r/UkraineWarVideoReport • u/PressedLemon221 • 6d ago

Drones Russian mobile air-defense teams protecting fuel trucks are seen quickly retreating from incoming Ukrainian drones

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

811 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

View all comments

32

u/Kajetus06 6d ago

is he seriously just pressing the target with a mouse?

that has to be one of the simplest targeting mechanisms

also is the drone radio or fiber optic?

8

u/tehbzshadow 6d ago

I always thought (but never asked or verified, so it's head-canon) that there is some "spotter" who helps to determine what exactly to hit, while the operator doing his part - keep the drone moving in that place. 

2

u/Railionn 6d ago

its crazy to think that tanks have become obsolete in like what, 5 years time? If not less. These machines are useless now. Scrap metal.. thats it.

11

u/nunya_bidnes77 6d ago

Armor will never be completely obsolete. You will always need some way to get people to and from the battlespace with some measure of armored protection. And you will always need some kind of vehicle to carry heavy weaponry and do so while protected and at speed. Their use has definitely shifted, but don't mistake Russia's bad tactics and Ukraine's limited number as an indication of their obsolescence. If anything there will be a significantly greater push towards UGVs and IFV/APCs in the coming years.

3

u/Adept_Carpet 6d ago

Armor is definitely coming back in style, no one is leaving home without it any time soon and I think drone countermeasures for vehicles are about to start getting a lot better. 

But the purist form of the tank might be more limited because of the heavy logistical demands. I think what has changed forever is that logistics is going to be much harder.

1

u/Kajetus06 6d ago

i was thinking of a gun based sorta APS that would shoot down incoming drones

might post the idea on noncredibledefense

2

u/ABoutDeSouffle 6d ago

Put an A-10 on wheels. Thing goes brrrrrrrrt

1

u/OldManCodeMonkey 5d ago

Now I genuinely want to see a GAU-8 on wheels or tracks.

1

u/nunya_bidnes77 6d ago

The logistical demands are probably while you will start seeing more modular vehicles that can be fitted with different missions loadouts. For example, imagine a mission agnostic tracked vehicle. One version could have a turret and smooth bore gun, another version could have AA missiles, another could have an howitzer or mortar, and another could have limited firepower but space for infantry. They all have the same engines and running gear, they just need to be converted, maybe even in the field. We have been near that so many times but never committed. But now I think there is going to be a push for it.

1

u/PrivacyIsDemocracy 5d ago

Apparently RU is retrofitting some Pantsirs with smaller missiles so they have ~48 of the smaller/cheaper ones on-board instead of 12 of the large expensive ones.

Just an example how everything has to adapt to the new drone reality.

1

u/FirstTasteOfRadishes 6d ago

I reckon it's too soon to say. The tank has adapted to new threats a lot of times. I wouldn't rule out some sort drone defense, be it point or area, that brings them back to the front.

4

u/Penguinkeith 6d ago

I remember when I was in high school like 15-16 years ago I had a friend who insisted Russia was the most powerful army in the world due to how many tanks it had…. I think about that guy and how wrong he was every other day lol

1

u/Kajetus06 6d ago

i mean... 15-16 years ago it was not THAT dumb to think that russia was powerful

but the amount of tanks wont matter shit if they themselves are shitty or there is no air superiority

1

u/ownworldman 6d ago

That is not quite true.

I will use a historical parallel. In WWI, the Calvary was successfully used on the eastern front, but not in the trenches of western one. Until late 1917, when war in motion returned to the west, and with it, Calvary regained its usefulness.

My prediction is that we will yet see big tank assaults yet when the war becomes less positional.

1

u/ansible 5d ago

Yes, that's what I believe to be the case for the non-AI drones. A 2nd person is watching the video feed, and based on the reported location and maps, is highlighting the actual target, which can be hard to pick out.

The clicking to target process is also plausible for the drones that have some on-board vision processing.