This whole drone scenario is starting to look an awful lot like air combat during ww1. Starting off as recon, slowly being used to drop small grenades / bombs at soldiers. Then slowly building into actual formal air to air weaponry/combat through small weapons.
Sort of. In WWI that was a result of new warfare and limitations in technology - this is a result of limited resources necessitating use of a commercial product. The US and western nations already have military drones that are just as capable as the current manned systems.
Ukraines ingenuity and adaptability in this war continues to impress. I reckon there are tonnes of NATO generals that have had their minds blown with how established military doctrines and tactics have just been torn to shreds over the course of this war because Ukraine has done their own thing and made it work.
NATO is a paper tiger. Yes, potentially the combined NATO military is very strong. But there's no will in the West to take risks and to fight - very much like the mighty French army in 1940.
I'm not surprised. Ukrainian engineers and senior military personnel constituted much of the brainpower of the Soviet defense establishment during the Cold War. Apparently, the Russians have forgotten this.
Very unlikely. This is a pretty conventional war, hence all the comparisons to ww1. The only difference is the higher level of tech that confines soldiers to their trenches. The root problems and solutions are all the same.
You analysis is on point, concise, and enlightening. It's heartening to see your viewership has grown to 175K viewers. I can see it expanding to ten times that. All the best to you.
It is more similar to WW1 than you think. In WW1 the Germans didn't reach their objectives then had to dig in to keep from getting countered. They lost and then it took another two fruitless years for them to realize that. Those turtle tanks are nothing more than a way to get through mine fields with tanks that can withstand them. They're using them like transports to move their disposable soldiers in to positions to draw fire in order to locate the Ukrainian positions. Then they shell them.
They have captured a few of those turtles and they mount ECM's on the roof and they're just made out of sheet metal. They're counting on drones being stopped by electronic jamming.
Against NATO, tanks won’t even make it to the front line. Every weapons platform on the battlefield has long-range anti-tank capabilities, from the individual soldier (javelin, etc) to vehicles, IFVs, other tanks, artillery systems, helicopters, fixed wing manned aircraft, fixed wing drones, quad rotor drones, mines, etc etc etc.
Wonder what the Russian equivalent of the schlieffen plan was? Grab Hostomel, perhaps ? Like Germany in 1918, Russia has a massive rival at their back, which is inactive at present. Interesting to see how that goes
Ukrainians are definitely showing how the things sent to them how to make them do incredible stuff. We definitely want to keep them on our side for the future. Thank you 💛 Anders
This new Drone warfare is really highlighting the whole RF spectrum and the need for even better electronic countermeasures above and beyond just GPS jamming.
@@MartinLundström-l4v Technically, even an autopilot or waypoint following program would have been considered "AI" just ten or twenty years ago. You don't need AI for most of the things they are doing right now. And they don't have the resources to develop one, for example for "dogfighting". It's much easier and more effective to use FPV and remote control, even if the Russians can jam them. Then maybe they have to stay away from the jammers, but that's all.
Too true, any time Ivan has had command of the EM spectrum, he dominates, with heaps of ballistic shells. This war has shown if you can shut down EM, you really slow the enemy down
@@Bakes-z4c Nope, the Russians can't "shut down EM". At best they can jam some frequency bands, but due to the nature of physics, you can never jam or overnoise all frequencies at once. Also, the vehicles that can do that are pretty expensive. And easy targets for radiation seeking missiles. If a drone a couple km away gets confused by your EM emissions, a missile sure can track you from even further away.
I appreciate your valiant -- if not entirely successful -- attempt to maintain a straight face when discussing the "turtle" tank. Few of us could do any better.
🙏🕊🌻🔱 Excellent Analysis! Ukraine is Stronger with F16's, GMLRS, ATACMS, GLSDB, SCALP EG and Storm Shadow! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! The World Needs to Stand Unwaveringly Committed with Ukraine's Quest for Democracy and Retribution! 🔱🌻🕊🙏
Forces News showed a video of an Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone, that brought a smaller drone along for protection. The smaller drone crashed in to a Russian kamikaze drone to protect the Baba Yaga. This is similar to fighter jets protecting bombers during WW2.
lol, a couple months ago when they used a prop plane to shoot down drones, I predicted the next thing would be drones that shot down planes. They must have already been building the things. Gotta love Ukrainians.
Another interesting technology I've seen getting media attention recently is the so called "Frankenstein tank" from Rheinmetall that Ukraine's getting from the Germans. It features a Skyranger turret on a Leopard 1 chassis, and it's a very efficient drone killer.
Anders thanks for your hard work. Drones are a great way forward, especially if they can be used as decoys as a gateway to let things through. It may be probable or possible to make them with Device Jamming Tools, as well as EMP type Devices to screw up an Adversaries Electronics far behind Enemy Lines.
Lots of Ukrainian companies are doing drones now, and I'm in contact with some of them, to improve/optimize the code (C/C++). They're also looking for more engineers and pilots of course.
Writing code in C??? That's so old! I refused a job (in 2005?) because they wanted me to be a C-coder. But maybe it's still best for low level engineering type applications? Whatever works :)
@@johnnorris3409 C/C++ is still the most efficient language for coding on embedded platforms, and although there is competition from Rust and other new languages I doubt it can be called “old”, as in outdated. I would call it “mature”.
I think that the turtle tank is a way to make use of substandard tanks pulled from storage. They don't need sights, a rotating turret or a working gun, just mobility.
What happened in WW1 is that those defensive platforms were given mobility; tanks started as mobile pill boxes, you take the machine guns etc and put them on tracks so you can roll your defenses toward the enemies defenses. If turtle tanks, with ewar, can incorporate defensive anti-drone drones, this would repeat history...
Their latest strategy of denying Russia the ability to produce fuel seems to be a winning one. It just takes time, and while it doesn't effect their Frontline soldiers directly, it will force them to start making cope cages for bicycles and roller blades. MUGA!
They are striking mostly those oil refineries that produce gasoline, not diesel. So all their efforts has had little effect on Russia's ability to provide its army with fuel. Why're Ukr striking gasoline plants instead of diesel ones ? IDK.
The situation reminds me of the eovlution of manned areal comabt in WW1. That also started out with planes and balloons as artillery observers/spotters bevore they started air to air combat that interdicted enemy surveilance.
A few other technological improvements that led to the stalemate in world war one are often ocerlooked. Tele communication via telegraph and telephone meant that defenders could call for reinforcements and artillery support as soon as they were attacked. The attackers on the other hand, could not call back to report any advancements, until they had laid out phone lines over no-mans land. Handheld radioswere far in the future and any communication back had to be done via flags, flares and homing pigeons. Railways kept the front lines well supplied with food, ammunition and other supplies, but the attacking army hadto carry all their supplies on their backs, crossing the torn-up no mans land on foot. Mass-produced canned foods made it possible to sustain huge armies in the same place for months and years. This had simply not been possible in a time when armies had to forage to sustain themselves. Smokeless powder and the repeating rifle were fairly new unventions that gave infantry a leg up on cavalry. The cavalry charge is way less lethal when a single rifleman can fire accurate, repeated fire against charging enemy horses, whereas in the past they would in the best of scenarios have a very short window of time to fire their single shot, before the cavalry was upon them Lastly, barbed wire. Cheap, quick to deploy over large areas and it lets a single machine gun control a huge area of the battlefield.
