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Israel used world's first AI-guided combat drone swarm in Gaza attacks
https://www.newscientist.com ^ | 30 June 2021 | By David Hambling

Posted on 07/01/2021 11:46:38 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19

During operations in Gaza in mid-May, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used a swarm of small drones to locate, identify and attack Hamas militants. This is thought to be the first time a drone swarm has been used in combat.

Drones are usually controlled individually by remote operators, but a swarm is a single networked entity that flies itself using artificial intelligence. It can cover a wide area and keep operating even if it loses many units, and only requires a single

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ai; skynet; theend

1 posted on 07/01/2021 11:46:38 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
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To: RomanSoldier19

This is part of the reason that the left hates Israel. They work hard and think!


2 posted on 07/01/2021 11:58:30 AM PDT by Spok (There are many more things that frighten us than can cause us harm.)
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To: RomanSoldier19

Background info:

https://defense-update.com/20210613_drone-swarms.html


3 posted on 07/01/2021 12:05:15 PM PDT by TexasGator (UF)
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To: Spok

This is cool, but also a warning to the US Military.

Drones are cheap and easy to deploy. Our adversaries in future conflicts will have them, and many of the weapons systems we have relied on are vulnerable to them.


4 posted on 07/01/2021 12:17:21 PM PDT by Renfrew
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To: RomanSoldier19

Interesting, but could be a slippery slope.


5 posted on 07/01/2021 12:27:22 PM PDT by BBQToadRibs2
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To: Renfrew

Some of the drones look like they are carrying Claymores.
One video shows a drone placing a package on a wall. Surveillance device? Shaped charge?


6 posted on 07/01/2021 12:30:35 PM PDT by Fred Hayek (Antifa=BLM=RevCom=CPUSA = CCP=Democratic Party )
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To: Renfrew
We have been coasting for decades with contests against third-world opponents who could not match our technology. That is clearly ending with deployment of drone combat swarms. Just about everybody can afford them now.

This is as big a change as the historical deployment of firearms in war and in particular, the use of automatic repeated fire in war(machine guns).

The Generals in World War 1 were using tactics developed in pre-firearms eras. They sent lines of men abreast to clash with the men in enemy lines. And those troops were slaughtered by automatic weapons.

The recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was decided by Turkish-supplied drone forces. And the Armenians, who did not have them, were slaughtered.

Our Generals had better be learning from this.

7 posted on 07/01/2021 12:39:27 PM PDT by flamberge (Time has run out. Work with what you've got.)
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To: Fred Hayek

I wanna see one that pretends to be an Amazon delivery drone and rings the doorbell.


8 posted on 07/01/2021 12:46:55 PM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: TexasGator

https://defense-update.com/20210613_drone-swarms.html

per your link:

“In 2017 Elbit Systems was selected to provide multi-rotor drone systems based on a series of drones developed by its subsidiary Flying production.

One of these platforms is THOR, a multi-rotor VTOL drone that was designed to meet MIL-STD-810 requirements. THOR can fly at altitudes of up to 12,000 ft above sea level (3,660 m), and operate at extreme temperatures (-40 to +65), withstand wind gusts and heavy rain and snow, and resist the penetration of sand or dust. With a mission endurance of 75 minutes, it can operate at a radius of up to 10 km, flying up to 2,000 ft. (600 m) above ground. THOR can carry payloads up to 3 kg, including a high-resolution day/night payload.
The miniature THOR multirotor drone is designed specifically for military missions. It is smart, quiet, carries relatively heavy payloads (for its size), and can operate autonomously or under operator supervision at an extended range. Photo: Elbit Systems

THOR is extremely quiet compared with the common commercial drones, even as it flies at the maximum speed of 40 km/h. The drone features real-time datalink and control software designed for military users. It is suitable for operation in urban areas and open terrain with an automatic takeoff and landing capability and autonomous mission flight.

Other drones are purpose-built for specific missions, including persistent surveillance in urban terrain, indoor reconnaissance, and kinetic effects. By sharing a network, autonomous capabilities, and artificial intelligence, the drones operate together as a group or ‘swarm,’ leveraging unique capabilities and efficiencies that conventional means cannot deliver.

