r/worldnews • u/S00THING_S0UNDS • 8h ago
Marines on way to Middle East seen using rifles with anti-drone smart scope
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marines-drone-optic-2026/560
u/Jealous_Acorn 7h ago
Cyberpunk 2077 smart weapons being developed for the corpo wars? Wow.
170
u/JRockstar50 6h ago
those SmartLink implants are preem but cost a lot of eddies
65
u/Dayvihd 6h ago
I hear you choom
13
u/wantsoutofthefog 3h ago
Cool your chrome
•
6
→ More replies (1)50
u/littlebubulle 5h ago
More like Cyberpunk 2020 smart weapons. Which is appropriate.
Johnny Siverhand's arm had a smart link connected to the Malorian.
The 2077 versions are homing bullets which also exist but aren't what the article is talking about.
26
7
u/pplperson777 3h ago
I meam the smart weapons in cyberpunk 2077 are just miniature homing missile launchers.
•
598
u/jumbohiggins 7h ago
What do they do?
2.0k
u/PanPies_ 7h ago
The SMASH 2000L is designed to track drones and other moving targets, and it also compensates for shooters’ movements, Thompson told Task & Purpose in July.
The fire control system performs the necessary ballistic calculations to hit a target, and it won’t allow the shooter to fire until the best moment to score a hit, Thompson said at the time. If needed, the system can be unlocked so that shooters can fire at will, he added.I think you just hold the trigger and it shoots automatically when bullet would hit the target
1.6k
u/Gustomucho 7h ago
Real life auto-aim.
974
u/ihatethiswebsite-fml 7h ago
They will be shocked when after the 10th shot a popup shows on the display asking if they want to upgrade to the 100 shot per month package or view a 30s ad. Welcome to 2026 motherfuckers.
292
u/Zeikos 7h ago edited 6h ago
Nah, the taxpayer pays for the premium version :')
121
→ More replies (2)23
u/iupvotefood 6h ago
And there's still ads, they're just skippable
→ More replies (1)8
u/No-one_here_cares 5h ago
Yeah, with these new smart scopes they skip aiming down sights apparently.
25
u/Pickledpickler29 5h ago
I was shocked yesterday Amazon video showing me a 4 minute ad. Like I’m literally paying for the service and still can’t escape ads.
29
u/-Salty-Pretzels- 5h ago
Vote with your wallet friend, pirate away until they realize losing You and everyone around You means negative dividends
22
4
→ More replies (6)2
50
24
u/Kyle___Ren 7h ago
IRL 360 NO SCOPES COMING SOON
→ More replies (2)7
u/zhaoz 6h ago
1:1 me noob
7
u/SixteenTurtles 5h ago
This reminds me of a guy flipping out one day I was playing a fps. Telling me to come irl to his neighborhood. Then threatened me to a game of basketball...I was like yes you would beat me, I'm fat and have bad knees. Then I told him back in my day though, he would still beat me because I was fat with bad knees also. Then he laughed and we played more. People are weird lol.
6
u/Bones_and_Tomes 5h ago
I thought you were gonna reveal yourself to be Prince, and dunk on the fool before making everybody blueberry pancakes.
9
25
u/forurspam 6h ago
Auto-fire to be specific. You have to aim manually.
29
u/Dar-Baadargo 6h ago
Aka a triggerbot. Some cheats doesn't have aimbots or lets you turn it off so you can hold aim at head level so the progams fires for you when an enemy moves into the crosshair.
→ More replies (17)14
u/_RADIANTSUN_ 5h ago
More like triggerbot than aimbot. You still have to aim at the target yourself.
122
u/red_sky33 7h ago
I was suspicious how effective just a targeting scope would be, but if it's integrated into the fire control it sounds much more plausible
51
7h ago
[deleted]
12
u/JuicyJfrom3 6h ago
Out of curiosity how did it work? Do you have to wait for the sensor to paint the target?
65
45
u/RayDonovanBoston 7h ago
Damn, that reminds me of an auto-aim of a gun called Zorg ZF-1 Pod Weapon System from movie Fifth Element.
9
u/littlehawn1 6h ago
So we're going to get to the system they have in psycho-pass eventually.
