# The Dope on Drones: For Discussions on Combat Drones on all Battlefields and civilian Use **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2026, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330 "2026-05-23T07:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/21 "2026-05-24T14:18:39Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > AI takes a lot of computing horsepower. Why strap a $10,000 computer brain to a drone Though running AI doesn’t take that much horsepower, a cheap phone GPU can do that easily. The huge expensive GPUs are needed for training the models, not for running them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/22 "2026-05-24T14:38:36Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Give how widespread incredibly sophisticated AI is, why are we still talking about drones being operated by humans (and dealing with the incredible communication headaches that involves, like piloting by fiber optic cable) rather than simply having a drone you can tell “fly a mile in that direction and blow up any military vehicles you see” Because the so-called “AI” is a scam and not capable of doing the job. Something we see over and over again with companies firing people to replace them with “AI”, then suffering disasters and often re-hiring people because the “AI” scam _is_ a scam and can’t do the job. Ukraine is in an existential war, and can’t afford to indulge the techbros. So, they use the technology that _actually works;_ human-controlled drones. > [@scabpicker](#): > > Because depending on how occupied the US and Russia are at the moment, it could be easier to take and hold? > > I dunno, I couldn’t explain the current obsession with trying to occupy land either way. Economically exploiting an area without occupying it used to be the kinder, gentler method. It also seemed more profitable. But I’m not the loon in charge. China regards Taiwan as a part of itself, and retaking it is a core political goal for them and has been for decades. For that you need people on the ground, no amount of drones can do it. If anything drones give Taiwan a potential edge, as drone boats have proven pretty good at sinking ships. Russia on the other hand is genocidal against Ukraine; for that, drones just randomly killing civilians is just fine. > [@Chronos](#): > > Almost a year ago, Ukraine successfully used drones to deliver devastating attacks against the Russian air force from as far as 4300 km away. That doesn’t sound like a “slow advance” to me. Yes, and no. Drones as we’ve seen are great for long-distance attacks and at making closer areas essentially a no man’s land; what they _don’t_ do is take and hold land. If you actually want to move the front lines, you need to move troops forward to occupy it. Which is hard when the drones are so good at killing them if they are seen. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/23 "2026-05-24T14:51:34Z")
The next frontier for me is using drones in gardening. I already deploy a drone to take photos of the garden, and [other potential uses](https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/tools/drones-and-gardening.htm) are monitoring areas that need irrigation or pest control (drones are being used for insect spraying in agriculture). What’d be great is if I could deploy an attack drone with sensors to detect rabbit or groundhog incursions, spraying them with a jet of water to scare them away (or use a lethal method as a last resort - imagining videos of the type Ukraine supporters post that illustrate drones tracking down and blowing up Russian infiltrators). Fun times coming. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/24 "2026-05-24T15:30:10Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Because the so-called “AI” is a scam and not capable of doing the job. Something we see over and over again with companies firing people to replace them with “AI”, then suffering disasters and often re-hiring people because the “AI” scam _is_ a scam and can’t do the job. Though I’m not asking the drone to do the job of an insurance adjuster or animate an episode of the Simpsons, i just want it to identify a tank, identify which bit of the tank it should blow up, and then blow it up. Whatever is true or false about AI hype a small mobile computer is definitely capable of doing that (it doesn’t even have to be super reliable, this is a weapon of war not a self driving car no one is suing you out of existence if you make a mistake, unfortunately:( ) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/25 "2026-05-24T15:49:38Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Whatever is true or false about AI hype a small mobile computer is definitely capable of doing that (it doesn’t even have to be super reliable, this is a weapon of war not a self driving car no one is suing you out of existence if you make a mistake, unfortunately:( ) People will be unhappy if it blows up one of their own armored vehicles. Or if the Russians figure out how to hack them, “AI” is very buggy and extremely vulnerable to manipulation. There’s simply no reason to go for something whose main function is to suck money out of the gullible when they already have a superior alternative that works. People. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/26 "2026-05-24T16:30:57Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > AI takes a lot of computing horsepower. Why strap a $10,000 computer brain to a drone when a $200 drone and a human operator can do the same thing? You’ll go broke really quickly trying to use AI in that situation. Most of the power needed is for training the models, though, not running them. Once you have a model trained, you can make a bazillion copies of it cheaply and install them on much less-capable computers. Especially if all you need the AI to be able to do is, say, identify Russian tanks. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yes, and no. Drones as we’ve seen are great for long-distance attacks and at making closer areas essentially a no man’s land; what they _don’t_ do is take and hold land. Which is just fine, if taking land isn’t your goal. Ukraine is fighting to destroy Russia’s ability to make war. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > People will be unhappy if it blows up one of their own armored vehicles. Or if the Russians figure out how to hack them, “AI” is very buggy and extremely vulnerable to manipulation. All the more reason to put AI on the drones. You can’t hack something that you can’t communicate with. Install the tank-hunter AI on the drone, and then remove the antenna. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/27 "2026-05-24T17:00:56Z")
