The 101st Chairborn: History is a Prankster
I don’t know if kids these days still use the slang, but back in the glory days of blogging, a way to mock chicken hawks was to call them keyboard warriors or the 101st chairborn. These were people convinced they were fighting terror by advocating aggressive foreign policy in the safety of their own house (or by other insulting assumption their mother’s basement). I guess an even sillier bunch were the people who felt brave and manly while playing, say “Call of Duty” or “World of Warcraft”.
The worlds most powerful person clearly thought that web addiction would make his people weak. Xi JinPing decided to crack down on the internet at a time when capitalists and commentators on capitalism were very focused on web companies (to the extent that “tech” came to mean something to do with the internet and not something to do with computers (or something to do with rockets and jets — it’s meaning when I was a child).
Silly Xi, virtual reality goggles are now part of a system of war weapons which has made — well I’d say all the other weapons obsolete. Notably, Ukraine’s painful losses are mostly losses to first person view (FPV) drones. This despite the fact that Ukraine is ahead of Russia in the use of drones. The operators are in bunkers. They might or might not be chairborn (I guess they are standing by choice and I am sure that no one knows). In any case, war for the combatants who are devastating their adversaries is a whole whole lot like a video game.
I note that the critical weapon was developed, in large part, by private citizen hobbyists. Ukraine’s War-Critical Hobby Drones vs. Russian Swarms – Pilots Say Crowdfunding Won’t Cut It Much Longer. Yes Republicans in Congress are a problem, but note that GoFundme has also been a critical source of aid to Ukraine. I am looking for a story, which was presented almost as a human interest story, from early in the war (I will have to screen out the thousands of recent articles on this critical issue OK this is from April 2 2022. Notice that is is presented almost as a human interest story. I don’t think the reporter(s) understood that they were reporting on the near future of war (oddly I find no byline).
This shows the strength of freedom — the key technology was largely developed by private citizens acting on their own. It would not have been possible in a fully disciplined society (like Oceania in 1984). It also shows the extent to which world militaries have been barking (and sending hundreds of billions) up the wrong tree.
However, it does not show that Xi’s complete failure to understand the contemporary world and his contempt for freedom have made China weak. Like just about everything, the drones are mostly made in China. Also, of course, there are large numbers of people with lots of experience playing virtual reality video games in China.
HIstory is a prankster and not even Xi Jin Ping has the power to eliminate the threat due to Xi Jin Ping’s power.
I close with a question. Congress is finally nearing a deal on fiscal 2023 discretionary spending. What is the budget for FPV drones and training operators ? Is there a plan to counter China’s drone production dominance ? Has news about actual wars had any effect on US preparation for war. ANy ?
‘Hellscape’: DOD launches massive drone swarm program to counter China
INDOPACOM wants to be able to find and hit 1,000 targets in 24 hours. Cheap drones are the answer—if DOD can make them quickly enough.
To counter that advantage, the Defense Department will launch an initiative called Replicator to create cheap drones across the air, sea, and land in the “multiple thousands” within the next two years.
http://tinyurl.com/8t7e342v
The US Army tested a small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) in the late oughties. It was subcontracted from Boeing to a tech company, be tha as it may!
The idea was to send remote eyes into huts, caves etc to keep the soldier out of harm.
Later ideas for logistics and casualty evac unmanned vehicles were coing out.
It was developed under the, now closed, next generation common ground vehicle. It used a game controlled and a small eye glass mounted viewer.
The US Army also has run small aersail drones for about 20 years.
Paddy
Did you mean aerial drones? I thought you may have something new I had not heard of before. You are right on aerial if that is what you meant.
SUGV was a small, suitcase sized, tracked ground vehicle with articulated camera head. The idea was carry them in the APC, squad would dismount and send the SUGV to check out the area.
There were small US Army aerial drones as well, I did not work on those.
Paddy:
I looked it up and could not find a meaning for it. Thank you.
Robert:
Not sure what to say on this commentary of yours. I think you are correct about small drones operated by military or even nonmilitary could have a unique role in fighting an enemy. A 155mm Howitzer round goes from $2100. If you get the rocket assisted one, add two zeroes and divide by 2. Typically, a four-man crew.
One regular drone maybe $21. A grenade, which would be available anyways, $45. One person guiding it. Maybe the drone has a camera, so double the cost. A civilian can do a lot of damage in wars and civilian life. A new door has been opened.
Thank you Robert. An interesting post.
One of Ukraine’s first innovations under Russian invasion was dropping cheap grenades with cheap, commercially available drones through the open portals of Russian tanks
@JP
Thanks for the information. Also I am glad that the DOD is on the case. I wonder what is the budget for the programs you describe as a fraction of the DOD procurement and R&D budget (itself about a third of the DOD budget).
I am guessing that the very critically important programs you mention will cost less than one destroyer (that is < roughly $2,000,000,000) with the important difference tgat no one can explain any advantage obtained from having another destroyer (which like all US crewed ships will stay out of the straits of Taiwan but, I’m sure do something useful somewhere else)
here I am following Eric Lipton (who, by the way, is one of the few people who has blocked me on Twitter – I forget why).
Oddly googling Lipton I got this which argues as I do but was written by someone who knows what he is talking about https://centerformaritimestrategy.org/publications/roadblock-to-strategy-and-fleet-design-platform-centric-thinking/
That certainly wasn’t the first time they tried such things. In the closing months of WW2 an experiment was run using beat-up B17s loaded to the gunnels with high-explosives that were to be flown over targets in Nazi Germany, and just after the fuses were lit the crew was to bail out and hope for the best. JFK’s older brother was killed when his PB4Y-1s (the Navy version of the B-24D) blew up prematurely on such a mission.
Remembering the Death of Lt. Joe Kennedy Jr. and America’s First Combat Drones | National Air and Space Museum (si.edu)
I was sort of a member of the 101st Chairborn I guess, except that I stood in front of a chalkboard most of the day, in Class-A uniform under a lab coat to keep off chalk dust, while teaching basic electronics to trainees. Maybe there would be possible VA benefits for silicosis from all the chalk-dust I inhaled?
Perhaps my coolest memory of those years teaching electronics in the Army was when when of our students wandered into the office asking about where one of the ‘professors’ was. We were mostly all Spec-5s, some college educated, some not, doing our damndest to instill electronics into their somewhat younger heads, and it was quite an honor to be thought of as professors. (Our civilian managers were somewhat determined to suppose that we were providing junior-college level education.)
Fred:
No way to upvote you. Nicely said about a past experience of yours. Quickly fading past of the 68-72 years dressed in green utilities.
Bill