One other thought. The radar systems on the F16s may have the capability to spot drones - at least for some distance. If that information can get relayed to attack drones, that might make a difference.
If I remember my WWI history correctly, airplanes originally were used for scouting and combat between them only started later. The latest development of air-combat drones looks like a parallel type of evolution.
Technically, the US already used drones for surveillance and attack. Technically, the Ukrainian/Russian drones were carrying explosives long before they thought about air-to-air drones.
Correct, first they scouted, then they started dropping things on ground troops heads, and only after that did they start bringing shotguns to shoot each other out of the sky. History repeats.
Hi Anders. In this video your speach speed is very high. It would help me, if you could slow down a little bit in the next video. All the best from Aarhus, Denmark.
Regarding WWI, it wasn't quite as simple as 'machine guns and trenches made attacking hard'. That's part of it, but armies in WWI actually had an answer to machine guns in trenches--lots and lots of heavy artillery. With enough firepower, initial attacks were often very successful. The problem was that the sheer quantity of artillery fire required to break into an enemy trench obliterated the ground behind the captured trench and made it almost impossible to bring up reinforcements or supplies or additional artillery or telegraph lines that were necessary to continue the attack or even hold onto that new trench. So the enemy--who knows exactly where their old trench was and probably has it pre-sighted for their own artillery--will obliterate it along with everyone of your guys who survived the initial attack and then successfully drive you out out with a counterattack. This goes back and forth until both sides have taken hundreds of thousands of casualties and expended obscene amounts of ammunition and the frontline hasn't moved at all.
The turtle tank captured recently, is going to be very useful regarding identifying weaknesses in the platform. Its quite a ridiculous looking vehicle....
In Australia , from space tracking research for space junk there is an anti drone weapon being developed. Called slinger or maybe it's called slingshot.
yes the drone analogy is comparisable to WW1 aerial combat. For enemy observations and signaling Balloons were already used since the napoleonic wars. During the US civil war they were already commen. The first fixed aircraft were used as recon aircraft, other aircrafts were at first used to prevent shoot down those recon aircraft with hand guns. Recon aircraft had to be protected so the fighter aircraft as a type emerged. WW1 gave an incredable boost to aviation in a short time. In every big war development goes in overdrive to get just that edge over the enemy. Jus look what 2.5 years of combat in Ukraine has already changed combat today. Rules and operational books are mostly torn to shreds and written again from scratch. Obsolete seen anti aircraft systems like the Gepard and Shilka are upgraded to shield for drone attacks.
Obsolescent, still pretty useful against Shaheds. There is a gap, for tracking glide bombs, that may just be a software thing, but I would think gephard might be able hit them with the right cues
@@Bakes-z4c modern guidance and tracking systems make those close anti air suport weapons veru vital on a modern drone infected battlefield. You can't jam a protectile
An example from WW2 and the Battle of Britain might become relevant. Both the Germans and British had fighters that were only suitable for defense because of their short range. Their lack of fuel weight allowed for the optimization of other abilities involving maneuverability and such. But it cost the Germans dearly because they were on the offensive while the British didn't need the range to defend effectively. I suspect that the first hunter drones will need to be faster than their enemy and since they're fighting in Ukraine itself Ukrainians won't need the range thus giving them a potentially permanent edge in designing better performing drones.
Another possible solution is better communications and training. If you can coordinate an attack without first massing forces and do the attack quickly, the enemy may not realize what's going on until it's too late. However, these sorts of complex operations haven't been possible from either side.
The element of surprise is paramount, however purpose and motivation are also essential. Drone warfare is a majer part of this war and so far the Ukrainians would appear to have the upper hand. They have de-centralised production and R&D. This enables them to adapt quickly and effectively. Ukrainians don't fight by the book, they write their own. Watching recent Magyar videos we can see that flying drones are now be used below tree lines almost at ground level to recce concealed locations and equipment. They also appear to be using more incendiary devices to completely burn out stationary and disabled vehicles. I'm not sure what the advantages of incendiary over explosive devices are but there must be reasons, otherwise Ukraine wouldn't be doing it. I sincerely hope that NATO commanders are observing these developements closely. We can all learn a lot from Ukraine.
Anders Puck Neilsen always gets greater than 10 % Like ... 11 K Likes / 65,000 Views (11 hrs ago) = 16 % This is a high score in YT algorithm ... a Like and a Comment promotes the TRUTH one sand grain (8 bits = 1 byte) at a time.
Wouldn’t this be more akin to the first implementation of airplanes on the battlefield? First both were used for surveillance, then each had crude ways of dispatching one another while also having the ability to harass ground troops, now we’re in the phase where it’s aerial vehicle versus aerial vehicle.
There are more commonalities between Ukr war and WWI. Both are the start of aviation in war. * WWI started with observation ball0ons and light 1 man biplanes for observation. * Then the observation planes got bigger to carry an observer who would at first sketch the features, then photo graph them. * Some bright boy took a pistol up so he could shoot at other, (initially) unarmed observers. * Another carried a satchel full of grenades he could drop on ground troops. * Along the way these observation planes also had the bright idea to shoot up enemy observation balloons. Great fun watching them go down in flames. * These initial efforts were DIY, unofficial. * Slowly the guns and bombs got bigger as the brass got involved. * Fairly quickly the rolls became specialties: * observation planes, unarmed or just light guns. * Dedicated bombers. * Dedicated gun platforms called fighters to shoot the insidious observers and bombers * I know the allies also tried to develop long range unmanned bombs and drones in WWI. They simply did not have the technology * even in WWII, the V1 "buzz bomb" had pitifully simple "guidance". A timer that shut off the motor. * The V2, which was a true ballistic weapon also had rudimentary gyro guidance. Ukraine has followed a very similar pattern: * observation drones * bomber "Quad copter" (and Octo Copters, R-18) with downward pointing camera(s) and various "bombs" * DIY bombers using "hotwired" landing light to trigger a release. * The first "bombs" were simple hand grenades put into a plastic "beer cup" then pull the pin. When it hit the ground, the grenate bounced out of the cup, the spoon was released and eventually the grenade exploded * since then the variety of bombs has "exploded" (pun intended), DIY triggers added to bombs, "Frankensteining" various existing triggers onto bombs (including TM-62 landmines and RPG-7 warheads) they were not designed for. * 3-d printed wings added to bombs to give straighter flight, * fully 3D printed bomb casing that are filled with explosives extracted from other muntitions (like TM-62 mines) * now the government is factory mass producing drone specific bombs of various categories (simple explosive, anti-personel fragmentation, anti-tank shaped charges, thermobaric etc etc) Now Ukraine has drones that can fly unmanned up to 1800km and come close to hitting their designated targets. You mentioned the "shell hunger" this spring past giving the russians an advantage. But there was another effect. In the late winter Ukraine announced the "million drone" initiative and created a new ministry of drones to cut red tape in producing drones. One of the things they did was create lots of standardized bombs for drones. So by this summer, the observation drones were spotting for artillery, but they were also spotting for many attack drones, FPV drones. Units that used to have one or two drones now had 40 or more to use PER DAY, as needed. This wave of drones has been reported by both sides. To the glee of Ukrainian drone units and the dismay of russians on the recieving end. Drone dog fighting started more than a year ago. The attacks on Strela and Lancet drones is a new development. FPV drones may become dedicated "fighters" attacking the russian drones. Ukr already has simple, cheap drone detectors based on cell phones. We've recently started seeing video from observer drones that have been shot at by a couple of types of russian anti-air. They come close, but miss. There can be a couple of reasons. One is that they are programmed for larger targets like helicopters and fighter planes, 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than the drone. They are guided into the "box" for a full size aircraft and miss the drone. The other reason could be that they recognize this and were designed to explode in proximity to the target. But the drones are not large enough to trigger the proximity explosion. So how about a "franken missile". Use the detectors to spot and locate enemy drones. Then fire a new anti-drone "franken missile" that consists of an existing launch motor, with a FPV drone "bolted on", like the GLSDB. When the missile approaches the target it automatically, or even manually deploys the standard small FPV drone to attack the enemy drone. Another way FPV can be used to down enemy drones. Rather than crashing the FPV into the enemy, deploy a wire or even a small net to drag behind the FPV. Then fly the FPV over the enemy drone so that they wire/net get tangled in the prop. The catch can be returned home, or dropped if it is too heavy for the FPV.
