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News & Current Events Apr 6, 2026 at 2:04 AM

Ukraine–Japan Drone Alliance Builds a $2,000 Answer to a $2 Million Air Defense Problem

Posted by onee_san_bath_water


Ukraine–Japan Drone Alliance Builds a $2,000 Answer to a $2 Million Air Defense Problem
UNITED24 Media
Ukraine–Japan Drone Alliance Builds a $2,000 Answer to a $2 Million Air Defense Problem
Ukraine and Japan partner on low-cost interceptor drones, offering a $2,000 solution to counter expensive attack drones overwhelming air defense systems.

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Affectionate_Oven_77 5 days ago +522
The new arms race is going to be how to build $12 drones to take out the enemy’s $23 drones
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DepopulationXplosion 5 days ago +205
Temu drones versus Ali Baba drones
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emp_sanfords_hardhat 5 days ago +56
walmart and amazon delivery drones are going to be repurposed when the time comes.
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Sad_Prawn2864 5 days ago +13
They are not even gonna be delivered to you, just order them online and they will be sent from the warehouse to hospitals and schools directly, talk about convenience.
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TuzkiPlus 5 days ago +8
*Amazon with their intercontinental ballistic packages*
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Maddok1218 4 days ago +2
Prime Mass Destruction
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Bad_Day_Moose 4 days ago +2
Alexa enabled. Alexa obliterate my home town. Alexa: That'll be $123,290,999, save 5% with subscribe and save.
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Rubthebuddhas 4 days ago +2
Probably going to make my prime membership go up another 10 bucks. Greedy bastards.
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Affectionate_Oven_77 5 days ago +5
Would you like to make that a double for an extra $4?
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shewy92 5 days ago +2
AliBomber
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[deleted] 5 days ago +29
[deleted]
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BasementMods 4 days ago +10
The c**** ones op is talking about are the short distance kamikaze anti-infantry drones that are dominant in ukraine. But I kinda wonder if they are going to matter in future. Ultimately a drone has to cover distances to reach its target, a computer controlled shotgun on the other hand only needs to rotate a few degrees on its servo. Once targeting is solved it becomes a matter of how much does a shotgun shell cost vs how much does a drone cost and a shotgun shell costs cents.
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DirtyTacoKid 4 days ago +3
I always imagined that an automated vulcan system would be a good start for drone defense. Like the Phlanax system the USA uses for mostly its ships
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TheGreatPornholio123 4 days ago +1
The UA 571-C Automated Sentry Gun off the movie Aliens.
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gordonjames62 4 days ago +2
also, [Claymore mines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claymore_mine) are like a directional anti personnel shotgun. >The Claymore fires steel balls out to about 300 ft (100 m) within a 60° arc in front of the device. >Internally the mine contains a layer of C-4 explosive behind a matrix of **about seven hundred 1⁄8-inch-diameter (3 mm) steel balls** set into an epoxy resin. It would be easy to design a narrower field, with larger balls to tear apart a nearby drone. The unit cost in 1993 was $133. The mass is 1.6 kg, so not a crazy big payload to be dangled below a recoverable defensive drone.
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DynamicDK 4 days ago +1
Claymore mines have big metal spikes on the bottom because you need to drive them into the ground for them to function properly. The force of the explosion needs the back plate to be held firmly to ensure the steel balls are launched out at a high speed and in the right direction. If you dangled it below a drone it would basically just shoot the plate in one direction and the balls would randomly go in every other direction at a fairly fast speed, but not fast enough to do much damage.
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gordonjames62 4 days ago +1
Action / reaction is a normal issue in physics. Balls go forward / heavy plate goes back. That said, it should not be too hard to have detonation near a target where damage can be done. My point in referencing claymore was more about the low production cost, not simply carrying an infantry device.
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Roughly_Adequate 4 days ago
Literally marathon irl. Claymore on an fpv drone right through a window.
