back to article US Navy's LOCUST DRONE CANNON is like death SWARMED up

Drones are going to play a big part in future conflicts, and the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) knows it. The boffinry nerve-center has been showing off its latest idea – the Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) that will throw massive swarms of networked aircraft into the skies to search for the enemy. Youtube Video …

  1. PleebSmash
    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Terminator

      Re: oblig

      More obligatory:

      From " Weapon Systems of the Twenty First Century or the Upside-Down Evolution" by Stanislaw Lem (translated 1986):

      Some of the pseudo-insects could pierce the human body like bullets; others could form optical systems to throw sunlight over wide areas, altering the temperature of large air masses so as to produce heavy rainfall or fair weather, according to the needs of the campaign. There existed "meteorological insects" corresponding to nothing we know today. The endothermic synsects, for example, absorbed large quantities of energy for the sole purpose of causing a sudden drop in temperature over a given area, resulting in a thick fog or the phenomenon known as an inversion. Then there were synsects able to concentrate themselves into a single-use laser beamer; they replaced the artillery of the previous century -- although one can hardly speak of replacement, since artillery as we understand it would have been of as much use on the battlefield as slings and catapults. New weapons dictated new conditions of combat and, therefore, new strategy and tactics, both totally unhuman.

      For those who loved the uniform, the flag, the changing of the guard, standing at attention, drill, medals, and bayonet charges, the new era of war was an affront to their noble ideals, a mockery, a disgrace! The experts of the day called the new military science an "upside-down evolution," because in nature what came first were the simple, microscopic systems, which then changed over the eons into larger and larger life forms. In the military evolution of the postnuclear period, the exact opposite took place: microminiaturization.

      The microarmies developed in two stages. In the first stage, the unhumaned microweapons were still designed and built by people. In the second stage, microsoldiers were designed, combat-tested, and sent to be mass-produced by "construction battalions" of nonliving microdesigners. A phenomenon known as "sociointegrative degeneration" displaced humans first from the military and later from the weapons industry. The individual soldier degenerated when he ceased to be an intelligent being with a large brain and grew increasingly small and therefore increasingly simple, or when he became disposable, a "single-use soldier." (Some of the antimilitarists had maintained, long before, that modern warfare's high mortality rate made "single-use soldiers" of all the combatants, with the exception of the top-ranking officers.) In the end, a microfighter had as much brain as an ant or a termite.

      ...

      The strategical-numerical superiority of the computer-produced echelons finally forced even the most competent of commanders, including field marshals, into retirement. A tapestry of ribbons and medals on the chest was no protection against being put out to pasture. In various countries, at that time, a resistance movement developed among career officers. In the desperation of unemployment, they even joined the terrorist underground. It was a malicious trick of history -- no one deliberately planned it -- that these insurrections were crushed by means of micro-spies and minipolice built on the model of a particular cockroach.

      This roach, first described in 1981 by an eminent American neuroentomologist, has at the end of its abdomen fine hairs that are sensitive to even the slightest stirring in the air. Connected to a special dorsal nerve bundle, the hairs enable the roach to detect the approach of an enemy, even in complete darkness, and so to flee instantly. The counterparts to these hairs were the electronic picosensors of the minipolicemen who concealed themselves in cracks in old wallpaper at the rebel headquarters.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: oblig Not so far away......

        And with a little dash of IoT, your cockroaches can go anywhere while your mini-police report home on a regular basis.

        Paranoid me? Nah...

        But I would like one for that constantly crapping and barking house pet that lives next door. Preferably with a frickin' laser attached.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Mark 85

      Yeah... those were the "duds" that will need to be returned for refund. However, Amazon is being uncooperative at this juncture since the package delivery was one-way, no refunds unless you hand deliver it to the nearest fulfillment center.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Responsibility to deliver!

        "We had to destroy the village in order to enhance the freedom of Amazon packetization to it!"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Real world usage

    1) The swarm is launched and sent to the target area.

    2) A looong time slowly passes...