I think that you didn't mention that air power was first used in ww1 for surveillance. It did precisely what the fibres are doing now- removed the element of surprise. Now with drones attacking drones, this is also mirroring ww1, and as you mentioned the static nature of the war... Let me also mention that Germany made massive progress in the first months of the war, then stake because of innovative French tactics... if you squint your brain you could say German incompetence... Basically this is ww1 with mobile phones...
They could put tiny guns on the drones, and we could have "drone wars". My dad used to build radio controlled small warships with .22 caliber guns and we would have ship battles together.
Air to air drones aren't really new. US have Coyore loitering munitions/drones that ram other drones but it wasn't in wide use even now. It is able to be launched from the RIwP turret on JLTVs and Strykers. Turkey also working on a fighter drone, Bayraktar Kizilelma. That is not to put down Ukrainian efforts as they didn't have these capabilities prior to the war and is now working on it. Besides like WW1, a lot of those technologies existed prior to the war but only gained appreciation once people realized it was a potential solution to the stalemate.
I always thought ww1 went into the stalemate phase because you could not exploit a tactical breakthrough fast enough. ( No tanks in the early phase of the war. ) Speed of the foot soldier was the maximum speed. ( And they get tired after a while 😅)
ok so the final step in this is obviously AI controlled combat drones.. which cannot be signal jammed, and are almost impossible to shoot down. it will be interesting to see how these drones will distinguish between friend and foe without some sort of electrical communication
I would think even with Russians having strong EW capability that a joint task force of U.S./UK/France & Germany would co-develop with Ukraine advanced EW that is sufficiently friendly drone weaponized to target Russian drones and identify RU EW sites so artillery could take them out.But the task force needs to have some kind of EW armor on the new EW combat drone to not become a casualty of its own EW weapon. Sounds sci-fi but maybe. Obviously a friendly and more powerful Allied EW system on its own could help Ukraine likely sooner. Are the Allies that much further behind the Russians in EW tech?
As other commenters have said, WWI air combat was invented to stop observation planes. They didn't stop them, they just made their job more difficult. I don't think that will be the solution. Come at it from the other leg, Artillery. Perhaps they can break the deadlock by by dropping GPS/laser-guided bombs on the Russian artillery from bigger drones that loiter where artillery might be hiding. Unfortunately this requires big but stealthy drones and only the USA has them. They are America's latest expensive cutting edge technology, so I don't think they will be eager to supply them to Ukraine.
Perhaps the better comparison of war technology may be be the American Civil War. It was the first war of emerging technologies. The first use of machine guns, the bayonet, the telegraph sending information quicker, ironclad war ships and the first submarine sinking of an enemy warship. Also, like Ukraine, France and Britain contributed to the Confederacy to get a close look at how the technologies of the day that were shaping the battlefield. And, of course, that shaped the Great War.
When the Shaheed drones first appeared, I suggested that FPV drones should be able to take out the propellers. Not ideal as the warhead will land somewhere.
This is exactly how semi-automous drone swarms will take over in the coming 5-15 years. The main component will be a screen of passive and active surveillance drones, which will use computer vision/basic recognition AI to alert human operators of enemy drones or other threats. This will come with a list of counter-measures that are part of the same network. The human operator will just have to confirm the sighting and proposed counter-measures with the press of a button. Many of those countermeasures will be cheap "interceptor drones" that act as budget surface-to-air missiles. Some of which will be more like automated FPV drones with propellers, while others will resemble classic SAMs with a rocket motor to intercept faster targets or to bridge the gap faster. As this system increasingly uses algorithms to establish the best possible overview and to minimise reaction times and maximise efficiency, it will turn into the true "drone swarm" concept. Humans will just have to task it with controlling an area and deliver the drones, the swarm will do the rest. And of course it won't stop with drones. "Sensor integration" is a major topic in modern military research. Every platform will be able to share data with every ally. If a drone spots something, than every artillery gun, every tank, and every infantry squad will know about it and be able to determine if they can fire at it. But this will also greatly weaken current loitering munitions. An IFV that receives drone warnings and coordinates from allied surveillance drones well in advance is prepared to quickly acquire the incoming drone and shoot it down.
