Ukraine seems to be pouring a lot of these right now.
OTOH small airplanes like the one pictured derive most of their lift from wings, and are not expected to do aerobatic, so they have somehow lower requirements for strength, and cost considerations can take over.
I wonder what would be the military usefulness of such a drone: it's much more visible, likely has rather low payload capacity, and cannot hover. It could work as a recon drone, or a retransmitter for extending communications range. It may be significantly more quiet than a quadcopter, it could even glide with the motor off, so it could sneak towards manned positions, especially in the dark.
"so far" is for the next five minutes or so.
It's a bit silly to claim a misleading headline when you can't read the article. https://archive.is/5Pqg6
Bomb: “To explode, of course.”
"You blow yourself up."
"OH MY GOD"
See also: https://blog.wrouesnel.com/posts/jipi-and-the-paranoid-chip/...
Oh, that makes more sense. I probably watched too many episodes of Futurama for my mind to immediately imagine drones used by people to commit suicide.
EDIT: The company that makes them first pitched them to the ADF in 2018: https://www.sypaq.com.au/news/sypaq-wins-for-the-cardboard-d...
Another chilling aspect of drone warfare is that you don't get to surrender. No prisoners are taken. You just get blown up even if you are clearly cornered, and helpless and in a traditional setting you'd have surrendered your weapon and became a POW.
There are some new ones that work like landmines, too; they sit on the ground until they detect something worth going after.
> Another chilling aspect of drone warfare is that you don't get to surrender.
You can. First one happened in 1991.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/featured/humans-surrendered-t...
It happens fairly regularly in Ukraine.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukrai...
Half-life 2 manhack vibes.
Maybe if you voluntarily join the military of a country known for invasions and war, you're not that helpless to begin with. And, if you get sent to another country with the goal to kill soldiers and civilians, and you yourself get killed by a drone it’s not that chilling.
There are still countries in the world that have landmines from previous wars, after all.
pigpag•58m ago
MisterTea•14m ago
It was not by choice.