Thread by @TrentTelenko

This is an example of why I've said the West & the US Military in particular has lost air superiority under 3,000 feet.🧵

Swarms of cheap propeller driven cruise missiles with satellite radio navigation and commercial satellite images for Digital Scene Matching Area
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https://twitter.com/tinso_ww/status/1573961986026643456

...Correlator (DSMAC) can overwhelm air defenses of fixed targets.

Every fixed headquarters or major logistical hub within 1,800 km of a Shahed 136 drone box launcher will be hit if, it lacks significant air defenses.

This is utterly devastating for US expeditionary forces
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... which lack such defenses because of an over investment in crewed jet fighters at the expense of appropriate ground based air defenses.

The only thing that will beat a well wrangled drone swarm is another drone swarm.
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The only real counter to a drone swarm of ultra maneuverable drones having both significant small explosive forging fragment (EFF) warheads and top end artificial intelligence/electronic warfare is another drone swarm.

Directed energy weapons (DEW) are a partial answer,
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...but weather, terrain and electronic countermeasures can overwhelm DEW fire control rapid engagement capability.

The fact of life with drones is the smaller the mass of the drone, the more vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse (EMP)/high power microwaves (HPM).

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For all a quadcopter's fragility, a swarm of them that has coordinated ECM with approach/evasive maneuvers will screw to utter h--l of even a top end DEW, simply because of the beam director's slew rate and pointing limits.

Ditto if the DEW is augmented with mini-missiles.

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Consider that a half second cycle time is insufficient against a micro-drone swarm closing at 80 mph, if they pop out from behind a terrain feature at 450 m with a 150 m range EFF warhead.

The swarm only has to close 300 meters. The numbers:

80 mph = 13.7 meters per sec.

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300/13.7 = 22 seconds.

A half second cycle time means maybe 40-50 of 70-80 micro-drones in a swarm could be eliminated before EFF detonation.

40-50 hypervelocity cannon balls that can slice through the side of an Abrams tank is bad news in anyone's book.
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And before the usual F-35 fanboy suspects start gibbering about winged drones aren't quadcopter drones, so they won't have the range.

This is the latest trend in drones, compound helicopters.

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https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1536394233652858882

The Turkish manufacturer Bayraktar is going there, so these will be the world standard for loitering munitions in less than a year.

So what if I give up 600km of my 1800km Shahed 136 range.

I can now snuggle up to a target like a small quadcopter.

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https://twitter.com/OmiljeniDaidza/status/1536396257740087296

Only an opposing swarm with specialist drones possessing multi-shot drone air-to-air weapons, or non-nuclear EMP, as opposed to one-shot vehicle killing EFF, has the endurance and below line of sight reach to oppose the enemy swarm.

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breakingdefense.com/2021/03/drones…

Manned ships and vehicles will become both drone tenders and C3I nodes.

And by tenders I mean they will be additive manufacturing points for semi-expendable drone swarms. The storage efficiency of additive manufacturing powder, electronics & small drone

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...power components means you can simply have more, more, more, for protracted drone combat at a distance in a given tender volume.

These drone tenders will be satellite linked to weapon/UAV design houses producing new & adaptive drone swarm members based on real time

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...combat intelligence.

Effectively we are talking terrestrial versions of the missile and spacecraft producing battle stations a'la science fiction author @Jringo1508 "TROY RISING" alien invasion book series are the future of warfare.

(See: goodreads.com/book/show/8866…)
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Naval ships and AFV's can have robust EMP/HPM protection.

They can field such weapons as "close area defense" against smaller/better drone swarms.

More mass intensive EMP/HPM proofed drones are not going to be both ultra maneuverable and
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...cheap/expendable like smaller drones and are thus good mini-missile targets.

A drone tending sea/ground vehicles can integrate smallest/electronically fittest defense drones as long range defense, with coordinated EMP/HPM weapons versus the incoming enemy drone swarm
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...such that battle drone tender defensive weapon engagement rates won't be overwhelmed.

NB: A really powerful electronically scanned radar array can act as both a HPM weapon at close range and G-d's own wide bandwidth data link at longer ranges to coordinate non-EMP

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...proof smaller/better defense drones onto mass-intensive enemy drones so a coordinated mid-to-short range defense of EMP/HPM weapons & the point defense DEW beams that can handle the incoming threat.

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The drone tender concept represents a fundamental problem not just for the F-35, but also US Navy's DDG(X).

It simply lacks the required size, space and power for drone tending as well as lacking the proper weapons & C3I fit necessary for 21st century drone warfare.
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Given the Sea RAM point defense missile runs $900K USD a shot.

The US Navy is over specialized for anti-ship cruise missiles and under armed for drone and guided artillery rockets.

At $50K USD a shot, Reshef-class corvettes with Sea Tamir simply
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https://twitter.com/D__Mitch/status/1416704424437854216

...look more survivable in the 21st century within 150 km of a coast versus drones & guided rockets.

The expeditionary US Navy absolutely needs the ability to generate sustained drone warshot on the spot in a way that Israel doesn't.
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And the DDG(X) looks like the next Littoral Combat Ship design.

A design, like the F-35, that is completely inappropriate for peer-to-peer 21st century drone combat.

22/22 End.