The use of drones has rendered standard ground force configurations obsolete, necessitating a reconfiguration of modern military organization from the fire-team level up to address drone threats within the constraints of technology, time, and money. However, such comprehensive changes are unlikely because the scale required to restore previous levels of survivability and combat effectiveness is enormous, and no current regime is likely to undertake it fully. This situation parallels historical military transformations, such as the introduction of pike and shot formations that nullified the value of heavy cavalry and, along with field artillery, made offensives more costly and difficult. This led to more sophisticated fortifications ("star forts") and field defenses, including earthworks and trenches. The Thirty Years' War exemplifies this period of transformation, characterized by prolonged sieges, attrition warfare, economic strain on nations, and static front lines with limited mobility and a focus on key defensive positions. This period of protracted, indecisive warfare began to change in the late 17th and 18th centuries with the development of flintlock muskets, advancements in artillery (such as iron cannons and explosive shells), and more mobile field artillery. Additionally, the shift to line infantry tactics, professionalization of militaries, Vauban's innovations in fortification and siegecraft, and the emergence of centralized state authority and nationalism facilitated these transformations. Thankfully, the Orcs are unlikely to figure this out in time, much less to make anything remotely near the requisite transformations in their military culture and organization. But it behooves us humans to understand that we are now in a whole new world as far as military technology, organization, and warfare. If this were just an isolated incident (referencing the video of the Orc tank being blasted linked above), that would be one thing. But I've seen almost this exact same thing play out a dozen times in these videos on reddit. When a $500 toy can handily defeat and utterly obliterate a $3,000,000 machine (which is also an enormous burden on a military), resulting in a COMPLETE LOSS of the expensive machine and all associated operational personnel and for effectively ZERO losses by the toy opeators, it really is time to re-appraise and contemplate doing things differently. This vulnerability is even true to some degree for other tank designs; but teh Soviet designs with the autoloaders and ammo racks immediately under the turret are particularly vulnerable. -=-=-=-=- Ukraine clearly has a big advantage in this form of warfare right now, and I'm so glad to see so many different signs that this is deeply understood by many Ukrainians involved in strategy, planning and operations (at myriad levels of the countries war effort). By pressing this advantage to its absolute maximum, and multiplying those advantages with better methods for defeating Orc Electronic Warfare, I believe Ukraine can eventually cause so many casualties that the Orc Horde's combat effectiveness is degraded to an absolute minimum and perhaps even causing mutinies or collapse. Supporting these efforts seems to be one of the most clear cut ways Western citizens might assist in Ukraine's fight for victory
Only effective if Ukraine can use them to gain a superior balance of costs. If the anti-drone drone costs $20k but takes down a $10k drone it is at best of only limited value. One way to improve this would be to make them mildly reusable by having a cheap expendable part ram into the enemy drone and not the entire friendly drone. Say a weighted wire spools out with a mechanism to release it under a certain load. Fly that into the enemy drone and have that drone pull it away. Maybe only be re-usable two or three times, but its better than a one-time use solution.
It's not realistic to look at thr frontline and say that it (the frontline/the war) is static. U is trying to push R out. R is trying to suck U into the frontline. Keep in mind that both sides are working at attrition.
The Ukrainian drones are indeed impressive, and I know it has inspired western suppliers to up their game. For instance cameras that can recognise potential targets using AI, and there are ambitions to make more use of AI, so that a drone won't become a sitting duck if it's jammed. Unfortunately the hardware required for useful AI is quite expensive... there's quite a price difference between a RasPi (made for the hobbyist) and a module from the nVidia Jetson series. Fortunately the defense industry is known to be willing to pay the price if they get a large enough advantage over the enemy tech. But that's just not where the Ukrainian drones are at, instead they focus on making locally sourced drones cheap and reliable enough to compete with the Chinese hobby drones. But the future possibilities are as frightening as they are fascinating... I could imagine drone swarms consisting of various drones with various purposes. Perhaps 2-3 communication & control drones, with very strong AI capabilities and long distance network links, controlling a swarm of grenade droppers and kamikaze drones that only just has AI enough to continue the last 500m if jammed. All would be networked in a local mesh around the control drones. The frightening part is that the control drones would have a high level of autonomy, one little programming mistake there and you have a rouge swarm that is programmed to defend itself.
@@lorenzcassidy3960 indeed. Luckily we haven't taught the drones to recharge or refuel themselves yet 😀 but that doesn't mean that a swarm couldn't do a lot of damage before they run out of juice.
This whole drone scenario is starting to look an awful lot like air combat during ww1. Starting off as recon, slowly being used to drop small grenades / bombs at soldiers. Then slowly building into actual formal air to air weaponry/combat through small weapons.
Skynet and hunter killers come to mind
@@Demogrunti guess we are 30 years away at most from strategic drone forces that can kill civilisations, probably sooner.
We will see fighter drone units, reconnaissance and surveillance units and bomber units in the future.
Sort of. In WWI that was a result of new warfare and limitations in technology - this is a result of limited resources necessitating use of a commercial product. The US and western nations already have military drones that are just as capable as the current manned systems.
Always wonder what will happen to attack helicopters ... Are they now worth the expenditure and crew training... It's a challenge all round
Ukraines ingenuity and adaptability in this war continues to impress. I reckon there are tonnes of NATO generals that have had their minds blown with how established military doctrines and tactics have just been torn to shreds over the course of this war because Ukraine has done their own thing and made it work.
That’s what usually happens in war . Look at history, nothing new
NATO is a paper tiger. Yes, potentially the combined NATO military is very strong.
But there's no will in the West to take risks and to fight - very much like the mighty French army in 1940.
I'm not surprised. Ukrainian engineers and senior military personnel constituted much of the brainpower of the Soviet defense establishment during the Cold War. Apparently, the Russians have forgotten this.
Very unlikely. This is a pretty conventional war, hence all the comparisons to ww1. The only difference is the higher level of tech that confines soldiers to their trenches. The root problems and solutions are all the same.
Russia has lost this war. The entire planet is now laughing at the Rushin' army😂
Thank you Anders for posting more regularly, we mortals appreciate your content.
500000 smoked Rushins, and they cant even take 10% of Ukraine. That's what I understood him as saying.
What he said
Bot
The only question that needs to be answered about Anders is whether he is a self deluding fraud or a concious fraud.
@@alangledhill6454 truest comment ever also i think Probably the first. Most ukraind lovers are
Rostov-on-drone is my favorite Russian oblast. Thanks to drones, Russia is exporting most of its oil via smoke rather than pipeline now.
😅🎉
Underrated 😂
Russia just joined Venezuela in P-OPEC.... _Previously Oil Producing and Exporting Countries._ 😂😂😂
@@dpelpal😂 good one!
In other news: "India's Oil Imports Surge: Russia Hits Record High, Saudi Arabia Drops"
Thank you, Anders Puck Nielsen, for your analysis. Very much appreciated.
🇺🇦 Перемоги і миру всім українцям! 🇺🇦
You analysis is on point, concise, and enlightening. It's heartening to see your viewership has grown to 175K viewers. I can see it expanding to ten times that. All the best to you.
175000 people laughing at what a joke the Rushin' army is🤭
@@dpelpalcorrect and bare minimum as we all concur
It is more similar to WW1 than you think.
In WW1 the Germans didn't reach their objectives then had to dig in to keep from getting countered. They lost and then it took another two fruitless years for them to realize that.
Those turtle tanks are nothing more than a way to get through mine fields with tanks that can withstand them. They're using them like transports to move their disposable soldiers in to positions to draw fire in order to locate the Ukrainian positions. Then they shell them.
They have captured a few of those turtles and they mount ECM's on the roof and they're just made out of sheet metal. They're counting on drones being stopped by electronic jamming.
