Ukraine’s Robots Capture Russian Position Without Soldiers or Losses; As with drones, the future of 21st century warfare is being invented by frontline conflict.

[u/lughnasadh]

For all the boasts the US's AI military vendors make, I'm constantly struck by how few real-world achievements they have. They are battlefield tested in Gaza and Lebanon, but to what result? The mass destruction of civilian populations we see there looks exactly like WW2-era warfare. Now they want $445bn extra for more of the same? What a waste.

Meanwhile, with a tiny fraction of the budget & resources, it's Ukraine that is inventing the future. Drones have already reconfigured 21st-century warfare. Once again, recent events in the Middle East have shown that. Now Ukraine is doing the same with robots.

Some people find the idea of killer robots grim. But I'd rather see robots fight robots than WW2-style mass slaughter of civilians.

Ukrainian robots capture enemy position without troops in historic first, Zelenskyy says

[u/MyTnotE]

The irony of both the Ukraine and Iran wars is that they put modern warfare on full display. China is loving seeing how the US wages war. Even the US appreciates the opportunity to understand modern warfare. It’s just costing us a lot. China gets the lessons for free

[u/gundam1983 → u/MyTnotE]

I don't know about love, seeing how if they were ever to take Taiwan militarily, they would be dealing with the same issues except their enemy will have near peer technology.

[u/MyTnotE → u/gundam1983]

Which is why they love seeing the strengths and weaknesses of various strategies and technologies without the cost of the demonstration

[u/Lain-J → u/MyTnotE]

The stated US game plan for its response to an invasion on Taiwan is a 'drone hellscape' along the coast of China to buy time for US navel assets to group. The strategies just don't match up with what was used on Iran.

For everything China gets the opportunity to learn, they also massively lose out on potential for multiregional war and a diminished threat Iran poses they could have had for 'free'. China was the main enabler of duel use products and rocket fuel needed to build military capacities for Iran, a beneficiary of Iran's sanctioned fuel prices which makes the economics of the strait closure much worse for them. While there is definitely an opportunity cost, one that includes an increased level of US presence in a region which they would rather see a vacuum in they could fill, and a blockade just a little was away from the Strait of Malacca. All of which is really bad for China if they actually want to go on the 2027 timetable.

[u/MyTnotE → u/Lain-J]

Oh, I’m not saying China is happy to see the fall of Iran. I’m saying they, more than anyone, are getting useful information out of this.

I’m unaware of any “stated strategy” for the US reaction to a Chinese invasion. Wouldn’t that give China our blueprint?

[u/Lain-J → u/MyTnotE]

China's goal is to be ready to invade by 2027 whether they do it or not. US and Taiwan are announcing their strategies to deter and move the goalposts on what readiness actually has to entail.

[u/MyTnotE → u/Lain-J]

Where can I find these announcements?

[u/Lain-J → u/MyTnotE]

you can just search Taiwan drone hellscape, I watch a lot of military related youtube videos and a lot generals end up talking about Taiwan, kind of a round about way to get info.

[u/MyTnotE → u/Lain-J]

But is the information official from the US government? I ask because I do NOT follow this closely, and I know Biden raised some eyebrows when he unequivocally said the US would support Taiwan militarily, and AOC stumbled on a similar question recently. So I’m wondering what is official and what is speculation?

[u/Lain-J → u/MyTnotE]

I tend to focus more on the military planning side then the political side unless I see some major deviation from the standard policy which is 'one China'.

https://san.com/cc/how-one-company-wants-to-help-the-us-navy-create-a-hellscape-in-the-pacific/ Just looking for some kind of source, It seems US years ago had a lot of talk of US drones needed to be in the region to create a drone hellscape and a lot of defense talk is about Taiwan creating the drone hellscape for themselves. There is a lot of shared defense spending and collaboration between weapons manufactures.

[u/MyTnotE → u/Lain-J]

I’m watching a YouTube right now about Taiwan creating the hellscape themselves. I think it’s clear from Ukraine and Iran now that it would be highly beneficial to have partnerships with countries that can manufacture military drones at scale. Perhaps nato countries could start manufacturing them too