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gesocks 4 days ago +3
Only if nothing gets threw the c**** defense line and no expensive missiles need to be used as last resort, or even hits happen
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gordonjames62 4 days ago +2
> the math, long term, is actually on the side of the defender. This has always been true. Supply lines and travel cost/losses make war less profitable than if those were not a factor.
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Happy_Feet333 4 days ago +1
I take it you haven't heard about the RAMpocolypse, then?
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SeaworthinessSome454 4 days ago -1
And then we’ll come full circle and return to ballistic missiles that are difficult to take out. Drones r only in style atm bc the east beat the west to the punch on this one.
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[deleted] 4 days ago +1
[deleted]
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SeaworthinessSome454 4 days ago +1
I’m sure they’ll stay but once defenses are designed and built to counter them, their effectiveness will be drastically reduced. We just happen to currently be operating in a time where defenses are designed for missiles, not drones, so drone swarms are very effective (capability and cost wise). Missile defense systems are mature and we’re unlikely to see major advances in that sector while drones are a newer problem and ripe for innovation. Once that innovation hits, current drones will be not nearly as practical and there’s not much they can do to improve them without drastically increasing the cost, which would kill the point
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[deleted] 5 days ago -6
[deleted]
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[deleted] 5 days ago +4
[deleted]
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[deleted] 5 days ago -6
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TheSoloGamer 5 days ago +4
Japan’s back in the Kamikaze business, ayyyy
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manachar 5 days ago +8
Self replicating drones. No way this ends poorly.
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iwantboringtimes 5 days ago +16
for now, I'm... 51% convinced that armed warfare getting cheaper and cheaper is overall more a good thing than a bad thing. Especially, since the pricier the weapon, the more only the rich and powerful can hoard such. 70% overall a good thing if cheep weapons manufacturing is paired with renewable energy, especially solar energy which is very hard to hoard.
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Affectionate_Oven_77 5 days ago +35
Drones getting cheaper doesn’t mean we spend less money on drones, it means we buy more drones for the same money. I’m interested to hear your rationale on why cheaper weapons would be a good thing? I guess it lowers the barrier to people who want to get involved in a bit of warfare?
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iwantboringtimes 5 days ago +8
note c**** drones can disable pricier stuff this means rich countries will find it harder to bully poor countries. best example is ukraine sending drones at russia however it won't matter much if most "energy" remains concentrated in small areas, since it means c**** drones can strangle energy flow too easily - example what iran is doing atm the best combo is both weapons and energy gets more and more c**** and decentralized
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Embarrassed_Force861 4 days ago +4
"weapons get more and more c**** and decentralized": see USofA (internal society). Not convinced it's a good thing overall if there can be no effective control of the bad actors. We like to act like only the big bad USA/ "imperialists" are the bad guys, but there's really no evidence the small ones are any better - take guys like Maduro and Afwerki and Hlaing and Orban; I'm pretty sure they would be more of a menace if they had more power, not less of a menace.
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wecangetbetter 4 days ago +1
certainly destabilized countries with questionable leaders would only use c**** weapons capable of wrecking unchecked havoc would only use them for morally virtuous purposes
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D4ng3rd4n 5 days ago +8
I'm stoned and thought you meant we'd use renewable energy in c**** weapons, like... a sunbeam
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meesta_masa 5 days ago +5
Pew pew
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Old_Leopard1844 5 days ago +3
> since the pricier the weapon, the more only the rich and powerful can hoard such. It's not even that Pricier the weapon, literally more cost effective not fire it and let whatever it should've been fired at to do whatever it wanted Especially when stock of expensive weapons isn't big enough to be fired in actual conflict, as we saw in Ukraine
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Happy_Feet333 4 days ago +5
C**** weapons give you what you saw in African countries during the Cold War. Anyone with a grudge got their friends together and enough AK-47s... then toppled a government. Which was then run by idiots begetting another coup. It's a non-stop cycle of instability, which creates poor economic growth, extremism, and tons of refugees.
