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I fought in Ukraine and here's why FPV drones kind of suck

(warontherocks.com)
182 points _tk_ | 1 comments | 26 Jun 25 10:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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varjag ◴[26 Jun 25 11:23 UTC] No.44386284[source]▶
This tracks with the earlier ~12% drone kill efficiency estimates. However drone is a mass deployment weapon. Ukraine did about 2 million frontline sorties in 2024 and aims for 5 million this year. This 1 out of 9 ratio translates into absolutely devastating damage, that artillery and airstrikes (which are also hardly "easy to use") can only dream of.
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Neil44 ◴[26 Jun 25 11:47 UTC] No.44386456[source]▶
This is true, but the author also talks about cost e.g. $500 for a drone vs $100 for an artillery shell with far more effect. Surely at the point where the drone has visual on the target you can fire 5 x shells over for massively greater effect on target, and keep the drone flying for the next target, and the next.
replies(2): >>44386520 #>>44389163 #
varjag ◴[26 Jun 25 11:54 UTC] No.44386520[source]▶
$100 is a cost of a 60mm mortar shell. It is a hand grenade sized munition lobbed from a Pringles can sized weapon to the range of 1-2km. This is generally not the thing that comes to mind when you think of artillery strike.

A 155mm (dumb, unguided) shell would set you back 5-8K USD. That's before the propellant charge, fuse and amortization of the artillery piece and its 5 man crew.

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Neil44 ◴[26 Jun 25 12:40 UTC] No.44386849[source]▶
That's interesting thankyou. It's a good google rabbit hole. Apparently we're in surge pricing right now because of Ukraine, and Russian shells are only costing them $1000. It seems they caught us sleeping, manufacturing wise.
replies(1): >>44386988 #
1. varjag ◴[26 Jun 25 12:57 UTC] No.44386988[source]▶
The heavy Soivet calibre used by Russia is 152mm which translates to a slightly cheaper shell (though not 5x for sure). Russia also uses 122mm arty which is substantially cheaper: the costs follow to the cube volume. Another factor is that a lot of supplies are Iranian and North Korean old stock with what we can assume reasonable prices. Ukraine was getting Vietnam war era 155mm stock relatively cheap too, while it lasted.