Ukrainian drone teams demolished a brigade of US Army tanks and armored vehicles during a live war game held this year—but the US soldiers were lucky enough to get “respawn” attempts while learning from the experience.

The semiannual military exercise, called Combined Resolve, gave the US military a firsthand taste of how modern drone warfare has evolved on the battlefields of Ukraine. The Ukrainian drone operators participating in the exercise were easily able to spot and destroy US armored vehicles by mimicking the actions of dropping bombs from above or moving close enough to simulate a kamikaze strike, according to US officials and a participant who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.

  • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Y’know, if we (US) were smart and actually supported Ukraine with everything they need, you know they’d bend over backward to give us much of the tech they’ve developed.

    Thanks, Trump. You’ve shit the bed on yet another thing here. But this is also Republicans in general. So fuck 'em all.

    Not that I necessarily want the US to be ‘the world’s policeman’ any more, but y’know, we do pride ourselves on our military. Seems we’re behind the times now and if shit goes down… will we have an advantage as we have in the past? Maybe. Maybe not.

    Ugh.

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    it’s good that the war games happen. you learn a lot from losing.

    it should be noted that the U.S. military loses effectively on purpose. ( I’m not saying they purposely lose, they just create situations where they basically have a very high probability of losing. ) for example the F-22 will open it’s bay doors so they are easier to spot on radar (and that’s just one example). That’s just a matter of public record. (and yes i know this battle was about tanks and drones)

    But it’s always interesting to see the results of the war games.

      • andrewta@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        No idea what The Hegseth military will learn

        No idea what the military will learn.

        And my guess is we will never know . Probably new techniques. That’s just a guess.

      • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Like Trump demanding steam launch systems be retrofitted replacing the new electromagnetic stuff, because he is a toddler that understand nothing.

        But assuming we survive Trump… maybe these lessons will make it under the next administration.

      • BillCheddar@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Is your generation incapable of developing a thought or imagining something?

        You really can’t figure out how an institution as large and complex as the US military might have a way to learn things, even when shitheads are in charge?

        Can’t imagine how it might be done? Can’t think through and solve that one? C’mon. I refuse to believe anyone is that dense.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I’m kind of surprised no solid point defence platform has emerged from this heavy drone warefare.

    Obviously its not as easy as just slapping a radar onto a turret 50 cal, but you’d think we’d at least have something for drones since they move way slower than air dropped bombs and tank munitions.

    • a1studmuffin@aussie.zone
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      26 minutes ago

      I remember reading an article a while back about high powered lasers that could essentially take down drones via direct line of sight, but haven’t heard much more since then. I guess they’re difficult to target from the ground if they’re flying at very low altitude.

  • itsjustachairmary@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    Teaches me for skipping the title and reading the body first, I missed that these were war games lol. For a second I thought ‘wait how have I missed everything that led up to this’

    • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      hah, gotta love that. Like scrolling reddit and you see something like “How can I kill my baby? I’ve tried starving, drowning…” and brain kinda half-reads and is like W T F - then you realize it’s like /r/TheSims or whatever. hehe

  • blargh513@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    Ever since the air force took a technology-first approach, they’ve developed capabilities where they can put an explosive device with a few feet of where they want it to be from 40k feet up.

    That drones could wipe out or disable tanks is not at all a surprise.

    I really have no idea how more “bad people” aren’t just vaporized from orbit at this point.

    • BillCheddar@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      The bad people own the drones.

      But no worry! The Flock cameras will redefine a whole new class of bad people for the fascists to murder.

    • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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      5 hours ago

      Tanks have always been best in combined arms situations where they have close air support and infantry support.

      Even regular infantry can be devastating to tanks in certain situations depending on the terrain and tactics used.

      I think the future of unit warfare will likely be some hybrid model where the close air support role is offloaded to drones that advance and maneuver along with ground units. Maybe sufficiently advanced militaries will also incorporate drone tank-like ground vehicles and scout vehicles.

      All the worlds big military players are watching what’s happening in Ukraine and taking notes.

      • testaccount372920@piefed.zip
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        2 hours ago

        All those things are things Ukraine has tried or is trying. Unmanner vehicles are mainly used for frontline logistics, but some with machine guns have held positions that infantry couldn’t. Drones appear to be useful in pretty much any situation, but infantry is still needed for taking/keeping control of terrain. Tanks are well suites for assaults, even with drones buzzing arround, but again with the support of infantry and all those other things you mentioned. It seems that war had changed quite a bit, but everything still revolves around infantry.

    • Kirp123@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      The drones are in a truck being delivered to the front. They would probably win there.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Really depends on the tanks and drones in question, the soldiers involved, the commanders running the operation, the actual objectives of the mission, yada yada.

      Just straight off the bat, drones aren’t great at securing supply lines or moving large volumes of cargo long distances.