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[deleted] 4 days ago +1
[deleted]
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Happy_Feet333 4 days ago +1
No, they weren't. It doesn't change the outcome, though.
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Reasonable_Gas_2498 4 days ago +2
It’s certainly a bad thing. C**** drones being easily available for most people just calls for terrorist attacks. It’s not gonna be long until we see the first attack on a Christmas market 
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recumbent_mike 4 days ago +2
I mean, it's going to be at least a few months
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MaybeTheDoctor 4 days ago +2
We have yet to see terrorist attacks with c**** drone swarms , so I’m not sharing your optimism.
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iwantboringtimes 4 days ago +1
That's why just 51% good if just c**** drones. 70% if it's both c**** drones and renewable energy getting the upper hand over fossil fuels See, renewable energy tends to be local-sourced energy, which makes territories more self-sufficient and less likely to invade other territories.
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MaybeTheDoctor 4 days ago +1
Terrorism starts with unfair (to them) inequalities amplified by ideology, religious or otherwise. I agree we need better renewables for security purposes, but that is not going to fix the root problem of inequality and ideology.
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iwantboringtimes 4 days ago +1
Cheaper energy tends to lead to cheaper goods. And if it's solar, it's even possible to make homes power generators. Also, I said 71%. That means I don't think it's a certainty. Just better odds.
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Gurashish1000 5 days ago +4
The next war is gonna be war of resource-attrition.
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malfunktioning_robot 5 days ago +11
The big ones all are
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zimmix 4 days ago +1
The funny thing is that several rts games relies on this type of mechanic, where you need to waste less expensive units to take down costly one in order to win in the long run, and even small difference matters.
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sansaset 4 days ago +1
China wins this one
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SmokedBeef 5 days ago
No the real arms race is still an AoE energy weapon that can disable whole areas of the sky, there are already a few that are nearing the end of R&D. One of them made the top of a military sublistnook a few days ago, it looked like some of the foldable mobile radars and used some form of microwave or electromagnetic pulse to fry a couple dozens drone simultaneously and nearly instantaneously at various ranges in one general direction. As far as drone on drone I’m seeing an increasing number of drones armed with metal spikes/spears, which is an odd meta and once on telegram I saw a drone that appeared to fire a shotgun at close range but I’ve never been able to find that clip anywhere else and I’ve been looking, it seemed highly effective.
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ai9909 5 days ago +131
Automation really is an equalizing factor for Ukraine against an aggressor that seems to constantly have the numbers advantage
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im_thatoneguy 5 days ago +37
In a vacuum no I think it’s the opposite. Automation on both sides means the largest GDP wins. But since Ukraine has the EU GDP behind it yes an automated war leans toward Ukraine (assuming inevitably both sides develop autonomy).
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ai9909 4 days ago +5
Agreed. It is also limited by the population's ability to service higher tech. An educated population doesn't fear; it seeks to understand, works the problem, innovates and overcomes.
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New_Study_8061 3 days ago
It doesn't. Those money are loaned and have to be payed back. Ukraine knows this. That's why they are obligated to be extremely cost-effective. Something that Russia doesn't care about. They still think war at industry scale. In the end, the cheapest solution always wins. So Ukraine has an advantage here.
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Midiamp 5 days ago +77
On my old work place I had the opportunity to collaborate with a Japanese drone start up. Their drone solution is to create a miniaturized hybrid propulsion which can basically scale up from delivery drone to passenger quadcopters. When I told them that this has immense military application, they immediately shrugged it off that their solution will never be sold to military, only for civilian use. Since the company I worked for went under, I lost contact with the Japanese company. The big Japanese companies today seems like they're playing safe and basically penny pinching everywhere, but there's many Japanese startups having interesting solutions.
