TL9 drones

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Anders

The use of drones has exploded (heh) in Ukraine, and they are arguably late TL8 early TL9. There are some drones in HT:EE - has anyone done any more work on them?

I suppose they could be built as characters?

They would be like a sword or a ship or a ring, so yeah.

[jason taylor]

What kind of anti-drone devices are there?

Right now drones are ahead, though I doubt the "swarm" idea will get off the ground (swarms are vulnerable to multikills). I would think it would be more converging, sort of like an old fashioned ToT artillery salvo.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What kind of anti-drone devices are there?

You can find lists online, but ranged jammer devices (some of which look and handle like rifles but have a cone of effect) and small anti-drone rockets seem common. Traditional firearms can also be used against repurposed civilian drones (which typically aren't too high up), although I think something like birdshot-loaded shotguns are kinda optimal there (a cone of fire gives you the best chance of actually landing a hit). There are also some anti-drone laser weapons in development. At TL 9, lasers, electrolasers, and microwave disruptors would all be useful anti-drone weapons (the last would probably be the best, between the high Acc and the fact it can target a hex rather than needing to land a point strike on the drone itself; high-flying drones would call for the exceptional range enjoyed by full-fat lasers, however).

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Yeah, I think most places where a spy drone would be functioning would be expecting there to be spies looking into them, so the fact the drone reveals its existence by siphoning some power doesn't matter unless the target was foolish enough to assume nobody would be spying there (and such a target may not be interested in wasting resources setting up a system to monitor for power theft). Knowing where the drone was at a specific time may be useful, of course, and over time you might be able to predict when and where it will recharge next and have a surprise waiting for it.

Unless it's using an induction recharger... which might not be quickly moved, but would be impossible to detect just from meter watching. You'd need good mark ones monitoring every foot of the grid to find that.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Unless it's using an induction recharger... which might not be quickly moved, but would be impossible to detect just from meter watching. You'd need good mark ones monitoring every foot of the grid to find that.

Why would it be impossible to detect? Induction charging isn't free of power draw.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What kind of anti-drone devices are there?

Well, the big strengths of drones are that they're small and cheap, so your base goal is systems where the countermeasures are big and expensive. In the modern world that's mostly ECM (a variety of environments also give drones trouble, but they tend to be hard to create on demand), next-gen probably pairs that with directed energy weapons (arguably directional ECM is a directed energy weapon already).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Unless it's using an induction recharger... which might not be quickly moved, but would be impossible to detect just from meter watching. You'd need good mark ones monitoring every foot of the grid to find that.

Induction is exactly what the drone from the article uses. I don't see why that wouldn't show up - power loss is power loss. Unless I'm misunderstanding the way induction works - if the production of the magnetic field from electricity going through the wire results in the same power loss regardless of if there's something using it to recharge, then indeed it would be undetectable. It would also be a victimless crime, as it's essentially using waste energy to recharge. But I don't think that's the way it works - otherwise you'd expect EMF shielding to be a thing that's done to increase efficiency of transport in addition to increasing security and reducing interference. Of course, that would be an option for power lines to avoid being fed upon by vampire drones and the like.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Induction is exactly what the drone from the article uses. I don't see why that wouldn't show up - power loss is power loss.

The big problem is that the power draw tends to be noise-level (though if it gets to be a problem, there are ways of shielding lines).

[Tyneras]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What kind of anti-drone devices are there?

• Nets/tanglers.
• Airburst munitions.
• Hosing the area with small caliber bullets.
• Even smaller, cheaper anti-drone drones (several current US projects with this goal)
• Energy weapons, especially if they are tuned to common drone materials, like whatever future batteries and power cells are made of. An instant thermal runaway beam would kill any LiOn powered TL8 device, from drones to phones to cars. Though larger drones are still powered by internal combustion.
• Flamethrowers (youtube)

Probably lots of other neat tricks. I wonder if the Vortex Ring weapons from GURPS Ultra-Tech could send one into an uncontrolled fall?

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Tyneras

• Nets/tanglers.
• Airburst munitions.
• Hosing the area with small caliber bullets.
• Even smaller, cheaper anti-drone drones (several current US projects with this goal)
• Energy weapons, especially if they are tuned to common drone materials, like whatever future batteries and power cells are made of. An instant thermal runaway beam would kill any LiOn powered TL8 device, from drones to phones to cars. Though larger drones are still powered by internal combustion.
• Flamethrowers (youtube)

Probably lots of other neat tricks. I wonder if the Vortex Ring weapons from GURPS Ultra-Tech could send one into an uncontrolled fall?

Also lots of electronic warfare such as jamming the control or navigation systems, particularly on civilian drones adapted for military use. And of course everyone wants to find and kill the drone controllers.

Static nets definitely work against many kamikaze drones.

I think the problem with birdshot would be the very short range, one air-defense system can't cover very far and it can't reach the bird up in the air that is guiding the artillery strike on your position.