[fennecfoxy]

To be fair Ukraine's drones seem to mostly be commercial units with an explosive strapped to them. I imagine the failure rate/hits are quite low compared to what they could be with something purpose built.

They're also relying mostly on human operators rather than autonomy, human operators come with all the usual caveats of reaction time and requiring video to be sent back.

I don't want people to think I'm denouncing their drone operators though, they're doing what needs to be done with limited resources, stress and psychological tolls.

[jonah]

That was true at the beginning of the recent conflict, but now there is an extensive domestic drone design and production.

Yes, a lot - but not all - are fly by wire. (And actually literally wire, or rather fiber optic cable to avoid RF jamming.)

[fennecfoxy]

Oh yes for sure - but most of the domestic production is still "plugging drone bits from China together".

I think they're definitely working on more autonomy etc but I think it kind of proves that even the current ones are actually pretty effective. A well designed drone with AI/autonomous capabilities is terrifying. People could point to switch-blade but the cost per unit for the functionality you get is just absolutely insane.

[TiredOfLife]

> "plugging drone bits from China together".

China has more or less stopped selling those bits to Ukraine

[robocat]

Reference?

And is China restricting sales of drone motors to the US? As part of the rare earth trade embargoes?

[red-iron-pine]

I think you mean "EU" since plenty of drone parts can be made there, and are, and are shipped to the Ukrainians directly