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SeparateFun1288 5 days ago +12
Really weird, the latest japanese defense budget has 7 different UAVs in development + USV + UUV + modular UAVs. And at their defense expo there were a lot of japanese startups showing different UAVs, there were also several ukrainian companies showing their different drones. Maybe the "never be sold to military" is more about how big Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and other large japanese companies in the defense sector are, so chances of the JSDF buying to small japanese companies are pretty low? seems reasonable. Besides, those big companies already have all the components, for example, for a new cruise missile, Kawasaki just took the engine they used on a Subaru military drone, and put it on a missile. So pretty easy for them to use already tested components and create new weapons. Similar thing Mitsubishi did with an anti ship missile, JMOD asked for a an hypersonic anti ship missile, so Mitsbushi took their anti ship missile and added a couple of ramjets and now you have an hypersonic missile. Besides, i guess is hard to compete in terms of R&D with such stupidly large companies, they also invest tons in R&D for civilian purposes. Any sensor, radar or semiconductor technology they develop can be used directly on their military divisions. Those Fujitsu ARM supercomputers? easy to put on a plane, maybe ideal to work with loyal wingman UAVs. NEC produces communications systems for civilian satellites as well as military satellites, even the JMSDF frigates have NEC systems. Yeah, guess they are fucked.
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xmuskorx 5 days ago +30
Ukraine slowly beginning to pull cards out of its sleeves. But in all seriousness, Russia and Ukraine are now the experts on modern drone warfare.  If you are not in a position to get the know-how from Russia, your only real potential partner is Ukraine.
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[deleted] 5 days ago
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erewego 5 days ago +14
They were 3 years ago. Nowadays there’s just as much innovation as in Ukraine and they scale the manufacturing faster, unfortunately.
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xmuskorx 4 days ago +4
Both is true.   Russian Drones are now several generations ahead of where they started: https://apnews.com/article/russia-iran-drones-shahed-war-israel-ukraine-840b4f885d99714bdb7813c0d56213cf
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Ashamed_Deal5148 5 days ago +18
We need to get these lazers out
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SaltonPrepper 5 days ago +9
Those don't work well enough if there is even a little rain or fog. There is a middle way though: machine gun mounted on a robot arm paired with radar and AI or at least autoassisted aiming. We have something approaching that already, but drone swarms will make the need for AI much greater because only a computer can aim from drone to drone fast enough to knock out a huge swarm. Ideally you "set and forget" it so it protects you automatically.
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Dimathiel49 5 days ago +3
So a sea whizz but firing 7.62 instead of 20mm?
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SaltonPrepper 5 days ago +2
Something like a German-made Gepard AA gun (I think they are developing a modernized version, the Skyranger, because Gepards are out of production now) but it could be a .50 cal yes. 7.62 is probably inefficient as it wouldn't cover as large of a radius. Even Gepards have such small radii that you'd need multiples of them to cover what a single Surface to Air Missile could, but Gepard cannon ammo is cheaper. I should have said cannons too, and not only machine guns, sorry about that. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW21ibFJcAE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW21ibFJcAE) See also stuff like: [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/\_qChKT9pR3w](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_qChKT9pR3w) Bullfrog kinda *is* like a .50 cal CIWS. [https://taskandpurpose.com/news/anti-drone-tech-rose-gold/](https://taskandpurpose.com/news/anti-drone-tech-rose-gold/) Ukraine already has a .50 cal "Sky Sentinel" they've been using to down drones, though they also use a bunch of other things like EW and drone-killing drones. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/09/10/why-some-anti-drone-artillery-comes-at-a-sky-high-price/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/09/10/why-some-anti-drone-artillery-comes-at-a-sky-high-price/)
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GuyWithLag 5 days ago +1
Systems like these are already on US Navy ships, but they're also somewhat expensive to operate....
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CryptoThroway8205 4 days ago +1
I think drones have already been painted with reflective paint to counter lasers. Some people have suggested Iran can just rotate drones during descent to increase the surface lasers have to heat but I'm not sure that's possible. But even on a nice sunny day I don't think we're stopping 600+ drones like in Ukraine's latest attack on Russian oil depots with a handful of lasers. Machine guns might not be enough either, you see tons of Russian tracer rounds in the foottage.
