Odd, Isn’t It…?

 

The DARPA Lift Challenge

The primary goal of the challenge is to "shatter the heavy lift bottleneck" in current drone technology. 

• Objective: To incentivize innovators to create Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) that can carry payloads more than four times their own weight. Current multirotor drones typically have a payload-to-weight ratio of 1:1 or less.
• Applications: This research aims to revolutionize both military and civilian applications, including complex mission scenarios for warfighters, disaster response, infrastructure inspection, and package delivery.
• Incentives: DARPA is offering a total of $6.5 million in prize money to university researchers, independent innovators, and industry participants.
• Design Goals: The designs must weigh less than 25 kg but be capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and carrying significantly heavier loads, with some teams aiming for a 100-pound (drone) to 400-pound (payload) capacity. 

I was told by my intellectual superiors that this was already being done in the ‘Kraine for the last couple years at least! The future was cheap drones, and helpless squaddies getting blowed up with The Rise Of The Machines.

WE’RE ALL GANNA DIE!!!!

😂

The reality is that primitive Russian TOW line drones are being utilized in extremely limited anti personnel work in the theatre, but current technological limitations and realities make the multi rotor FPV drone a niche weapon. In the real world, if Ivan wants to kill Ukes… conventional weapons and artillery are usually the best tools for the job. Also odd: current small hobby and racing drones have power to weight ratios as high as 8:1. Scaling this up seems to involve some major engineering hurdles. 

No one seems to be looking at this objectively. Supposing DARPA or some intrepid inventor does overcome the scaling problem… what then? The obvious counter to the cheap military multirotor drone - is another cheap military anti-drone drone. So it goes for all the cheap drones and especially the fixed wing variants currently used by Russia and their allies all I can do is wonder why our guys are firing $800,000.00 Patriots at $15,000.00 Russian Sharmut drones?  Such weapons are actually well within the improvisation range of the more advanced American garage dwelling inventors. The scaling problems involved with heavy lift multi rotors…? I personally don’t see it.

This is obviously a PR exercise and a bit of a marketing psyop. It can be nothing else.