Future of Warfare

[pErvinalia]

couldn't be bothered finding a supporting link or making an argument.

Straya (and others) are spending bazillions on new F35 fighter jets and $50billion on 12 new submarines. Big large fighting machines. The future is rushing at us at an increasing speed. By the time these things are built tested and in proper operation, the leaders in military hardware are going to be ever closer to implementing new small robot "swarm" technologies. So, instead of having one large F35 or submarine, they will have 100 or a 1000 small robots that work intelligently together to swarm these large opponents. The future of military hardware is small robot swarms. Big slow machines just won't cut it any more.

Has anyone checked lately whether China is making robot swarm technology?

[pErvinalia]

From my other defence thread:

I'm just going to put this thread down to a thought bubble. It's the fault of my other thread and no one commenting on it. It comes out of the question of what is the best approach to future military hardware/tactics. Australia has just spent near enough to $100billion buying F35's and new submarines. Great, we will have kick ass capabilities in conventional warfare (if the F35 actually works). But what if warfare totally changes over the next 20-30 years? It seems logical to me (and others) that warfare will move from large clunky machines to small fast manoeuvrable swarm technologies. It would seem to me that a swarm of tiny independent yet swarming machines could decimate a big submarine (and probably an F35).

[JimC]

What this says to me is perhaps the Defence Department needs a unit of adventurous futurists, to examine the possibilities of future warfare carefully, and ginger up the planning. I can't see that a free market approach is going to help, except in so far as the department should be keeping a close eye on what manufacturers who push the envelope are doing...

I strongly suspect that a workable, practical version of the swarm is still a long way in the future...

[pErvinalia]

Well most defence departments have that. We have the DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation). It just such a big outlay for an uncertain future. To me it might make more sense to get half the submarines and something other than the F35 that will actually work, and still dominate our region (other than China, perhaps), and part of the saved money can go towards more R&D for new warfare methods.

[cronus]

The future of warfare is sticks. Some sticks will be short and some long. But sticks all the same.

[pErvinalia]

And Chinese burns.

[cronus]

If you put all your money in sticks you can't go wrong this week.

[laklak]

Clubs and flint spears, teeth and fists. For them. We'll have nano terminators.

[Hermit]

I strongly suspect that a workable, practical version of the swarm is still a long way in the future...

It's not all that far away. The drones are cheap enough to produce in multiples for the cost of a single conventional fighter/bomber, and they are getting smaller and more capable.

[JimC]

I strongly suspect that a workable, practical version of the swarm is still a long way in the future...

It's not all that far away. The drones are cheap enough to produce in multiples for the cost of a single conventional fighter/bomber, and they are getting smaller and more capable.

Some main issues will be sufficient energy storage, seamless communication with swarm and to a controller, sufficient killing power and sufficient computing power. I'll believe they are a real military option when I see a video of them destroying a tank or a jet fighter...

[pErvinalia]

I think energy/fuel will be the main constraining factor. They won't need a controller other than for major decisions like "on/off" or "target this" etc. They will run on AI type systems. They will form a distributed computing network with themselves so will have plenty of computing power. Killing power will be an interesting development. Will they have mini explosives on them, or will they do other things like disable electronics or physically interfere will propulsion systems?

[Scot Dutchy]

I think the human race will wake up in time to realise how futile war is.

[pErvinalia]

No hope, unfortunately.

[Scot Dutchy]

No hope, unfortunately.

You just never know.

[rasetsu]

I think energy/fuel will be the main constraining factor. They won't need a controller other than for major decisions like "on/off" or "target this" etc. They will run on AI type systems. They will form a distributed computing network with themselves so will have plenty of computing power. Killing power will be an interesting development. Will they have mini explosives on them, or will they do other things like disable electronics or physically interfere will propulsion systems?

Oh great. AI targeting. "Honey, the military's swarm is after Johnson's cow again....."

Two words: urban pacification. Still the critical link in any military campaign. Human grunts are cheap, come with plenty of AI already on board, and are expendable.