I am sure they could run a suborbital that when connection is lost it homes to the last photographed object, no connection needed
Against NATO, tanks won’t even make it to the front line. Every weapons platform on the battlefield has long-range anti-tank capabilities, from the individual soldier (javelin, etc) to vehicles, IFVs, other tanks, artillery systems, helicopters, fixed wing manned aircraft, fixed wing drones, quad rotor drones, mines, etc etc etc.
Wonder what the Russian equivalent of the schlieffen plan was? Grab Hostomel, perhaps ? Like Germany in 1918, Russia has a massive rival at their back, which is inactive at present. Interesting to see how that goes
I'm glad the Ukrainians are on our side idealogically. They'll be useful advisors if war breaks out in Asia.
I know I wouldn't wanna fight Ukrainians! Rusha' on the other hand, their military is a total joke🤭
they are a good rental army
@@NathansHVAC Iran and China sure are using Russia, you're correct.
I don't know about advisors. But Ukraine has indicated they want to join the west. Giving a chance, they could become the next powerhouse in the EU.
@@tazgecko Ukraine already belongs to the West my friend. You don't join the West, you are part of it.
Ukrainians are definitely showing how the things sent to them how to make them do incredible stuff. We definitely want to keep them on our side for the future.
Thank you 💛 Anders
We are all stuck on one small rock. We need to look after it. Those that don’t see this need to move on to whatever fate awaits them
This new Drone warfare is really highlighting the whole RF spectrum and the need for even better electronic countermeasures above and beyond just GPS jamming.
"AI" drones don't have to use radio communication....
@@MartinLundström-l4v Technically, even an autopilot or waypoint following program would have been considered "AI" just ten or twenty years ago. You don't need AI for most of the things they are doing right now. And they don't have the resources to develop one, for example for "dogfighting". It's much easier and more effective to use FPV and remote control, even if the Russians can jam them. Then maybe they have to stay away from the jammers, but that's all.
@@MartinLundström-l4v True but to get from point A to point B they do need an outside source for navigation.
Too true, any time Ivan has had command of the EM spectrum, he dominates, with heaps of ballistic shells. This war has shown if you can shut down EM, you really slow the enemy down
@@Bakes-z4c Nope, the Russians can't "shut down EM". At best they can jam some frequency bands, but due to the nature of physics, you can never jam or overnoise all frequencies at once. Also, the vehicles that can do that are pretty expensive. And easy targets for radiation seeking missiles. If a drone a couple km away gets confused by your EM emissions, a missile sure can track you from even further away.
I appreciate your valiant -- if not entirely successful -- attempt to maintain a straight face when discussing the "turtle" tank. Few of us could do any better.
🙏🕊🌻🔱 Excellent Analysis! Ukraine is Stronger with F16's, GMLRS, ATACMS, GLSDB, SCALP EG and Storm Shadow! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! The World Needs to Stand Unwaveringly Committed with Ukraine's Quest for Democracy and Retribution! 🔱🌻🕊🙏
Сального за километр видно, ничего перечислить не забыл? А то смотри не допишешь - не поставят. Страна поберушка.
Always thought what a “swarm” of small drones could do on a battlefield. Suppose is not so far the moment I will see the answer
Forces News showed a video of an Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone, that brought a smaller drone along for protection.
The smaller drone crashed in to a Russian kamikaze drone to protect the Baba Yaga.
This is similar to fighter jets protecting bombers during WW2.
To quote the Australian PowerPoint Man, "Assault Shed".
lol, a couple months ago when they used a prop plane to shoot down drones, I predicted the next thing would be drones that shot down planes. They must have already been building the things.
Gotta love Ukrainians.
And yak52s! They are fun
God bless 👊 Ukraine 🇺🇦!
Anders, you are one of the coolest analysts. Thank you, sir!
Another interesting technology I've seen getting media attention recently is the so called "Frankenstein tank" from Rheinmetall that Ukraine's getting from the Germans.
It features a Skyranger turret on a Leopard 1 chassis, and it's a very efficient drone killer.
My, my. Move over Darwin and you're millions of years time table. We're watching kite fighting evolve in real time. Look mom! No strings!
Anders thanks for your hard work. Drones are a great way forward, especially if they can be used as decoys as a gateway to let things through. It may be probable or possible to make them with Device Jamming Tools, as well as EMP type Devices to screw up an Adversaries Electronics far behind Enemy Lines.
Lots of Ukrainian companies are doing drones now, and I'm in contact with some of them, to improve/optimize the code (C/C++). They're also looking for more engineers and pilots of course.
Writing code in C??? That's so old! I refused a job (in 2005?) because they wanted me to be a C-coder. But maybe it's still best for low level engineering type applications? Whatever works :)
@@johnnorris3409Fast, robust and reliable codes are needed
@@johnnorris3409 C/C++ is still the most efficient language for coding on embedded platforms, and although there is competition from Rust and other new languages I doubt it can be called “old”, as in outdated. I would call it “mature”.
Im in the USA, can i do some training to become a drone pilot? I like the hunter- killer drones.
@@johnnorris3409 Embedded world, microcontrollers and militech is almost entirely C in 2024.
I think that the turtle tank is a way to make use of substandard tanks pulled from storage. They don't need sights, a rotating turret or a working gun, just mobility.
Kind of important to note that this was a lancet, not a surveillance drone. And I’m guessing they ran across it by coincidence.
Everything interesting, except it doesn't matter how ridiculous something looks, it either works or doesn't. It's not a fashion war.
No, it's not a fashion war. Thats why the Nazis lost the actual war...
What happened in WW1 is that those defensive platforms were given mobility; tanks started as mobile pill boxes, you take the machine guns etc and put them on tracks so you can roll your defenses toward the enemies defenses.
If turtle tanks, with ewar, can incorporate defensive anti-drone drones, this would repeat history...
Thanks for sharing your expert views with us.
Their latest strategy of denying Russia the ability to produce fuel seems to be a winning one. It just takes time, and while it doesn't effect their Frontline soldiers directly, it will force them to start making cope cages for bicycles and roller blades. MUGA!
Russia producing more fuel then UK and Germany combined
So they will not run short of fuel anytime soon
They are striking mostly those oil refineries that produce gasoline, not diesel. So all their efforts has had little effect on Russia's ability to provide its army with fuel. Why're Ukr striking gasoline plants instead of diesel ones ? IDK.
Do you really think that NOTHING is burning or exploding ALL over Ukraine? Seriously, gopher?
@@alexpoetov3213 because cars use gasoline, usually.
@evgeniya7853 nobody said that Ukraine is not suffering from terrorism, no.
Good analysis as always.
Thanks, please more of that stuff!
Thank you Anders!
Really great video Nielsen and greetings from the US. Always enjoy you sharing your warfare information, helps keep one informed.
The situation reminds me of the eovlution of manned areal comabt in WW1. That also started out with planes and balloons as artillery observers/spotters bevore they started air to air combat that interdicted enemy surveilance.
A few other technological improvements that led to the stalemate in world war one are often ocerlooked.
