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El Dudererino's avatar

For the direct grind like Ukraine/Russia drones are changing the tactics on the battlefield. This is hard to watch, to see a future of couch killers. I don’t think the future is going to be kind. It reminds me of that video of a theoretical mass murder by single shot drones a while back. Scary!

For the projection of power that carrier groups provide, I’m not so sure drones will replace them any time soon. They will augment but drones don’t have the fuel capacity and at range, with a lot of unknowns along the way, much less intelligence. With the range of an F-35 or similar the pilot comes cheap and with much better visuals than a camera over long links and if links are weak or down there is no better adaptability than a Navy pilot.

There is also a lot of different payloads that fighter and attack aircraft have that are basically drones but aren’t recognized as such. Similarly the carrier fleet has other payloads that can scan and choose targets. They often have ranges far superior to the average combat drone. The cost and manufacturing of all of this, as mentioned, is a problem though.

Just to be picky, I would argue Israel in Gaza, and the US in Afghanistan have/had air supremacy, not superiority. Meaning they have total domination of the skies.

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Jay Moore's avatar

One word: plastics.

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