Thread by @TrentTelenko

There is a major lesson in this FPV drone attack for AFV designers.

And AFV without an active protection system (APS) is horribly vulnerable to a $600 indirect fire precision weapon it cannot see the operator of.

1/

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1667565436974637056

And an APS isn't a magic shield.

It is a two round from any direction "saving throw" that weighs 2.2 tons and runs to seven figures in cost.

2/

https://twitter.com/JonHawkes275/status/1454014003638898688

If I'm saving a $5 million top of the line M1A2 from a $100,000 fire and forget Javelin class missile.

That is a cost trade off that works.

For a $600 FPV drone, an "Over the Hill RPG," not so much.

3/

You see, we are at the beginning of the FPV drone development curve while APS are a 20 year and counting answer to the older threat of a top of the line $100K fire and forget ATGM.

You can buy 166 FPV drones for the cost of a single Javelin.

4/

Yes, it's going to cost more to get thermal sights on an FPV.

I can get a rifle scope sized uncooled thermal sight from Amazon -dot- com for $999.

amazon.com/AGM-Global-Vis…
5/

So we are talking a $2,500 all weather anti-tank FPV in the next couple of years at the outside and more like 2 months at the rate of change we are seeing in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

6/

The idea of having a drone operator for a tank in another vehicle a terrain feature back gets shot in the head if every vehicle has to have a seven figure APS.

Adding a Bradley sized drone control vehicle sporting an APS to support every Abrams tank platoon is a false economy
7/

It would be far better to replace the current Abrams ammo load out with an 38 shell autoloader & keep the loader as a drone and drone defense electronic warfare operator in each M1A2.

It would provide redundancy & the ability for a tank to launch & control its own Drone CAP.
8/

In an age of four figure cost thermal FPV's, tanks are going to need an outer layer of defensive drones immediately overhead that they control to provide a layered defense like aircraft carriers do today.

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The YouTuber Matsimus goes into the implications of grenade dropping small drones and what BAE Systems is doing with the CV90 fighting vehicle to counter the small drone threat.

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The small drone threat is going to require anti-small drone defenses on every fighting vehicle, and I am saying this for a good reason.

One of the interesting effects of being a "Twitter influencer" is getting Drone tech firms advertise to you about their digital

11/

...terrain/bandwidth coverage prediction software detailing how drone R/F links can be maintained through jamming via using terrain obstacles.

Urban and other close terrain will be the norm and not the exception in fighting with AFV's.

12/

"One terrain feature back" is an obsolete concept when small drones have digital maps to maneuver to avoid line of sight to EW & drone operators that are supposed to protect the overhead space of a crewed tank, crewed AFV or infantry squad.

13/13 End