Tele communication via telegraph and telephone meant that defenders could call for reinforcements and artillery support as soon as they were attacked. The attackers on the other hand, could not call back to report any advancements, until they had laid out phone lines over no-mans land. Handheld radioswere far in the future and any communication back had to be done via flags, flares and homing pigeons.
Railways kept the front lines well supplied with food, ammunition and other supplies, but the attacking army hadto carry all their supplies on their backs, crossing the torn-up no mans land on foot.
Mass-produced canned foods made it possible to sustain huge armies in the same place for months and years. This had simply not been possible in a time when armies had to forage to sustain themselves.
Smokeless powder and the repeating rifle were fairly new unventions that gave infantry a leg up on cavalry. The cavalry charge is way less lethal when a single rifleman can fire accurate, repeated fire against charging enemy horses, whereas in the past they would in the best of scenarios have a very short window of time to fire their single shot, before the cavalry was upon them
Lastly, barbed wire. Cheap, quick to deploy over large areas and it lets a single machine gun control a huge area of the battlefield.
One other thought. The radar systems on the F16s may have the capability to spot drones - at least for some distance. If that information can get relayed to attack drones, that might make a difference.
Thank you. Again very interesting video.
Great informative video. Your analysis is exceptional. Thanks, Eamon 🇮🇪
If I remember my WWI history correctly, airplanes originally were used for scouting and combat between them only started later.
The latest development of air-combat drones looks like a parallel type of evolution.
Technically, the US already used drones for surveillance and attack. Technically, the Ukrainian/Russian drones were carrying explosives long before they thought about air-to-air drones.
Correct, first they scouted, then they started dropping things on ground troops heads, and only after that did they start bringing shotguns to shoot each other out of the sky.
History repeats.
Brilliant analysis of the pace of the evolution of warfare.
Hi Anders. In this video your speach speed is very high. It would help me, if you could slow down a little bit in the next video. All the best from Aarhus, Denmark.
Thank you for your excellent work. ❤
Regarding WWI, it wasn't quite as simple as 'machine guns and trenches made attacking hard'. That's part of it, but armies in WWI actually had an answer to machine guns in trenches--lots and lots of heavy artillery. With enough firepower, initial attacks were often very successful. The problem was that the sheer quantity of artillery fire required to break into an enemy trench obliterated the ground behind the captured trench and made it almost impossible to bring up reinforcements or supplies or additional artillery or telegraph lines that were necessary to continue the attack or even hold onto that new trench. So the enemy--who knows exactly where their old trench was and probably has it pre-sighted for their own artillery--will obliterate it along with everyone of your guys who survived the initial attack and then successfully drive you out out with a counterattack. This goes back and forth until both sides have taken hundreds of thousands of casualties and expended obscene amounts of ammunition and the frontline hasn't moved at all.
The turtle tank captured recently, is going to be very useful regarding identifying weaknesses in the platform. Its quite a ridiculous looking vehicle....
In Australia , from space tracking research for space junk there is an anti drone weapon being developed. Called slinger or maybe it's called slingshot.
yes the drone analogy is comparisable to WW1 aerial combat.
For enemy observations and signaling Balloons were already used since the napoleonic wars.
During the US civil war they were already commen.
The first fixed aircraft were used as recon aircraft, other aircrafts were at first used to prevent shoot down those recon aircraft with hand guns.
Recon aircraft had to be protected so the fighter aircraft as a type emerged.
WW1 gave an incredable boost to aviation in a short time.
In every big war development goes in overdrive to get just that edge over the enemy.
Jus look what 2.5 years of combat in Ukraine has already changed combat today.
Rules and operational books are mostly torn to shreds and written again from scratch.
Obsolete seen anti aircraft systems like the Gepard and Shilka are upgraded to shield for drone attacks.
Obsolescent, still pretty useful against Shaheds. There is a gap, for tracking glide bombs, that may just be a software thing, but I would think gephard might be able hit them with the right cues
@@Bakes-z4c modern guidance and tracking systems make those close anti air suport weapons veru vital on a modern drone infected battlefield. You can't jam a protectile
The side that succeeds in destroying the others logistics wins the war in the end.
For every measure, there is a countermeasure. For every countermeasure, there is a counter-countermeasure. For every counter-countermeasure ...
Insightful as always 👍
Fantastic analysis ! Thank you for sharing !
An example from WW2 and the Battle of Britain might become relevant. Both the Germans and British had fighters that were only suitable for defense because of their short range. Their lack of fuel weight allowed for the optimization of other abilities involving maneuverability and such. But it cost the Germans dearly because they were on the offensive while the British didn't need the range to defend effectively. I suspect that the first hunter drones will need to be faster than their enemy and since they're fighting in Ukraine itself Ukrainians won't need the range thus giving them a potentially permanent edge in designing better performing drones.
I always love your videos, Anders. You bring incredible insight and analysis to developments on the battlefield. Kudos.
Clear as always. Thanks!
Another possible solution is better communications and training. If you can coordinate an attack without first massing forces and do the attack quickly, the enemy may not realize what's going on until it's too late. However, these sorts of complex operations haven't been possible from either side.
The element of surprise is paramount, however purpose and motivation are also essential. Drone warfare is a majer part of this war and so far the Ukrainians would appear to have the upper hand. They have de-centralised production and R&D. This enables them to adapt quickly and effectively. Ukrainians don't fight by the book, they write their own. Watching recent Magyar videos we can see that flying drones are now be used below tree lines almost at ground level to recce concealed locations and equipment. They also appear to be using more incendiary devices to completely burn out stationary and disabled vehicles. I'm not sure what the advantages of incendiary over explosive devices are but there must be reasons, otherwise Ukraine wouldn't be doing it. I sincerely hope that NATO commanders are observing these developements closely. We can all learn a lot from Ukraine.
Anders Puck Neilsen always gets greater than 10 % Like ... 11 K Likes / 65,000 Views (11 hrs ago) = 16 %
This is a high score in YT algorithm ... a Like and a Comment promotes the TRUTH one sand grain (8 bits = 1 byte) at a time.
Wouldn’t this be more akin to the first implementation of airplanes on the battlefield? First both were used for surveillance, then each had crude ways of dispatching one another while also having the ability to harass ground troops, now we’re in the phase where it’s aerial vehicle versus aerial vehicle.
There are more commonalities between Ukr war and WWI.
Both are the start of aviation in war.
* WWI started with observation ball0ons and light 1 man biplanes for observation.
* Then the observation planes got bigger to carry an observer who would at first sketch the features, then photo graph them.
* Some bright boy took a pistol up so he could shoot at other, (initially) unarmed observers.
* Another carried a satchel full of grenades he could drop on ground troops.
* Along the way these observation planes also had the bright idea to shoot up enemy observation balloons. Great fun watching them go down in flames.
* These initial efforts were DIY, unofficial.
* Slowly the guns and bombs got bigger as the brass got involved.
* Fairly quickly the rolls became specialties:
* observation planes, unarmed or just light guns.
* Dedicated bombers.