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SirFredman 5 days ago
I thought about the same solution but with a sniper rifle. One shot, one kill.
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WaPeoeraltu 5 days ago +8
We need to get some robotic sharks too
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meesta_masa 5 days ago +9
With frikkin lasers on their frikkin heads?
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Silent-Winner5673 5 days ago +7
Those things are a tax scam at this point. They are expensive af and hard countered by cheapo drone swarms unless you think they can shoot down hundreds at a time.  Obsolete before it even hits the shelves and we all paid so dearly for it and c*** like it. 
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emp_sanfords_hardhat 5 days ago +1
coordinated multi-placement making a laser net like force field.
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D4ng3rd4n 5 days ago +1
What about just shooting spiderwebs
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CyroSwitchBlade 5 days ago +5
you would think that this is good news and we will start using these c**** interceptors.. but.. I expect the big weapons companies to be lobbying pretty hard for the continued procurement of their multi million dollar interceptors instead.
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Silent-Winner5673 5 days ago +8
Don't let the US steal it and sell it to ppl before you lol  Seriously tho. This is good news. but rly don't let the US steal it from you and sell it to ppl before you. they already tried to do it to Ukraine once. 
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +11
China would be a bigger threat of this than America. China's labor market is far less expensive.
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Silent-Winner5673 5 days ago +9
China is ahead of us in tech and the US is the one that literally just tried to do it so that doesn't really check out pal.  China has very little incentive to rock the boat right now. They are benefitting far more by positioning themselves as a stable and reliable trading partner while the US crashes out.  I don't think they're foolish enough to fk up such a golden opportunity. They call trump the nation builder because he's sending them 30 years forward in diplomatic progress. he's the best thing that we've happened to them. 
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I_spread_love_butter 5 days ago +9
>China is ahead of us in tech Perhaps in manufacturing capacity, but certainly not in 'tech' as a whole.
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Silent-Winner5673 5 days ago +7
Buddy.. idk how to break this to you so I'll just blurt it out because china is already ahead in 37 of 44 critical technologies lol  https://www.aspi.org.au/report/critical-technology-tracker/
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Milith 4 days ago +1
Sure those are nice but what about marketing B2B SaaS?
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inspired_apathy 5 days ago +7
drone, battery, solar, EV, advanced manufacturing.....the list is still growing. The US tech sector needs to start growing instead of focusing on milking user data for ad revenue.
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +3
China already provides the parts that go into making these drones. They could bring the drone spoken about in this article to market a lot quicker than anyone else. America is spending more research on railguns and lasers which are less than $10 a shot. America is not a threat to any drone manufacturers. Continue putting your full misunderstanding of the industry on display.
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Silent-Winner5673 5 days ago +2
When your mission is to fk America and not actually win wars that's a great thing to invest in. The rest of the world seems to understand that extremely expensive platforms are quickly becoming more liability than asset. Only shareholders playing stupid games with other people's money care about per shot and not per system costs. Not to mention production chains and numbers. But then not every country in the world is a corporate kleptocracy like we are. 
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serendrewpity 5 days ago -1
What are you talking about? America has little interest in these types of drones. They wouldn't waste their time mass producing these defensive drones when they have lasers that can shoot down 250 drones, ballistic missiles and other aerial projectiles for the cost of one of those drones in this article. China already has the parts. They provide it to Ukraine. China famously built two 1000+ bed hospitals in 10 days, so mass producing drones would be a piece of cake for them. China would be the threat to the two companies in this article before America is. But keep putting your misunderstanding of the situation on full display
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Old_Leopard1844 5 days ago +3
> They wouldn't waste their time mass producing these defensive drones when they have lasers that can shoot down 250 drones, ballistic missiles and other aerial projectiles for the cost of one of those drones in this article. And yet here we in Iran are, stuck in strait because Iran can send more drones than US could ever hope to shoot down
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serendrewpity 4 days ago +1
I get your point. If USA can use Lasers to shoot down drones, then why haven't they used them to defend against Irainian Drones in the Iran-Israeli war against Iran. Well, I have the same question about defensive drones like the ones in this article. If USA is more of a threat than China to Ukrainian drone industry, then why haven't they mass produced these Defensive drones to defend against Iranian drones in that war? Its because China is a bigger threat.