On May 6, 2021, as the fighting in the south erupted, the new S&D unit moved quickly to become the first military unit to operate drone swarms in combat. Within few hours, they deployed and fielded this brand-new system, seeking and destroying dozens of hidden enemy targets in complex terrain in rural and urban areas.

A clip from a recent exercise of the MDG showing a micro-drone employing a unique ‘perch and stare’ capability in a dense urban area. Source: IDF Spokesperson.

Within a few days, the new unit brought stunning results. A single company empowered by drone swarms, precision weapons, and comprehensive C4I delivered over 30 missions, destroying dozens of enemy targets several kilometers beyond the border. They were able to locate the enemy in complex urban and densely vegetated rural areas, designate targets, assess those targets at the company CP, strike the targets selected for engagement and perform battle damage assessment (BDA), all that done within minutes by drone swarms.

Following the success of these S&D companies, the GFC recommended converting all combat support companies in regular force to S&D companies over the next year. This new capability will dramatically improve the IDF’s combat effectiveness in dealing with a possible eruption of hostilities with Iranian-backed Hezbollah on the Lebanese border.”

So, IDF is going to covert *ALL* combat support companies to S&D companies ... this is really an astonishing, order of magnitude increase in military capability, vastly magnifying the lethality, capability, flexibility and SAFETY of ground soldiers ... and just as importantly for small countries like Israel, it doesn’t take massive industrial infrastructure and huge amounts of natural resources to produce these kinds of weapons in mass ...


9 posted on 07/01/2021 12:48:49 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: PLMerite

Candygram for Mongo...


10 posted on 07/01/2021 1:09:25 PM PDT by Noumenon (The Second Amendment exists primarily to deal with those who just won't take no for an answer. KTF)
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To: flamberge
Our Generals had better be learning from this.

Are you serious? General Milley is looking for white rage, globull warming, and scouring the land for transgendered misfits. All else is not a priority.

Mark my words, there are going to be a lot of she'll shocked Americans the next time we face an adversary of any substance.

11 posted on 07/01/2021 1:28:16 PM PDT by Obadiah
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To: Obadiah

We had technology during the fake war on terror that could have save thousands of troops but were simply fodder.


12 posted on 07/01/2021 1:41:36 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: PLMerite

Quote: I wanna see one that pretends to be an Amazon delivery drone and rings the doorbell.

Candygram for Mongo!


14 posted on 07/01/2021 1:56:50 PM PDT by Kommodor (Solzhenitsyn was an optimist...)
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To: Noumenon

Dang, ya beat me to it.


15 posted on 07/01/2021 1:57:23 PM PDT by Kommodor (Solzhenitsyn was an optimist...)
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To: Kommodor

Mongo only pawn in game of life.


16 posted on 07/01/2021 2:13:50 PM PDT by Noumenon (The Second Amendment exists primarily to deal with those who just won't take no for an answer. KTF)
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To: flamberge

“Our Generals had better be learning from this”


They’re too busy implementing Barry’s fundamental changes under Sleepy Joe’s puppet master.


17 posted on 07/01/2021 2:26:03 PM PDT by mcshot (We've been bamboozled.)
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To: Obadiah
Are you serious?

Well, it is mostly wishful thinking on my part.

Our Military is being castrated by the "Social Justice Warriors". Soon they will be fit only for suppressing domestic insurgency of a disarmed population. Which is what I expect they will be used for.

The next time we face an adversary of any substance, our people will be killed in enormous numbers. It will be similar to the course of World War 1 in absolutely senseless causalities incurred because generals and politicians refused to learn anything from history.

We might best be thinking about what should come afterwards, and how to make that happen.

18 posted on 07/01/2021 3:36:06 PM PDT by flamberge (Time has run out. Work with what you've got.)
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To: RomanSoldier19

Even ISIS was using simple store-bought drones to drop pipe bombs on the Syrian army. They actually had some effect.


19 posted on 07/01/2021 4:12:51 PM PDT by lurk ( )
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To: Renfrew
Drones are cheap and easy to deploy.

They won't be when we do it.

20 posted on 07/01/2021 10:02:56 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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