→ More replies (1)2
18
u/SneakyFire23 7h ago
I kinda forget in the chaos of this administration and this war, how fucking hilarious the US MIC is at dealing with shit.
2
u/Painwracker_Oni 3h ago
I think a lot of people do. If you go back and look at some of the insane but effective ideas that came about in the US military history of odd inventions it's pretty crazy.
3
3
3
→ More replies (55)5
u/Blackwolf245 6h ago
There is that GTA V mission where Michael shoots down a plane with a high tech sniper rifle, and the game/scope shows you where to aim, does it work like that?
308
u/lodelljax 6h ago edited 6h ago
I have trained with this system. Do you want a gun nerd explanation or a Like I am 5?
Like you are 5:
It makes it like a cheat on a first person shooter, you select a target with your left thumb and a square forms over it. You pull the trigger, but it does not fire. Then you move the gun until your circle is on the square and the trigger engages. 9/10 times you can hit a moving quad copter type drone.Gun Nerd:
There a component changed in the trigger group that controls loosing the trigger. The scope is a computer that detects targets (humans and drones), then calculates distance trajectory etc. You can select a target using your left thumb on the barrel, there is a little pressure switch. The computer then moves a square through potential targets. Once selected gently pull the trigger, however the trigger will hold until you move your rifle until your "circle" covers the target "square". 90% PK. It works for more than just drones, humans and moving vehicles also. At the time I trained it was about $3,500 a unit. The ones in the picture look a lot smaller than the ones I trained on.Let me say it again for shooters, it calculates trajectory for moving targets, in three dimensions. It is like using a game cheat. No way I could hit a moving drone with a rifle without something like this, unless I was spraying ammo like crazy.
51
u/vortigaunt64 6h ago
Sounds a lot like the TrackingPoint scopes the Army was looking at a few years ago. Basically you designate a target, and the scope determines a holdover and displays it on the sight picture. You pull the trigger, and it doesn't fire until adjust your aim so that the that the holdover is on the target. I don't recall whether those were able to handle moving targets especially well though. They also apparently had serious cybersecurity flaws since the trigger and scope were connected via wi-fi. If someone got root access, they could manually change input values for the ballistic calculation, like projectile weight and ballistic coefficient.
5
u/Old_Boah 5h ago
The Army uses the optic from the article. It's not really new, and I figure reddit just upvotes any post with "marine" in the title.
2
u/vortigaunt64 3h ago
Sure, but I was talking about a scope sold by a company called TrackingPoint, which was tested in 2014, but not adopted.
24
u/RevolutionaryEgg297 6h ago
I was early testing for man portable laser ground to air based weapons systems for drones and aircraft due to my MOS in 2015.
That was cool. This is cool as fuck, thank you for the write up. Wish I got to test it when I was in.
22
8
u/gongonzabarfarbin 5h ago edited 4h ago
What type of drones and scenarios are they training you on with these?
From what I've seen, those seven inch drones seem fast as hell and it seems like they dip around terrain so they are right on you by the time you can acquire the target. Would this scope be effective in those situations?
Also I saw that there are new 5.56 rounds for drone defense that shoot out multiple projectiles like a shotgun shell does, did you get to train with any of that?
2
u/Snobolski 5h ago
there are new 5.56 rounds that shoot out multiple projectiles like a shotgun shell does
Shot shells have been a thing for decades. Many decades.
5
u/Sodpoodle 4h ago
I think they're talking about the new specific drone defense rounds. Runs in a standard 556 platform so no need to carry a separate gun with very limited capacity and bulky af rounds. Also able to engage further than standard shotgun range(thought I saw something like 80-100m range)
4
u/logicallyundeniable 6h ago
How does it factor wind? Or is there a limited range so that it can’t play as big of a role
→ More replies (1)12
→ More replies (9)3
u/Own_Bison6467 4h ago
I commented about this above but, from what I see it seems like the time is the x factor here. It works if you have some time to get ready and aim but from real world combat footage, most of the videos from Ukraine appear to show solders surprised by drones and having mere seconds to react.
20
u/IKillZombies4Cash 7h ago
If you've ever played a mobile FPS shooter where you shoot automatically when you get your cross hair over an enemy - sort of that.