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Colbert2020 4 days ago +1
I don't know what your point is. The Pentagon didn't consult Ukraine on this war because they're f****** idiots. Iran literally supplied the Shahed drones being used AGAINST Ukraine for several years now; they had alot of intelligence and expertise to offer. They did not approach them. The Pentagon wasn't paying attention to what's been going on Ukraine for the last four years. Neither have you apparently. Drone warfare evolved there.
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serendrewpity 3 days ago +1
You not understanding my point is not the only thing you don't understand. Apparently you can't read. I've been saying this over and over again. China is a bigger threat to the drone industry in the Ukraine than the United States is. The initial comment was that Ukraine better watch out or the US will steal their technology and bring it to market first. I said China was a bigger threat to that than the US. I proceeded to state the reasons why. Because the US has A bigger interest in developing other anti-drone tactics than defensive drones. That is a fact. It's not up for debate. If you disagree with that you're disagreeing with facts. Not me. You're disagreeing with reality and putting your misunderstanding of warfare on full display.
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Silent-Winner5673 4 days ago +1
America apparently has little interest in actually winning the wars it starts i guess lol 
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Colbert2020 4 days ago +1
Terrible take. Drones are absolutely an essential cornerstone of modern warfare.
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CatHistorical184 5 days ago +1
lol.... where do you think ukraine is getting the parts to build its drones? hint... it's china
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +3
So you're saying they already have the parts to reproduce what these two companies are doing and despite this America would beat them to building their own version and bringing it to market?
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CatHistorical184 5 days ago +1
lol, do you think the country that's building all the parts, has the most advanced drone technology company in the world, and has the most efficient manufacturing supply chain can't produce a war drone faster than the US? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ho1-JBBmw
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +1
I think we're saying the same thing
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +1
During covid China built two full service hospitals with over a thousand beds each in 10 days. Drones would be a piece of cake for them
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Sad_Prawn2864 5 days ago -1
It's almost as if they cared about their own peoples health, must be nice.
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serendrewpity 5 days ago +4
That must have been what they were thinking when they unleashed COVID on the world.
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Dimathiel49 5 days ago
Well yeah. If it doesn’t cost a million a pop it’s not a proper weapons system. The US will very easily fulfill that requirement
0
serendrewpity 5 days ago +1
As I said China makes the parts. During covid, China built two 1000+ bed hospital in 10 days. Drones would be a piece of cake. The US gets all its parts from China. The us is investigating in laser and rail guns which are less than $10 per shot. 200x cheaper than the drones in this article. China is a bigger threat to the Ukraine drone market than the US.
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DecadentGape 5 days ago +1
$10 shots but $XX million per gun? That’s just a different kind of expensive.
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Colbert2020 4 days ago +1
Lots of their drones had many parts imported, especially electronics. This is a long-term security risk though. Some of their drones are made from 100% domestic manufacturing. However, because of the nature of the war, Ukraine has hundreds of decentralized factories and garages to build these drones.
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UnifiedQuantumField 5 days ago +7
>Terra Drone CEO Toru Tokushige and Amazing Drones CEO Maksym Klymenko They remind me of Sulu and Chekov.
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Corny_Snickers 5 days ago +1
All support to any party rightfully defending invasion and war. That said it's a bit worrying how c**** innovation is making war, decade or 2 from now countries might wage war over disputes previously negotiated simply because how c**** it would be to do so instead
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exprezso 4 days ago +1
Basically the AK47 of air superiority
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shilgrod 5 days ago +1
Hush you.... Black Rock has killed for less
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Altruistic_Buy_3800 4 days ago +1
It seems we can’t help but go medieval. It’s the story of life.
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