Pew pew :3.
The successful test of the powerful laser is a major step forward for the Navy’s directed energy weapons ambitions.
The drones would fly alongside Air Force warplanes, doing jobs too dangerous or dull for pilots.
EMP weapons, streams of microwaves, electromagnetic railguns, and high-power lasers offer new ways to bring down swarming drones, sink ships without explosives, and disperse formations of soldiers.
In the near future, we will have manned drones going at blistering speeds and doing crazy aerobatic stunts.
We need to massively reforest the planet, in a very short period of time. Flash Forest’s drones can plant trees a lot faster than humans.
[Photo: courtesy Flash Forest] One of Flash Forest’s prototype drones.
When the X-37B launches on May 16, it will carry a technology that could eventually allow drones to stay aloft indefinitely anywhere on the globe.
Circa 2017
Rapid improvement in micro drone technology is providing defence interests with new nimble capabilities.
Making wings that flap is very difficult, but it has real advantages as some are finding out.
A new VTOL capability for the Blackjack drone will scrap the launcher and make the system more expeditionary.
“You want to engage as many targets as you can at longer range so what you get at short range is a few leakers, not the whole swarm,” says McGovern.
Coyote 2 has entered service with the U.S. military and Raytheon are now offering it to international customers. The attack on Abqaiq, and mass drone assaults on the Russian airbase at Khmeimim in Syria, show how easily swarms of drones can be deployed even by non-state actors. Such attacks can rapidly deplete stocks of expensive missiles, or overwhelm them. Any drones that get through can attack with lethal effects.
In future conflicts, drone swarm versus interceptors is likely to become an increasingly key battle. Whoever has the fastest, most agile, and most numerous drones is likely to come out the winner. Coyote 2 may help defenders stay ahead of the threat.
