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

(warontherocks.com)
182 points _tk_ | 2 comments | 26 Jun 25 10:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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.
replies(1): >>44386456 #
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.

replies(3): >>44386849 #>>44387861 #>>44387967 #
1. bluGill ◴[26 Jun 25 14:45 UTC] No.44387967[source]▶
A M107 155mm round weights 95lbs when launched. Assuming that is pure lead (this is false, but lead is very cheap and it gives us numbers to work with) I can buy lead ignots for $2.89/lbs. Which puts us at $293 per rounds in just materials. Since we assume the other materials cost money too, plus there is the energy used to turn ignots into a round, it seems unlikely you can get the cost to much under $1000 no matter how good your mass production is.
replies(1): >>44388123 #
2. beAbU ◴[26 Jun 25 15:02 UTC] No.44388123[source]▶
And then you need to add that 5-10x government contract price multiplier to the cost as well.