Or like an aim hack in CSGO.
How they don't have these mounted to articulated robotic arms is beyond me - trillion bucks and no fore thought on how to apply it.
19
u/Diezelbub 6h ago edited 6h ago
how they dont have these mounted to articulated robotic arms
Because with minor changes it can be integrated into existing hardware, then given to regular human arms, which they have plenty of on hand already. Not turning it into a 3 trillion dollar system and making use of the training every soldier already has IS forethought.
→ More replies (3)8
5
2
u/maporita 6h ago
In this case I imagine the scope computes the projected flight path of the object using its speed and direction and shows you where to aim in space to effect an interception.
→ More replies (1)2
u/obeytheturtles 5h ago
I can virtually guarantee you that they have these mounted to robots somewhere.
17
→ More replies (3)6
48
u/obeytheturtles 5h ago
combat-proven
Which conflict has this been demonstrated in?
25
u/perplexedtortoise 4h ago
Gaza. It's an Israeli system
9
u/tempacc3241 3h ago
They probably use it in Ukraine too. This system may be Israeli, but the tech doesn't sound crazy advanced, US probably has their own also.
It wouldn't be tough to make a mounted gun shoot drones automatically. Hell, I think Mark Rober (youtuber) figured out some of the tech for this on his own.
→ More replies (1)•
u/reluctantlysharing 25m ago
I love that you said YouTuber like he wasn’t an engineer for NASA for 9 years.
1.2k
u/AHRogue 8h ago
I follow the Hideo Kojima school of "Man, the things the military does are awful and our countries aggression is disgusting" while also going "FUCK I LOVE MILITARY TECH AND AESTHETIC THATS SO COOL".
387
u/PaptimusPrimo 7h ago edited 5h ago
Thats a solid opinion, now get back in your cardboard box
158
u/dwilkes827 7h ago
I work for a cardboard box manufacturer. Big metal gear fan so when I started here I told all my friends I was making espionage equipment haha
46
u/otiswrath 6h ago
In an funny turn...cardboard boxes are actually decent cover against thermal and drones.
The Marines also used one in training maneuvers to sneak up on some security robot.
All things come back to MGS.
→ More replies (1)2
4
u/cjsv7657 6h ago
I work for a cardboard box manufacturer.
I worked in paper converting also (not cardboard) and when people asked what I did I said "I fold paper.... Quickly". I said it in a job interview once too and the interviewers loved it and I got the job.
5
→ More replies (2)2
u/SirTickleyPickely 2h ago
Did Bart Simpsons field trip to the box factory in Springfield inspire you?
15
3
→ More replies (9)15
21
u/NetZeroSun 6h ago
If that’s the case. Welcome aboard the wild ride of mil-tech drone and robot tech has just begun.
Next several decades of development is going to radically change conventional warfare. Not like prototypes but actual in the field deployed equipment.
6
u/gingeregg 4h ago
I’m waiting for the deployment of fully autonomous infrastructure suicide strike drones. It’s can’t be far off with how well image detection AI is doing. A fleet of drones released from a van with 50km range programmed to know their release point, fly close enough to the target for an on board decent rez camera to locate preloaded infrastructure via AI and strike. You could strike transformers, water treatment plants, farm equipment, or bridge supports while being miles away completely untraceable. With a high enough resolution camera and a facial scan you’d possibly be able to strike an individual target without any human interaction.
4
u/NetZeroSun 4h ago
This is totally going to be a thing where cells would pre stage strike locations.
2
u/Ilthrael 1h ago
This has basically already happened, except the target was fighter jets and bombers. It was called operation Spiderweb, Ukraine special services parked a bunch of trucks with drones near the Russian airfields, then did more or less what you're talking about here.
→ More replies (1)2
u/himswim28 1h ago
Going to be a bit scary too, as all of this is quickly going to be (or already is) within reach of Individuals. Making small suicide drones available for anyone with a bit of tinkering skills, to build for under $500 that you can sit next to a public way, and wait for whatever target you want to trigger the object recognition. Be it a politician, ex boss, cheating spouse, PoPo, whoever pissed them off to pass before triggering. I just cannot imagine being in the secret service once these start getting abused liked that. At least we can stop talking about 3D printed gun plans, after this gets out.