* Dedicated gun platforms called fighters to shoot the insidious observers and bombers
* I know the allies also tried to develop long range unmanned bombs and drones in WWI. They simply did not have the technology
* even in WWII, the V1 "buzz bomb" had pitifully simple "guidance". A timer that shut off the motor.
* The V2, which was a true ballistic weapon also had rudimentary gyro guidance.
Ukraine has followed a very similar pattern:
* observation drones
* bomber "Quad copter" (and Octo Copters, R-18) with downward pointing camera(s) and various "bombs"
* DIY bombers using "hotwired" landing light to trigger a release.
* The first "bombs" were simple hand grenades put into a plastic "beer cup" then pull the pin. When it hit the ground, the grenate bounced out of the cup, the spoon was released and eventually the grenade exploded
* since then the variety of bombs has "exploded" (pun intended), DIY triggers added to bombs, "Frankensteining" various existing triggers onto bombs (including TM-62 landmines and RPG-7 warheads) they were not designed for.
* 3-d printed wings added to bombs to give straighter flight,
* fully 3D printed bomb casing that are filled with explosives extracted from other muntitions (like TM-62 mines)
* now the government is factory mass producing drone specific bombs of various categories (simple explosive, anti-personel fragmentation, anti-tank shaped charges, thermobaric etc etc)
Now Ukraine has drones that can fly unmanned up to 1800km and come close to hitting their designated targets.
You mentioned the "shell hunger" this spring past giving the russians an advantage. But there was another effect. In the late winter Ukraine announced the "million drone" initiative and created a new ministry of drones to cut red tape in producing drones. One of the things they did was create lots of standardized bombs for drones. So by this summer, the observation drones were spotting for artillery, but they were also spotting for many attack drones, FPV drones. Units that used to have one or two drones now had 40 or more to use PER DAY, as needed. This wave of drones has been reported by both sides. To the glee of Ukrainian drone units and the dismay of russians on the recieving end.
Drone dog fighting started more than a year ago. The attacks on Strela and Lancet drones is a new development. FPV drones may become dedicated "fighters" attacking the russian drones. Ukr already has simple, cheap drone detectors based on cell phones. We've recently started seeing video from observer drones that have been shot at by a couple of types of russian anti-air. They come close, but miss. There can be a couple of reasons. One is that they are programmed for larger targets like helicopters and fighter planes, 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than the drone. They are guided into the "box" for a full size aircraft and miss the drone. The other reason could be that they recognize this and were designed to explode in proximity to the target. But the drones are not large enough to trigger the proximity explosion. So how about a "franken missile". Use the detectors to spot and locate enemy drones. Then fire a new anti-drone "franken missile" that consists of an existing launch motor, with a FPV drone "bolted on", like the GLSDB. When the missile approaches the target it automatically, or even manually deploys the standard small FPV drone to attack the enemy drone.
Another way FPV can be used to down enemy drones. Rather than crashing the FPV into the enemy, deploy a wire or even a small net to drag behind the FPV. Then fly the FPV over the enemy drone so that they wire/net get tangled in the prop. The catch can be returned home, or dropped if it is too heavy for the FPV.
Thank youi Anders🙏🙏
I think that you didn't mention that air power was first used in ww1 for surveillance. It did precisely what the fibres are doing now- removed the element of surprise. Now with drones attacking drones, this is also mirroring ww1, and as you mentioned the static nature of the war...
Let me also mention that Germany made massive progress in the first months of the war, then stake because of innovative French tactics... if you squint your brain you could say German incompetence...
Basically this is ww1 with mobile phones...
Turtle tank, aka Mobile Assault Shed (RuMAS)
I've heard them called Blyatmobiles.
They could put tiny guns on the drones, and we could have "drone wars". My dad used to build radio controlled small warships with .22 caliber guns and we would have ship battles together.
Thank you. I love your content!
Air to air drones aren't really new. US have Coyore loitering munitions/drones that ram other drones but it wasn't in wide use even now. It is able to be launched from the RIwP turret on JLTVs and Strykers.
Turkey also working on a fighter drone, Bayraktar Kizilelma.
That is not to put down Ukrainian efforts as they didn't have these capabilities prior to the war and is now working on it. Besides like WW1, a lot of those technologies existed prior to the war but only gained appreciation once people realized it was a potential solution to the stalemate.
Thank you. So interesting - I always learn something new from your vlogs.
Thx
Excellent!
I always thought ww1 went into the stalemate phase because you could not exploit a tactical breakthrough fast enough. ( No tanks in the early phase of the war. ) Speed of the foot soldier was the maximum speed. ( And they get tired after a while 😅)
No tanks until the great stalemate (and they were slow, too), but please mind the cavalry.
Here for the hot drone-on-drone action
ok so the final step in this is obviously AI controlled combat drones.. which cannot be signal jammed, and are almost impossible to shoot down. it will be interesting to see how these drones will distinguish between friend and foe without some sort of electrical communication
Tak Anders.
Thank you 🙏
Wouldn't it be great if the entire thing devolved into drones fighting each other, with nobody getting hurt in the process?
I would think even with Russians having strong EW capability that a joint task force of U.S./UK/France & Germany would co-develop with Ukraine advanced EW that is sufficiently friendly drone weaponized to target Russian drones and identify RU EW sites so artillery could take them out.But the task force needs to have some kind of EW armor on the new EW combat drone to not become a casualty of its own EW weapon. Sounds sci-fi but maybe.
Obviously a friendly and more powerful Allied EW system on its own could help Ukraine likely sooner.
Are the Allies that much further behind the Russians in EW tech?
Interesting as always 😊
Hopefully we are giving Ukraine any support they might need to evolve new.(such as discussed here) and existing (such as Heim-2) weapons systems.
Very reminiscent of aircraft in WW1.
Stop calling it a Turtle tank, it's a "Jawa Sandcrawler". 🤣🤣🤣
I read that Rheinmetal will produce anti drone arms in Ukraine and upgrade the Leopard 1 and 2?
As other commenters have said, WWI air combat was invented to stop observation planes. They didn't stop them, they just made their job more difficult. I don't think that will be the solution. Come at it from the other leg, Artillery.
Perhaps they can break the deadlock by by dropping GPS/laser-guided bombs on the Russian artillery from bigger drones that loiter where artillery might be hiding.
Unfortunately this requires big but stealthy drones and only the USA has them.
They are America's latest expensive cutting edge technology, so I don't think they will be eager to supply them to Ukraine.
Russia has created interesting things too as turtle tank and golf cart-style infantry troops transport 😊😊
Don't forget their air forces flying turrets and navy's submersible ships!
Not enough. A real breakthrough will require air power. Drones just aren’t enough.
Thanks!
Aw, I thought little .22 guns would be strapped onto the drones.
Perhaps the better comparison of war technology may be be the American Civil War. It was the first war of emerging technologies. The first use of machine guns, the bayonet, the telegraph sending information quicker, ironclad war ships and the first submarine sinking of an enemy warship. Also, like Ukraine, France and Britain contributed to the Confederacy to get a close look at how the technologies of the day that were shaping the battlefield. And, of course, that shaped the Great War.
