Comments by "The Immortal" (@theimmortal4718) on "Military Aviation History" channel.

  1. I've been an armored crewman in the Bradley. You don't fire many rounds per engagement, and the programmable rounds are on the HE. You use sabot, which is cheaper, against other IFVs. The programmable HE is worth it because it takes fewer rounds to be effective against trucks, troops, and drones.
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  2. Electric quadcopters are nearly silent 500-2000 feet up and nearly invisible, especially when colored white. We've been training this year with Skydio X2 drones. Fits in your assault pack, comes in a pack of 2, flies for 30 minutes and up to 5k from your position, and only costs 10k. Disposable and a real force multiplier. There's no real reason to get ambushed or react to chance contacts anymore. A platoon literally has a 5k bubble around them of awareness. Leaders recons have just become sending the drone out. It really cuts down on the number of patrols needed. With the FLIR and GPS/laser designator, all targets that show themselves either get some love from mortars/artillery or they're followed back to their positions for a complete bombardment. Warfare has dramatically changed in the past 5 years.
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  3.  @peceed  Well, regardless, we are using quadcopters. I don't know which ones you've been using, but ours can't be heard past 100 meters. They're semi autonomous, so you don't have to pilot them most of the time. Fixed wing is a nonstarter for a platoon level drone system and manned helicopters are too expensive, risky, and rare. There's only so many helicopters and a squad isn't going to get air cover on demand. The ability for a platoon to recon several kilometers in every direction is a huge game changer. Especially with FLIR and LRF. Stealth and camouflage are now way more important than they have been in decades.
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  4. Using UAVs to recon and spot for artillery is what they were designed to do. Attaching weapons to them came later.
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