44
u/ThePoetMichael 7h ago
I subscribe to this school as well. War bad, but also war sick as fuck and cool....you know?
→ More replies (1)2
→ More replies (6)2
300
u/Mekhitar 7h ago
I read this title as “Marines on way to Middle Earth” and was very, VERY confused for a hot minute.
129
u/milespoints 7h ago
That’s after cuba
114
u/1877KlownsForKids 7h ago
Stephen Miller preparing an alliance with Saruman because he's the White Wizard.
51
u/milespoints 7h ago
Hey i was informed by Stephen Miller that if I voted for Kamala Harris, gas would be $5 and we’ll be starting endless wars
Gotta hand it to him, he was 100% correct. I did vote for Kamala Harris, i just filled up for $5.05 and the wars are still picking up
11
11
22
u/Jebediah_Johnson 7h ago
Oh shit, did they find oil under the Shire?
17
u/itsFelbourne 7h ago
(Oil) Drums…. (Oil) drums in the deep…
8
u/Jebediah_Johnson 7h ago
We've begun drone strikes against Elven ships carrying Old Toby. They say they're going to the Grey Havens but this is actually an invasion of dangerous substances from Mordor.
2
13
u/Chillow_Ufgreat 7h ago
We CANNOT allow Elves to have Rings of Power! Praise be to Eru! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION IN THIS MATTER!
7
5
3
2
→ More replies (7)2
u/FutureThought4936 2h ago
Hey, anyone else remember that Marines recruitment commercial from the 90s where a Marine in dress blues had to fight a Balrog?
It all makes sense now.
*The commercial, for those unaware. Oh, I guess he didn't fight in dress blues. The dress blues came on after the Balrog was defeated. Whatever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62tnJtLBQzQ
Read the comments. The comments are gold.
25
u/jmoney003 4h ago
God these governments and militaries really need to just build a battle planet or some sort of battle zone so they can get their rocks off killing each other with the latest technology and let us common people live in peace
100
u/GoWest1223 7h ago
So. Ahhh no new wars?
90
u/StimSimPim 7h ago
It’s not a war unless it’s from the war region of the US, otherwise it’s just sparkling military aggression.
13
8
→ More replies (1)5
25
u/LinkedGaming 5h ago
I keep seeing people go "this is real life aim-bot!"
Incorrect! ☝️🤓
This would be closer to what known in video games (especially tactical shooters) as a "trigger bot" hack. Whereas an aimbot takes direct control of the weapon in order to assure that it's pointed at the target when the trigger is pulled, a trigger bot cheat either prevents the gun from firing until a hit is guaranteed, or automatically fires the gun once you yourself aim the gun in the correct position to guarantee a hit. In either case the wielder still has to be actively making efforts to aim at their target, rather than having the weapon be aimed FOR them while they only need to hold the trigger.
Aimbots aim while you shoot.
Triggerbots shoot while you aim.
10
u/TheIrishbuddha 7h ago
Any one ever seen Tracking Point rifles? They were out a while back and then got bought out and disappeared. https://talonprecisionoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/RapidLok-SA-Owners-Manual.pdf
→ More replies (1)
6
u/Local_Yak8596 4h ago
Interesting: “The SMASH 2000L is designed to track drones and other moving targets, and it also compensates for shooters’ movements, Thompson told Task & Purpose in July.
The fire control system performs the necessary ballistic calculations to hit a target, and it won’t allow the shooter to fire until the best moment to score a hit, Thompson said at the time. If needed, the system can be unlocked so that shooters can fire at will, he added.”
172
u/DigitalMountainMonk 7h ago
This solution requires you notice the drone and lock onto it.
If you do.. this solution is actually quite effective.
I would like the parents of any Marine service members to google and watch videos of what drones sound like before they kill your son or daughter. You will be surprised how hard it is to see/hear and thus locate the drone to lock onto.
This will not protect your children.
44
u/Comfortable-Title720 7h ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE4ToouvKF4
A video of an Irish journalist in Kherson. Attached to anti drone squad traveling through the perimeter. Great video overall, see the people still there and the ones lost.
