Using drones: principles, tactics and results (amended title)

[Firn]

Sven has a fine blog post about this topic.

Aerial drones are no doubt part of the future combat supply mix.

Firn

[AdamG]

Meet the Counter-Measure.

As drones increase in availability, more organizations and governments are looking for ways to protect assets from nefarious drones. Fortem has developed a system called DroneHunter that, well, hunts drones. Literally. DroneHunter involves detecting and then removing drones by shooting them down or capturing them with another drone. This is dogfighting with drones.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/fo...-rogue-drones/

I can't wait for the Counter-Counter Measure.

[AdamG]

A start-up called Volans-i is building drones that can deliver heavy parts over long distances, even to a ship that's sailing at sea. This kind of technology could have saved the Titanic, CEO and co-founder Hannan Parvizian quipped.
*
Volans-i's drones are able to travel for up to 500 miles carrying 20 pounds of cargo at a time at a top speed of 200 miles per hour. (A delivery from Los Angeles to San Francisco would take three to four hours.) They are able to do this by employing fixed wings along with vertical-take-off-and-landing systems for flight, and both batteries and fuel for propulsion.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/26/vola...ving-ship.html

[davidbfpo]

A short commentary on the intense US aerial campaign against militant Islamist groups between 2009 and 2014, in Pakistan's tribal areas (FATA) and in particular North Waziristan.

It is part of an academic project into drones (UAV) at Birmingham University (UK):

we carried out more than 30 interviews and two general surveys, with more than 400 respondents, in Pakistan to assess the impact of the drones in the tribal areas. From what they told us, we learned that conflicting perceptions of the use of drones can shape not only conflict but also coexistence – and even cooperation.

It ends with a passage, which echoes much of what SWJ is about:

In a nutshell, the reason the drone campaign helped dash hopes of a settlement was the social, political, and cultural dynamics of Pakistan’s tribal region and the way the tribal system’s core elements were undermined. If you want to explain what happened to the short-lived peace process in Pakistan in 2013-14, you have to start there. And so does anyone charged with coming up with any new counter-insurgency strategy, whether it includes drone strikes or not.

Link:https://theconversation.com/interviews-with-pakistani-civilians-and-pervez-musharraf-tell-a-complicated-story-of-drone-warfare-102288?

[AdamG]

Across the Middle East, countries locked out of purchasing U.S.-made drones due to rules over excessive civilian casualties are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, who are world’s main distributor of armed drones.

“The Chinese product now doesn’t lack technology, it only lacks market share,” said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and former lecturer at the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force University of Engineering. “And the United States restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity.”

The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests.

“It’s a hedging strategy and the Chinese will look to benefit from that,” said Douglas Barrie, an airpower specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “I think the Chinese are far less liable to be swayed by concerns over civilian casualties,” he said.

At the start of the year, a satellite passing over southern Saudi Arabia photographed U.S.-made surveillance drones at an airfield, alongside Chinese-manufactured armed ones.

https://apnews.com/1da29d68e3cc47b58631768c1dcfa445

[davidbfpo]

I have merged a small 2018 thread, with four posts, on logistic drones into this the main thread.

[davidbfpo]

An Israeli think tank report that may be of interest; only partially read.
Link:https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en...orist-attacks/

[davidbfpo]

A short article via Lawfare, it starts with this and my bold added:

Many analysts, practitioners, and scholars are skeptical of the efficacy of drone strikes for counterterrorism, suggesting that they provide short-term gains at best and are counterproductive at worst. .....Contrary to the skeptics, I find that drone strikes in Pakistan were effective in degrading the targeted armed groups. And, troublingly, they succeeded in doing so even though they harmed civilians.

There are numerous links within, which I have not explored.
Link:https://www.lawfareblog.com/us-drone...stan-revisited