Interesting piece
When the Shaheed drones first appeared, I suggested that FPV drones should be able to take out the propellers. Not ideal as the warhead will land somewhere.
Recoiless shotgun might work on a small air combat drone.
It's not going to be a small drone then
@@Therakus no larger than a drone that can carry a grenade.
Your idea has merit. Well thought out.
Is there actually any evidence that this is a concerted effort? To me it looks like a few coincidences being misinterpreted.
Of course there isn't. Puck is grasping at straws.
Thanks for an other interesting and informative video, as always I might add!
This is exactly how semi-automous drone swarms will take over in the coming 5-15 years.
The main component will be a screen of passive and active surveillance drones, which will use computer vision/basic recognition AI to alert human operators of enemy drones or other threats.
This will come with a list of counter-measures that are part of the same network. The human operator will just have to confirm the sighting and proposed counter-measures with the press of a button.
Many of those countermeasures will be cheap "interceptor drones" that act as budget surface-to-air missiles. Some of which will be more like automated FPV drones with propellers, while others will resemble classic SAMs with a rocket motor to intercept faster targets or to bridge the gap faster.
As this system increasingly uses algorithms to establish the best possible overview and to minimise reaction times and maximise efficiency, it will turn into the true "drone swarm" concept. Humans will just have to task it with controlling an area and deliver the drones, the swarm will do the rest.
And of course it won't stop with drones. "Sensor integration" is a major topic in modern military research. Every platform will be able to share data with every ally. If a drone spots something, than every artillery gun, every tank, and every infantry squad will know about it and be able to determine if they can fire at it.
But this will also greatly weaken current loitering munitions. An IFV that receives drone warnings and coordinates from allied surveillance drones well in advance is prepared to quickly acquire the incoming drone and shoot it down.
I'm a bit old and am surprised by how quickly the sci-fi "future" has arrived today.
The use of drones has rendered standard ground force configurations obsolete, necessitating a reconfiguration of modern military organization from the fire-team level up to address drone threats within the constraints of technology, time, and money. However, such comprehensive changes are unlikely because the scale required to restore previous levels of survivability and combat effectiveness is enormous, and no current regime is likely to undertake it fully.
This situation parallels historical military transformations, such as the introduction of pike and shot formations that nullified the value of heavy cavalry and, along with field artillery, made offensives more costly and difficult. This led to more sophisticated fortifications ("star forts") and field defenses, including earthworks and trenches.
The Thirty Years' War exemplifies this period of transformation, characterized by prolonged sieges, attrition warfare, economic strain on nations, and static front lines with limited mobility and a focus on key defensive positions.
This period of protracted, indecisive warfare began to change in the late 17th and 18th centuries with the development of flintlock muskets, advancements in artillery (such as iron cannons and explosive shells), and more mobile field artillery. Additionally, the shift to line infantry tactics, professionalization of militaries, Vauban's innovations in fortification and siegecraft, and the emergence of centralized state authority and nationalism facilitated these transformations.
Thankfully, the Orcs are unlikely to figure this out in time, much less to make anything remotely near the requisite transformations in their military culture and organization. But it behooves us humans to understand that we are now in a whole new world as far as military technology, organization, and warfare.
If this were just an isolated incident (referencing the video of the Orc tank being blasted linked above), that would be one thing. But I've seen almost this exact same thing play out a dozen times in these videos on reddit. When a $500 toy can handily defeat and utterly obliterate a $3,000,000 machine (which is also an enormous burden on a military), resulting in a COMPLETE LOSS of the expensive machine and all associated operational personnel and for effectively ZERO losses by the toy opeators, it really is time to re-appraise and contemplate doing things differently.
This vulnerability is even true to some degree for other tank designs; but teh Soviet designs with the autoloaders and ammo racks immediately under the turret are particularly vulnerable.
-=-=-=-=-
Ukraine clearly has a big advantage in this form of warfare right now, and I'm so glad to see so many different signs that this is deeply understood by many Ukrainians involved in strategy, planning and operations (at myriad levels of the countries war effort). By pressing this advantage to its absolute maximum, and multiplying those advantages with better methods for defeating Orc Electronic Warfare, I believe Ukraine can eventually cause so many casualties that the Orc Horde's combat effectiveness is degraded to an absolute minimum and perhaps even causing mutinies or collapse.
Supporting these efforts seems to be one of the most clear cut ways Western citizens might assist in Ukraine's fight for victory
Are you sure you didn't fart out of importance?
Only effective if Ukraine can use them to gain a superior balance of costs. If the anti-drone drone costs $20k but takes down a $10k drone it is at best of only limited value. One way to improve this would be to make them mildly reusable by having a cheap expendable part ram into the enemy drone and not the entire friendly drone. Say a weighted wire spools out with a mechanism to release it under a certain load. Fly that into the enemy drone and have that drone pull it away. Maybe only be re-usable two or three times, but its better than a one-time use solution.
It's not realistic to look at thr frontline and say that it (the frontline/the war) is static.
U is trying to push R out.
R is trying to suck U into the frontline.
Keep in mind that both sides are working at attrition.
This sequel to WW1 is wild
every time I see a new video from Anders, I become happy that I will have another 10 minutes of great entertaining information :)
I wonder if those net shotgun shells would be effective against drones. Maybe they could make larger nets for granade launchers.
For the algorithm.
The Ukrainian drones are indeed impressive, and I know it has inspired western suppliers to up their game.
For instance cameras that can recognise potential targets using AI, and there are ambitions to make more use of AI, so that a drone won't become a sitting duck if it's jammed.
Unfortunately the hardware required for useful AI is quite expensive... there's quite a price difference between a RasPi (made for the hobbyist) and a module from the nVidia Jetson series.
Fortunately the defense industry is known to be willing to pay the price if they get a large enough advantage over the enemy tech.
But that's just not where the Ukrainian drones are at, instead they focus on making locally sourced drones cheap and reliable enough to compete with the Chinese hobby drones.
But the future possibilities are as frightening as they are fascinating... I could imagine drone swarms consisting of various drones with various purposes.
Perhaps 2-3 communication & control drones, with very strong AI capabilities and long distance network links, controlling a swarm of grenade droppers and kamikaze drones that only just has AI enough to continue the last 500m if jammed. All would be networked in a local mesh around the control drones.
The frightening part is that the control drones would have a high level of autonomy, one little programming mistake there and you have a rouge swarm that is programmed to defend itself.
This sounds scaringly like Terminator's Skynet🤖
@@lorenzcassidy3960 indeed.
Luckily we haven't taught the drones to recharge or refuel themselves yet 😀 but that doesn't mean that a swarm couldn't do a lot of damage before they run out of juice.
Strapping a small caliber MG or automatic shotgun to an FPV airplane could be deadly enough to destroy helicopters, as well as quadcopter drones.