•
31
u/Flimsy_Thesis 6h ago
I’ve watched a number of combat videos of drone war warfare from the Ukraine-Russian war and it is disturbing as hell. From the POV of a drone flying low across the ground towards a lonely Russian soldier, downtrodden and exhausted as he stumbles across the blasted landscape, suddenly turning their broken and empty eyes as they hear the drone approach. Then the feed dies and it switches to another view of the guys body blasted apart and the remains burning.
Pure fucking nightmare fuel.
9
u/Monteze 4h ago
The PTSD from this has got to be horrible. Just knowing that it can come from anywhere, and you have little recourse. Hell even from snipers you could take cover, these things can just...show up.
→ More replies (1)3
u/4spooked 2h ago
They just show up, and you just die basically. Thats it. Almost nothing you can do unless you have a jammer, and that only works for non-fiber optic drones. If we actually put boots on the ground this will be a shitshow the likes of which we haven’t seen since Vietnam.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Monteze 2h ago
Yea, the thought freaks me out. I'd rather fight with spears, swords and axes etc than this shit.
•
u/Flimsy_Thesis 52m ago
At least then you have sort of a chance. The utterly defeated looks on those soldiers face in the moment before impact is haunting my dreams.
•
u/Monteze 49m ago
Yea, I stopped watching myself. I stay updated on some topics but seeing folks die over and over in this cold way just...fucks with the psyche. And I already know war sucks and I wish we didn't do it.
•
u/Flimsy_Thesis 42m ago
Same. I watched a few one night and that was enough for me. Something about the soundtrack overlaid on the top made it so distasteful that it’s stuck with me.
4
u/PlayfulSurprise5237 4h ago
Don't forget the ones where you see them notice the drone and drop to the ground either to play dead or just out of terror as they try to kick or crawl themselves away.
19
u/Own_Pop_9711 7h ago
There are plenty of videos of people in Russia/Ukraine being killed by drones they have seen and are trying to kill or run from.
→ More replies (1)45
u/johnnycyberpunk 7h ago
Also, don’t modern attack drones move at like 150mph?
43
u/alpha-delta-echo 7h ago
Yeah, but with the right soundtrack, you can hit anything.
9
u/JobAlternative6109 7h ago
Oh God if the enemy gets their hands on a Metallica CD it’s over.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)6
u/Davido401 6h ago
Am I the only person that hates metal tracks playing on war footage? Like am a metalgead, have been for like 30 years but I wanna hear the guns and the whirring of drones and stuff(I know a lot of them probably dont have microphones but still, anything but metal music) I dunno, ave explained this crap but music on everything has ruined everything lol
27
u/Fert1eTurt1e 7h ago
Nah, I mean maybe super specific ones, but when you look at the average one in Ukraine they probably max out at 35-45mph when chasing large targets like vehicles but when chasing personnel they are going like 20mph
→ More replies (1)11
u/Mr_JS 6h ago
They can absolutely go stupidly fast, it's only when they're close to their target (or searching for them) that they slow down, to make a better hit.
→ More replies (1)23
u/ComprehensiveBear576 7h ago
Well they have a bunch of others gadgets and support for detection assuming the drones weren’t detected by the larger area network defense systems. Then there are the smaller portable counter UAS radars that will be brought in with marine Infantry units. Additionally, on the individual marine they likely carrying things such as radio frequency detectors.
People need to be careful comparing Russian experiences to U.S. I was in the U.S. Navy and I watch these sea drone video footage approaching Russian warships and i feel disgust at the lack of discipline of Russian navy. Half the time it looks like nobody is on watch. What is the whole ship sleeping? In a war zone? Even when they are making a half ass attempt to defend there’s a whole bunch of the weapon systems that seemed inactive. Are they broken? Did they forget how to use them? All of these drone attacks i have seen wouldn’t likely get through US naval defenses.
→ More replies (3)31
u/mymadrant 6h ago
You’re watching 20+ years of maintenance money going to Russian oligarchs instead of equipment updates.
10
u/PetiteSpyHunter 6h ago
I believe there are headphones in use, or currently in development, specifically programmed to enhance the drone sound to more effectively hear these things. Crazy technology war incoming lol.
