a carrier, launching three FPV drones, all hitting 3 mobile short range air defense systems.
Appreciate the great work Preston! Keep it up my man.
Anybody else feel like now is the perfect comeback moment for old fashioned FLAK guns. Cheap ammo, can be hooked up to modern sensors, easy logistics and proven tech.
Yes I agree. Light Flak guns for the 2-6 km range, or around that. With air superiority came a weakness, or neglect of light AA guns, so yeah, we need to
look into those again. Even a early WW 2 era German infantry div. had 76 20 mm
guns , in single and quad mounts. Today I bet a div. has half that, or less.
@robertsolomielke5134 organic AA in US divisions is tiny compared to in the past. I also think we only have two dedicated AA brigades in the whole active duty army
I've asked so many times about the existence of anti-drone drones, I was wondering why I never hear about them. I even suggested 'spikey' ones so can ram from multiple directions.
Some surface drones that submerge on strike approach! Stopped by a cage around the ship.
When I was a kid (30yrs ago) I remember at gun shows my dad would buy different 'bolo' shotgun rounds with 2-3 slugs connect with wire for home defense. Cool to see people still using them
You forgot about those fire breathing drones which burning tree lines and trenches.
Anti drone drones = Counter drone
Or simply interceptors.
The return to home function can normally be terminated before the drone gets all the way home.
Most FPV style drones don't have that functionality so if the remote pilot loses connection the drone's probably gonna crash.
At the same time, if that technology is in the DJI drones (which it is) I don't know why smart people couldn't build it into FPV drones. They may already have, I'm not sure, but either way, return to home could save the drone from being disconnected and doesn't necessarily mean it's going to attack it's launch position
Just requires a GPS receiver like an M10. Although typically you don't want your drone with ordinance coming back to you.
I forgot to mention that the home point can be set to wherever you want it to be.
So the remote pilot could fly 50 feet or meters away, set the home point there and then commence the mission. If the drone returns to home it won't be where the RP is located exactly.
there are cheap flight computers that can do that, but I don't think that you want ordinance with a contact fuse fly straight back to your position
@misham6547
You could set the return to home position somewhere not exactly at your position, then if you want to go retrieve it you can.
DJI drones is also known as a camera drone, has GPS receivers & a gimballed camera, as well as intelligent hover and return to home features. Those make it much easier for casual users to operate, at the expense of cost for smart features.
FPV drones are meant to be dirt cheap and disposable. It just has its 4 propellors and a forward fixed camera. It has no smart features and flying those is like racing a unicycle. Those are as cheap as a few hundred dollars to carry an anti-tank warhead.
As to why they don't return home? Disposable drones are generally flown out to the maximum range their batteries can carry them, with no allocation for returning home. Their simple mechanical fuses also make them very dangerous to handle once armed.
Hey Preston I was having a rough day but I saw this video and it became a bit better. Thanks
Another great and informative video Preston. Always enjoy your content
Imagine if you told the Germans in 1918 that someday shotguns would fly themselves to the enemy, no soldier attached
Great analysis you are the best at explaining current situations in warfare.
"That, they have that" :)
If the fiber optic cable gets caught on branches it is still operational. It is achieved by placing the cable reel on the drone itself. Imagine if you place it on the ground. When it stucks it creates tension on the cable between the drone and the reel. But if the reel on the drone and the cable gets stuck on some branches the reel is still operational. The branches are just a new pin point.
Terrifying time we live in? I grew up with Phantasm man. My mind has envisioned this my whole life. This to me is like 9-12 years old back in the early to mid 1990s. What I didn't know was the possibility of stuff flying into a tank and removing the tank from the battlefield. That's kind of mind boggling considering how easy it looks to launch these tools. I did imagine the possibility of sinking ships and so once upon a time I went into the Navy expecting to meet these types of equipment meet the people who think like I do and I was surrounded by people who absolutely don't think like me such is life.
8:00 About the return to sender, I do believe the larger copters use that feature frequently. The fpv's could, with the caveat that they go somewhere other than the launch point. I don't think they're able to be recovered, but if they can fly far enough away, they can get out of the jamming range and become available again. I think the bigger issue is that gps is so heavily jammed and spoofed, that the return to send feature likely is unusable if it's been jammed in the first place.
It's wild that they managed to balance the shotty drones so perfectly. Any off-axis kick would pitch the drone significantly, but there is virtually no rotation at all. I wonder if they mount the magazine sideways to prevent a change in moment as it reloads
The RTH (return to home) feature in DJI drones automatically reconnects with the drone as soon as the jammed signal is re-established (every jammer has a limited range), meaning, one can immediately resume control of the drone and send it on an alternate heading to an alternate target. Second, consider battery power: most of these single-use munition drones (suicide drones) are targeting beyond PSR (point of safe return), meaning even if a drone tried to RTH, it would run out of power before reaching home point.
They jam GPS signal which oblies them to land inmediately. They are unable to work without GPS. The only one that does is the Air 3s which is a new model and uses a Lidar camera
Never ending game of cat and mouse.