    3) At the halfway point the slowly moving swarm runs out of gas and crashes.

    4) The enemy taunts the ship commander over the radio.

    5) The ship commander orders a proper airstrike to shut them up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Real world usage

      6) The Commander says, "Oh, bugger" when he remembers that they got rid of all the "real" planes because they were no longer needed.

  4. GrumpyOldBloke

    Anyone fortunate enough to live in areas slated to be part of the new infidel century might start investigating low cost directed energy welcomers. Maybe wide beam x-ray or gamma ray welcomers pointing towards your liberators and their technology. Can't be much room on a micro drone for hardening and any shielding on larger objects detracts from payload - so win win.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You guys aren't getting it - this kind of thing is to go with the railguns on order. No need for expensive bombs or worrying about getting them there! Just a chunk of aluminium at hyper sonic speed will do. I bet it won't be long until the range of both items are similar. Nearly risk free way to attack from 20-50 miles from navigable water, anyone?

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Using my house as an example, your rail-gun idea isn't going to work:

      1. I live much much further than 20-50 miles from the nearest (sea-connected) navigable water.

      2. That mountain range I can see from my window is a pretty effective shield.

      3. Even if I did live within 20-50 miles in an area with no significant topography, a rail-gun slug (or any kind of unguided artillery) isn't going to be single-house-accurate over that range because of all the wobbly air it must pass through.

  6. kain preacher

    metal storm

    Metal storm would take care of these drones.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjGbOyd2ek

  7. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Prior art

    You call that a drone swarm?

    Now this ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-700_Granit ) is a drone swarm. Thankfully, never ever fired in anger.

  8. Lapun Mankimasta

    There's a general rule: a great power going downhill will have a special friend that it shares a lot of its goodies with. In order to get in good with the up-and-coming great power set to replace the old one, the special friend will share the goodies with the up-and-comer. What the up-and-comer does with those goodies is anyone's guess.

    The current great power is the US, the special friend is Israel, the up-and-comer is China. It's a fair bet that the Israelis already have passed this on to the Chinese; it's a fair bet that the Chinese have already passed it on to the Iranians - because, after all, one of the flow-on effects of the 2003 Iraqi War debacle was to anoint Iran as the resident power of the Persian Gulf, and in order to maintain an uninterrupted steady flow of energy products from the Persian Gulf while everything gets retooled for renewables, the Iranians need strong defenses.

    So at a guess, I'd say the Iranians are indeed taking note. I'd also guess they'll soon show up in Iranian hands in the fight against the "Islamic State".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The enemy of my enemy...

      I wonder how much the improvements in the USA's relations with Iran have to do with knowledge that they could be the only Nation in that area strong enough to combat ISIS incursions.

      And how much it has to do with not allowing China's influence to replace Russia's in the area.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: The enemy of my enemy...

        I wonder how much the improvements in the USA's relations with Iran

        Not really improvements as this can go either way with neocons/Israelis threatening a "small, circumbscribed aggression on Iran" at any time of the day for no particular reason whatsoever. I hope Russia delivers those embargoed S300 fast and extends credit as needed for more before someone decides to have a go because "the price is low so why not".

        Additionally, US are helping Saudis bomb the shit out of Houthis in Yemen (and the UN is on board) because they have something to do with Iran, while AQAP takes large areas.

        It's like a Neal Stephenson "I can't believe this would ever happen" novel of clusterfuck come alive. In 3D IMAX!

  9. Sarah Balfour
    Pirate

    Reading this has chilled me to the core…

    …not to mention given me an intensely sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. The civilian casualties this has the potential to cause… well, it doesn't even bear thinking about (but that's why the US pioneered drone warfare - if a couple of dozen happen to wipe out a small village, or a couple drop on a primary school - well, they're not human beings, are they…? They're 'collateral damage'! And as the bombs which murdered them were remotely operated - well there's no blame, is there…? Who are the gonna point the finger at…? Cross the US and your country' will probably be next. Nobody will DARE seek help from the UN - they'll be too fucking terrified!)