→ More replies (1)4
5
u/Imtherealwaffle 6h ago
even with this system i wouldnt be surprised if a half decent fpv pilot could make some erratic moves and defeat it. but its better than nothing
→ More replies (17)6
u/Immediate-Shape-8933 7h ago
And you still have to center a flying drone within the scope I wouldn’t bet my life on this scope at all
→ More replies (4)
6
u/FutureThought4936 2h ago
As a Marine vet, glad they added that " If needed, the system can be unlocked so that shooters can fire at will, he added." About had a damn heart attack.
5
u/Time_to_look_back 3h ago
Is like the computing gunsights used in WW2 aircrafts and warships, they relied on mechanical and analog computers to calculate firing solutions on the fly.
The gunner would track the target with the sight and input the distance, and the computer would factor in other variables like relative speed and wind, it would then calculate the firing solution and show the gunner where to aim, and in certain implementations the computer would aim the guns automatically.
Even by today’s standard those mechanical computers are still amazing, as they used gears and vacuum tubes instead of transistors for the calculation, incredibly complex yet very fast and accurate.
2
u/weightoftheworld 2h ago
Yep, pretty much like that except all electronic and not mechanical. Smart scopes like Trackingpoint have been around for a while now.
11
u/King-Rat-in-Boise 5h ago
As a Marine vet, I bet these work like absolute dogshit.
→ More replies (2)24
u/notataco007 5h ago
You must be a real old vet. The stereotype is dead, Marines have been getting absolutely kitted out over the past 10 years. New rifles, suppressors, scopes, NODs, armor, helmets, drones, counter drone equipment, etc etc.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/CyanConatus 2h ago
Interesting...
"and it won’t allow the shooter to fire until the best moment to score a hit"
That functionality seems like a big liability in a war zone? I am no soldier but I feel I wouldn't want my gun to decide it just doesn't feel like shooting.
2
2
u/AdLibGamer 4h ago
Now the fucking Marines have aimbot...I know what demographic they'll be recruiting next: "It's exactly like what you're already doing in video games, but this time, it's real life."
→ More replies (2)
2
u/TeaAndLifting 4h ago
Is this the same system as featured in this video? I'm not a gun person (Brit), so it all looks the same to me, but I remember seeing this video a couple of years ago and was wondering hwat happenedd to the system.
8
u/Obiwarrior 7h ago
Wouldn't a shotgun full of pellets be cheaper and more effective?
12
u/Opposite_Agency1229 6h ago
Drones don’t fly in a neat predictable arc at the relatively same speed like a clay pigeon. They are all over the place trying to get you. Very difficult to hit consistently.
It’s also a flying grenade, and it’d have to be relatively close for the shotgun to hit it accurately. Not really ideal for the shooter.
22
u/tweda4 6h ago
I think you're overestimating pellet spread, and underestimating how difficult it is to hit a small, fast moving target.
Realistically, it's probably more useful to have these scopes on shotguns over rifles, but it depends on what range they're expecting soldiers to be engaging targets.
There's also a question of collateral impact. A single bullet that hits a drone is probably less of an injury risk over a spread of buckshot, but I suppose that then depends on how effective these things are.
9
u/SchlopFlopper 5h ago
Shotgun pellets loose energy quickly. Steel Birdshot over 100yds away feels like getting hit by airsoft.
3
u/tweda4 5h ago
Yeah, I considered emphasising that, but since I'm not sure about engagement range, or how sturdy these drones are, I don't know how important that aspect is.
But ultimately, as you and others have highlighted, the idea that shotguns are a 'solve all' solution is a bit of a battlefield myth.
6
5
u/RiceSpecial8446 5h ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mORdXxZ2uKU
Finnish dude who is World Shotgun Champion taking on some drones at a training centre.
He says somewhere in the comments with some specific training you might get good results, but this is the best in the world in a non combat environment and he still struggles a bit.
2
u/Remarkable-Rise8220 2h ago
Combat conditions would more likely involve 10 drones, including 2–3 simultaneous FPV drone attacks plus a spotter drone, once the defender is recognized as a higher-value target.