Im now waiting for a USV carrier, sci fi is becoming real
Return to sender function on a drone with an IED on it is hilarious. The electronic countermeasures will be jamming/spoofing GPS anyway so relying on any GPS guided vector isn't a good idea. There are much better ways to deal with ECM and still salvage the drone or hit the target.
So, know we have "2025 fashion trends", but for the war, what a time to be alive! Btw, I still can't believe cheap homemade FPV succeed where tailor-made Switchblade failed... Necessity is the mother of invention indeed...
I don’t know if you’ve seen the one where a drone had a line trailing below the drone, looked weighted at the end of the road/line. It took down the drone below it. The one it trapped was tangled up in the road. 😊 But carrying away a drone that’s still operating will indicate where the drone is being taken, so there is that. But a cool idea.
One kind of unmanned vehicle that is a very serious threat for the near future (which hasn’t really been used in combat yet) is an unmanned transmedia vehicle, or UTV. Basically, these are unmanned vehicles that can travel both in the air and underwater, and can rapidly switch between the two. So basically a UTV could be flying in the air until it comes in range of a powerful radar connected to a SAM or IADS, then it could simply drop down into a body of water, conceal itself & continue moving towards its target. I know China is researching such vehicles as is the US, since they’re basically the perfect weapon to avoid both radar & sonar detection, and they could be used very effectively to knock out sensors used on naval war ships.
Thank you Preston! 👍❤
I would agree with your argument with cable wire drones but usually they continuously dispense optic wire on the battlefield so it won't get it's not an issue unless they want to return that drone or wire that have been dispensed.
Great video, well done.
Maybe we can call them ADDs, Anti Drone Drones.
I like that
@@PrestonStewart Maybe the stick mounted drones can be called Stickits (rhymes with crickets) , easy to say and tells the story.
A drone with a stick? That’s a Drick…
Look at the size of that drick!
Wooo that was close, you almost took a drick to the face!
They’re coming? Quick let’s get our Dricks out!
Drone with a shotgun = Blaster
Drone with a stick = Lancer
Drone with a net = Fisher
Excellent content.
Bollo round or bolo not sure about the spelling. It was used on ships to take out the mast/sail and leave it imobilized. In modern combat, I think the force and impact usually tears/breaks that chain but would be a nasty wound channel on a person.
As far as I understand physics, there are only two ways to jam a wired drone:
Cut the wire
Generate an insanely powerful electromagnetic field strong enough to act like an EMP on the circuit board of the drone
So I would guess that only the first alternative is even close to practically viable
You forgot a little cherry at the end:
Just after the helicopter shoot, Ukraine sent a drone boat to Crimea, that launched some FPV drones, and took out 2 Pansir SAM's.
The scary part is,if you see a drone boat, you don't know what sort of thing it's up to.
Russia adapted quickly after losing the helicopters. Once a sea drone is detected, the helicopter retreats to a safe distance and they launch their own FPV drone to go attack the sea drone. Both militaries have had to deal with an ever changing modern battlefield.
@@ramrod9556 source for this?
Thanks!
Appreciate you!
The drone carrying stick very much requires special pilot skills. Targeting a tank or an APC is a very easy task compared to ramming a small drone with another drone (and locating a drone in the air from an FPV drone like the Ukrainians use - which mostly uses a low definition analogue video systems - is a very complex and non trivial task and requires a very well trained pilot) , it will take a few weeks to a few months to train someone (from 0) to do this reliably.
those nemesis drones are fuckin lethal
i think finnish steel eagle drone is a horrifying concept, which is basically a flying claymore with remote detonate, other version is one jumping from ground to some 20 meters and detonating 3000 metal balls downwards into a 90 degree cone making the size of effected area about 2,000 square meters. ive heard talks about it being tested in ukraine but havent seen any footage.
i really love that jousting drone haha.
They should use the fiber optic drones as relays for the others. Even flying it out, landing it, and just using it as a repeater would boost their signal very well.
The “ chain round “ are called bolo shot
Thanks again ,Preston, for another accessible and engaging video.I believe you've found your calling. If 'necessity is the mother of invention', then fighting for one's survival sharpens the mind, puts R&D on steroids, and lessens the profit motive.When one doesn't have access to unlimited resources, one has to get very creative and mentally live 'outside of the box'. Rock on Ukraine!🔱
The drone jousting competition begins!
Regarding the go back home option when jammed, you are incorrect about this too - Of course you don't want it to come back to the operator in this case, and you don't need it to, you just flip a switch, it flies up a few hundred meters and loiters for a minute automatically, if you get the signal back you try to attack again if not you just disarm the drone and let it go boom far away from the operator.
The one with the stick should be called a Jousting Drone. I don’t know if it’s a sting or not, but I’ve wanted an under barrel, single shot, 10gauge shotgun that swings to the side for loading like the M320 Grenade Launcher unlike the older M203. A 10 gauge shot shell is plenty big enough for a lot of different extreme loads to be put in it. They do already do a lot with 12 gauge. 10 gauge is a lot bigger.
Winchester Drone - The "Shotgun Drone" is popularly referred to by Ukrainian drone pilots as the "Winchester Drone". Good Name.