    The U.S. is rapidly turning into North Korea - except the U.S. WILL bomb you if it decides it doesn't like you.

    Pity none of my fellow commentards seem to have even a shred of conscience.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Reading this has chilled me to the core…

      The military. It's job is killing people.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Mark 85

      Re: Reading this has chilled me to the core…

      Now that you've bashed the hell out of the US, how about doing the same for others? Such as the Deash? Taliban? Guerrilla warfare has changed the way wars are fought. Go back to WWII (actually go back as far as you'd like) and look at the way it was fought by both sides. Not just the military against military but the guerillas vs. military. The sad part is it's not just one country at fault here, it's all of them. It's the natural progression of warfare and those would do evil.

      The by product of this is civilian casualties. Lots of them since WWII on both sides of the battle line. How does one prevent civilian casualties? Allow the enemy to move in amongst them and use civilians as sort of armor? I'm sure the civilians like that idea. NOT. Non-combatants have suffered since the first war way back in time. It was customary for the victor to slay all civilians when a town was taken.

      I'm not condoning. Just explaining that this is nothing new in warfare. Warfare is brutal and many times the victors suffer just as much as the losers. The face of warfare is changing and will continue to change.

      Learn from history instead of repeating it.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Reading this has chilled me to the core…

      Theoretically, with all the (battlefield) information collected, you can target smaller weapons at carefully selected targets instead of using the maximum deliverable weapon (1xxxx or xxx kg bomb). That's the ideal. What we see is targeting based upon hunches or, worse, cell-phones (which is why standard practice for Taliban, AQ, et alia is to swap phones at every opportunity). That's not good enough in my book but no body is asking me to set the protocols for using these devices. Done correctly, deployment technologies like this have the potential to save lives that would otherwise have been lost. It doesn't help that the combatants use human shields at every opportunity, but that's part of the situation, especially how you optimally deal with that. [Hmm... drone assassins for when they go to the loo?]

      [Were I still in uniform, I probably wouldn't be far from Mr. Jonathan Pollard's cell. Not for spying for any foreign intelligence agency. No, principled refusal to follow unconstitutional orders and whistle-blowing as a result. Then again, my CO's knew of my predilections in that regard.]

      On a different note, it's interesting that the launching system is bog-standard on every ASW helicopter in the US Navy.

  10. smartypants

    Real World Usage II

    1. Politicos decide to 'sort out' a part of the world by unleashing 'surgical' attacks on it.

    2. High tech weapons stack used to cause profound damage to said part of the world in a 'surgical way'

    3. Wind on 5 years, and said part of world is even worse than before, society having broken down completely into warring factions where the most violent and extreme are in charge, and the ordinary people are more miserable than they have ever been in their lives.

    4. Politicos in step 1 are retired and comfortable / still bashing on about 'best decision at the time'. None of them are in prison.

    5. Historians wonder why this keeps happening, given the lessons of history.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Real World Usage II

      Unfortunately, my Mom has a Ph.D. in anthropology and I got all the background I'd ever need on who has been doing what to whom for the last six thousand years, give or take. As a point of reference she made a direct call on what would happen in Somalia, the same as has happened to every intruder in the area. Couple of years later, we turn tail and run.

  11. Idocrase

    http://homeworld.wikia.com/wiki/Puppeteer-class_Drone_Frigate

    When they start mounting these on navy ships, I'll start considering them cool. Until then, meh, youtubers have been doing this for years already.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And don't forget

      When weapons like this become cheap and cheerful (as opposed to an F-22, which still costs a cool 350 M), almost any reasonably well-resourced, fully plundered country run by a corrupt dictatorship can buy some too.

      What's not to like? Our ex-mil neighborhood watch captain said they could clean up the local crack house problem in a jiffy.

  12. big_D Silver badge

    Dystopian

    The US armed forces seem to have been reading the dystopian novels about the dangers of using drones lately, and ignoring the dystopian effects of drones (especially autonomous drones and swarms) and just seeing woo, cool tech, how can we implement it?

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