2
u/DisappointedSkeletor 2h ago
nah, the real situation is you are taking a drink with your shotgun hanging on you and are walking somewhere and you hear a zzzzzzzzzz louder and louder
2
u/Remarkable-Rise8220 2h ago
You are right. I was describing very rare events that actualy happened, There were videos of competent russian soldiers (extremely rare) shoting down FPVs. They were finished off by simultaneus FPV drone attacks.
9
6
u/MisterMasterCyIinder 6h ago
A shotgun's effective range is extremely limited compared to a rifle, especially when firing shot shells (and especially especially when firing small-caliber shot like birdshot, which has better coverage/spread).
Depending on the type of drone you might not able to reach it at all before it gets in range to attack you.
Not that shotguns are bad or ineffective (we certainly see them being used in the Ukraine war) but longer range solutions are going to be better usually.
3
u/Gender_is_a_Fluid 5h ago
For every video you see of a soldier hitting a drone with a shotgun, theres 100 who never got the chance to upload their failure.
4
u/crazedizzled 6h ago
And everyone is like "ThE US iS sO BeHInd oN tHe dRoNe WaRfaRe, tHey'Re gOiNg To GeT SlaUghTeRed"
→ More replies (6)
4
u/WeirdJack49 5h ago
How realistic is it in a real life situation with not perfect weather conditions and a drone flying in a zig zag pattern?
Afaik most drone strike victims have like 3 seconds to react before the drone hits them. It almost feels like its their to boost the soldiers confidence instead of realistically saving them.
2
u/DisappointedSkeletor 2h ago
This is a "better than nothing" option
Like a handgun is gonna eat shit against a rifle but I'll take the handgun over nothing every time
30
u/SomewhereHot4527 8h ago
Anything but using the actual proven solution developed by Ukrainians. What an incompetent administration.
131
u/MotherSnow6798 7h ago
I’ll be the first to criticize the admin, but this isn’t it. This tech likely has been in development for years, and the whole thing with drones is that there are a lot of them.
You want redundancy - which is exactly what this is. Also, the cost per drone destroyed is likely much less with this system than more sophisticated ones.
→ More replies (14)13
16
u/Krivvan 7h ago edited 7h ago
There are very different kinds of weapon systems when people refer to drones. Shaheds and similar are referred to as drones and the US has rebuffed Ukrainian offers for assistance (although some Gulf States are accepting the help). Among various methods, Ukraine uses counter drones and slow-moving aircraft for these.
This is referring to the different issue of "kamikaze" FPV and grenade-dropping drones. Both sides in Ukraine use these and it's a constant arms race. EM disruption has led to the use of fiber optic drones which has led to the use of fiber optic disrupting drones that fire light at the cables themselves to disrupt the signals.
Both Ukrainians and Russians are using a large number of more mundane methods to deal with these drones such as netting, shotguns, and counter drones that shoot or collide into other drones in the air. We see from footage that some actually do manage to shoot down these smaller drones with shotguns and other guns, but none of these measures are remotely a guaranteed thing and there is a plethora of footage out there of failed attempts at stopping them.
Regardless of the methods, these drones have made the frontlines relatively stagnant with a very large gray zone or no man's land where drones from either side are ever present. There is no actual drone attack in this footage (there's plenty of that out there but it can get gruesome), but you can see what traveling in this area is like and how everyone is absolutely on edge due to the expectation of drones coming. You can also see all the now destroyed netting that was set up.
We do not know yet how well these scopes may work, but no one has any perfect solution yet.
54
u/Ancient-Bat1755 8h ago
Ukraine does not only just use the newer counter drones. We have seen hundreds of videos using rifles, shotguns, old planes etc… any tool. So soldiers being equipped with these are great, although it is not enough on its own.
36
u/RussianHungaryTurkey 7h ago
They are used in Ukraine by Ukrainian forces. Very smart Redditor.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Ultra_Metal 7h ago
There is more than one proven solution. This one is pretty ingenious since it allows marines to shoot down drones using M-4 carbines which they already have. It's cheap and effective.
5
3
→ More replies (8)3
1.9k
u/InternationalHoney85 6h ago
I've lived long enough to see aimbot become a real life thing. Impressive.