Theoretically, you can still have the same amount of clarity using a fiber optic cable IF there was a receiver on one end, therefore allowing the drone operator to move away from the drone as far as they typically operate, but the drone is tethered to a receiver that promote the signal to the operator. Theoretically, fck if I know. I can see a couple issues: cost. How close enemy jamming equipment is to the receiver. Chances of it being spotted by another drone. You name it.
Thanks
I would say a 4 guage pipe shotgun loaded with high brass bird shot but up size the shot to like a large nerd size. You could slap 4 on it and set up a hammer that sets off a 22 rim cart no propelent that triggers a firing pin that sets off the main round. All in line, and it can't be recycled except for like as a mine or used as a 1 time use slam fire shot.
Jousting Drones call them Lance 😂
You had me dying laughing when you started on about return to sender drones strapped with explosives. That would be straight out of a rush hour or a dumb and dumber movie
TY Preston-My prediction about wire guided drones becomes fact, as new types evolve. I did not forecast the major effect of naval drones, that is not an infantry concern, or my own focus. Big TY for current news on the new way of war. Go Ukraine !
Sky Lancers.
That's the name you need.
A lance, such as might be carried by a mounted knight. In combat, or in a joust.
Man the way warfare is going, I feel simply more and more inclined to just say f**k that. I will never be chased down like by a god damn FPV drone ever dude... It just so sick. Studying war and military history has always been a passion of mine, but studying this war in Ukraine in particular has since it began has just left me today with a sickening kind of feeling.
Im surprised it took so long for fiberoptic drones to be implemented, especially considering wire guided missiles being an old thing
Good video, thank you.
Preston, it's called a JOUSTING DRONE!
Id have to imagine that when the fiber optic cable is severed it reverts back to the grainy connection we are used to rather than losing all connection/control
Jamming aside, and it is a credible explanation. Altitude can also affect signal strength, the lower the drone the more obstructions such as trees, terrain features and buildings are between the operator and the unit. Obviously, EW will compound this effect dramatically.
Return to sender section. You can see at 05:44 the detonation system. There are copper/metal pipes on the front, not touching. When it hits a vehicle or a bunker, etc, the metal leads deform and touch, completing the circuit, and BANG.
1:41 hey preston. Those shots was use’d to shoot the rigging of the ship. The mast is an to hard of a target to hit. So they are design’d to take our the rope holding the sails,
3:10 Drones commonly used on the front are less than 1k excluding attached ordnance.
That's a 1ton kg calbe it's pulling at 20km.. that's insane and the wire catching every so often. Those drones are monsters
Not how it works. You can see the spool is on the drone, not at the base. The cable just unspools from the drone as it flies, laying across the landscape but not dragging. Even if it loiters at target, and circles or runs transients, the cable will just drape all over the place, but not get pulled about. There is probably a fishing reel in there.
Those DARPA SmartBullets have a perfect application with this drone issue.
“Raming drones”
There’s a name for that already, Kamakazi
Those drones that can return home are relying on GPS positioning, and jamming GPS is super easy because the signal strenght from GPS satellites is very weak and easy to jam. Return to Home functions doesn't work in frontlines. Russia is even jamming GPS navigation in Gulf of Finland and Baltic sea from it's base in Kaliningrad causing harm to air travel.
The ones dropping 2 AT Mines strapped together and the thermite drones are nuts as well. An unmanned vehicle dumping thermite on trenches is some shit id expect from warhammer 40k, not modern day earth.
The USVs could be a game changer in a Taiwan Strait scenario for either side. Taiwan could use them to attrit a Chinese invasion fleet and China could use them to conduct area denial missions against a potential US reinforcing fleet. I'll definitely be following who is adopting these and how going forward.
They aren’t just shotgun drones they are recoilless shotgun drones. It’s insane.
Nice video. Totally expected clickbait, but you delivered.
I'm not entirely sure why drones shooting the enemy with shotguns is any worse than dropping grenades on them, because dead from buckshot is still dead.
The shotgun drones have a name. Winchester drones. Pretty good...
Anti-drone drones -
Javelin-drone (or Javelone) = Stick drone
Gladiator-drone (or Gladione) = Net drone
Gotcha covered for the names mate!
The reel of fibre optic cable stays on the ground. It is then wired to both the drone and the controller and then it flys away xx
On the Russian FPV drones the reel is carried by the drone. A 5 km spool weighs a bit more than half a kg.
Return ro sender is hilarious hahaha
Stick drone should be called the Rammer!
How soon till we see sea drones with wire guided FPV drones? 10 km inland from the coastline? That covers many a valid militarily relevant targets. Even small shaped charges hitting critical spots radar/AAA Systems, ammo/fuel or even just below water line hulls of ships will cause damage disproportional to their size/cost. Any vehicle or aircraft sitting around would be easy targets as well. Remote mining will also receive new options.
Modern combat is truly terrifying.
Infantry needs something like the XM29.
- Shotgun pellets or buckshot against UAS.
- HE, AP for UGVs (since some are armored).
Technically any drone that isn’t meant to scout or blow up it’s purpose is to deny enemy drones from coming into your space. We can call them drones for Aerial denial or DAD for short