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Pros & Cons of Drone Warfare


Pros



Cheap

If one $100 drone can take down a single soilder your allready in the green. Just think the ratio your getting. People get paid by the hour drones are a single investment then simply energy costs. Even when you get into the tens or hundreds of thousand dollar drones the ammount of damage they can do scales incredibly high. A drone with missiles attached is much cheaper than a plane.


Saves Humans (on Your Side)


There are only so many humans let alone humans that are want to and are fit for warfare. When humans start to get scarce it pays off to amplify the effect of those you do have and ensure that the ones that serve you dont die. There is no doubt that putting a remote control in an operators hand who has had minimal training compared to traditional pilots while still being able to do most of what planes were doing 50 years ago is an amazing acheivement.


Small/Agile

The size of the drone plays a huge advantage so that it can get places military inteleigence could never have before as well as into places once deemed impossible. This advantage becomes clear when a very small cheap drone has the ability to leak top secret information or map secret underground tunnels. Because of how small a drone is relative to its thrust and the typical quadcopters design this machine of a beast can also change direction and trajectory on the dime allowing quick adaptability.


Cons


Introduction

The interesting part of warfare is that both sides have simular technology and strategy until of course someone devises something new or original and if its effective it will become the norm then the cycle will repeat. We see this on the drone timeline in how within 10 years of quadcopters inital use they become one of the pillars of war. All the pros can be applied cons to your side if you dont involve drones in your warfare. With that in mind here are some benefits that stood out to me.


Morals

Drones big time bring morals into question. From bombings to assasins the capibilites of remote control obviously scare people. Companies build drones to go down Kamikaze style straight through the driver side window then explode effectively turning the windshield into a grenade. People wonder what the future holds I beleive that defense against drones will become harder and more important as the uses for drones exponetiate.


Infrastructure

Drones are an advanced technology that rely on electric motors and high tech chips. There is no doubt that you need some sort of industry to power a competitive drone production. Not to mention the resources for chips are always in high demand and can be hard to get acsess to especially if your in wartime and you and your allies are short on them. The entire drone revolves around the copper nessicary to make the electro magnets not to mention some strong earth magnets to be able to make the copper relevant. The current process is becoming more automated but it still reliant on specialists who make the whole thing run. This requires a good education and a dedication to drones which might also be limited. Drones may require lots of infrastructure industry and resources but those are such a small price to pay for a soilder who will can and will do anything.


Credit for photos found on github repository.