[quote=“Der\_Trihs, post:25, topic:1030330”] People will be unhappy if it blows up one of their own armored vehicles. [/quote] People are actually quite tolerant of that when the enemy is blowing up your armored vehicles left and right. That’s why the “fly for one mile in this direction first” bit is important (and done with old fashioned dead reckoning without the help of AI). Of course there could be friendly vehicles over there too but that’s no different to any indirect fire weapon. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Or if the Russians figure out how to hack them, “AI” is very buggy and extremely vulnerable to manipulation That’s why we will definitely end up with these kind of totally autonomous drones sooner or later. It’s near enough impossible to hack a completely autonomous drone, as it can be completely isolated from the outside world. Unlike a human piloted one which can be easily hacked or jammed (the spectacular attack on Russian long range bombers last year was carried by hacking the Russians own communication network and using against them). > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > There’s simply no reason to go for something whose main function is to suck money out of the gullible That’s simply not true. Whatever functionality of LLMs, generative AI, etc. the kind of AI required to pilot an autonomous drone is a solved problem (we use it all the time for things like stop sign cameras, lane safety devices in cars, etc). Of course there must be some technical reason it’s not currently feasible to weaponize it (for nation states with the defense budget of Ukraine, it’s possible the DoD was able to make it happen with “universal healthcare money” ☹ ). But it’s not “the whole thing is a scam”. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/28 "2026-05-24T17:04:50Z")
Drones will hopefully help Africa leapfrog older technologies w/o the massive infrastructure. Africa never went through a landline phase for phones, they went from no phones to cell phones. They bypassed needing the massive infrastructure for landlines. They also are seeing a lot of areas bypass traditional grid electricity, going from no electricity to local electricity made by solar panels. Drones are supposedly doing the same thing for transportation. A lot of poorer parts in sub Saharan Africa do not have transportation infrastructure, so drones are bypassing that to deliver things like medical supplies to remote villages. When we have affordable drone taxis, that’ll be life changing for almost everyone. Traffic will largely be a thing of the past in the developed world, and in the developing world it’ll dramatically improve transportation options since walking or driving on non-existent roads is difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/29 "2026-05-24T17:12:41Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > AI takes a lot of computing horsepower. Why strap a $10,000 computer brain to a drone when a $200 drone and a human operator can do the same thing? You’ll go broke really quickly trying to use AI in that situation. AI costs are rapidly declining though. My understanding is modern drones are pre-loaded with highly detailed maps of the terrain so they can fly themselves if they lose contact with an operator. The modern $10,000 computer will only require $100 in hardware in a few years to do the same tasks. > **[Ukrainian Drones to Receive Shield AI’s Cutting-Edge Hivemind Autonomy System](https://militarnyi.com/en/news/ukraine-shield-ai-hivemind-autonomy-system/)** > > The American company Shield AI, known for its V-BAT drones, is collaborating with a Ukrainian enterprise to integrate the Hivemind artificial intelligence system into Ukrainian unmanned platforms.The company announced this \[…\] > **[Shield AI's Hivemind Is Coming to America's Shahed Equivalent, One Operator,...](https://en.defence-ua.com/weapon_and_tech/shield_ais_hivemind_is_coming_to_americas_shahed_equivalent_one_operator_one_swarm_real_time_coordination-18550.html)** > > Hivemind software is being integrated on Taiwan's Ruta cruise missiles and maritime drones, now it is being tested on America's Shahed eguivalent, LUCAS strike drone ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/30 "2026-05-24T17:30:46Z")
But the people who do those safaris do it specifically for the sake of wanting to kill real humans. And, unlike school shootings, which almost always end with the death or arrest of the gunman, drone killings have the advantage of giving the killer a realistic chance of getting off scot free. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/31 "2026-05-24T19:00:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Drones will hopefully help Africa leapfrog older technologies w/o the massive infrastructure. This is just one of the many wonders drones may one day provide, so I’ll take it as an examplary starting point to ask a stupid question: Which are the enterprises that will give us those drones? How come I don’t see any corporation that is _the_ drone corporation (even better if there were more than one) where people who hope this technology will come to succeed can invest in this bright future? In other words: Who is going to get rich from drones? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/32 "2026-05-24T20:10:03Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Is there not a capability for spike/kill switch to be encoded within forcing any party using a drone to build their own independent operating/GPS system or risk their drones to be rendered inoperable or even reversed? That’s a pretty convoluted sentence. So I may not have gotten your meaning. A nav system like the GPS satellites simply broadcasts radio signals. The documentation on how to receive and understand the message in the signals is totally open to the public. Anyone who can receive the signals and can follow the documentation can use them to determine their position. As a practical matter “receive the signals and can follow the documentation” amounts to “Can buy a box-stock GPS receiver chip on the open market.” There is no manner of two-way interaction where the satellites could say “I will talk to _you_ because I know you’re on my side, and I will not talk to _other you_ because I know you’re a bad guy”. The system simply broadcasts and anyone who listens and can hear enough signals can determine their position. All the competing systems from other countries have the same basic architecture. Yes, some have a more precise or more jam-resistant signal that is cryptographically protected and hence unusable to civilians and enemies. But they all also have a free to any/everyone signal. Punchline being that now that there are several such nav systems controlled by countries who are never going to all be on the same side in any conflict, much less every conflict, anyone wanting to navigate anything anywhere can count on at least one of the nav system countries being on their side. The only way to stop the nav systems is to jam them all in whatever area you want to protect, or shoot them all out of orbit. Both are difficult tasks. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/33 "2026-05-24T20:21:30Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > This is just one of the many wonders drones may one day provide, so I’ll take it as an examplary starting point to ask a stupid question: > Which are the enterprises that will give us those drones? How come I don’t see any corporation that is _the_ drone corporation (even better if there were more than one) where people who hope this technology will come to succeed can invest in this bright future? > In other words: Who is going to get rich from drones? I don’t know if there is one drone company, but zipline is the drone company that is providing a lot of drones to deliver medication and supplies in Africa. > **[Zipline (drone delivery company)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipline_(drone_delivery_company))** > > Zipline International Inc. is an American company that designs, manufactures, and operates delivery drones, with distribution centers in the United States, Rwanda, Ghana, Japan, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Kenya. Its drones deliver blood products, vaccines, and medical supplies, and the company also operates services for consumer and retail deliveries, including partnerships with Walmart and Chipotle Mexican Grill. As of January 2026, Zipline's drones have completed more than tw The company’s ... > **[Making Health Innovations Thrive in Africa (SSIR)](https://ssir.org/articles/entry/zipline-health-innovations-africa)** > > Many hurdles stand in the way of successful innovation. The case of Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery platform, demonstrates many of the pitfalls of the dominant modes of development in Africa, along with some potential solutions. Here is a list of the world’s biggest drone companies. A Chinese company called DJI is supposedly the world leader. > **[The Top 36 Drone Companies in 2026](https://www.thedroneu.com/blog/top-drone-companies/)** > > Which are the top drone companies in 2023? In this article, we’ll take a look at the best drone companies that will dominate the market. > [World's largest drone maker is unfazed — even if it's blacklisted by the U.S.](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/08/worlds-largest-drone-maker-dji-is-unfazed-by-challenges-like-us-blacklist.html#:%5C~:text=The%20company%20is%20not%20backing,fly%20drone%2C%20the%20Phantom%201) . > > DJI currently dominates more than 70% of the global drone market. According to a [report by Drone Industry Insights](https://droneii.com/product/drone-market-report), the market is expected to grow from $30.6 billion in 2022 to $55.8 billion by 2030. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/34 "2026-05-24T20:51:10Z")
Thank you! That’s a lot of information to process, and several companies I had not heard about. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/35 "2026-05-24T21:07:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All the competing systems from other countries have the same basic architecture. Yes, some have a more precise or more jam-resistant signal that is cryptographically protected and hence unusable to civilians and enemies. But they all also have a free to any/everyone signal. The US GPS system used to have that, too, until the Iraq War, when there weren’t enough military-grade GPS units available to serve the military’s need in Iraq, but there were plenty of commercial-grade units available, and so the US decided to just transmit the precise information on the unencrypted civilian channel. And at about that time, folks figured out how to get high-precision data from the “low-precision” channel, anyway. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > In other words: Who is going to get rich from drones? I don’t think they build any of their own, but Amazon is investing heavily in drones, too. Which provides an incentive for anyone else to make them, because they know they have at least one very large potential customer. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/36 "2026-05-25T00:51:38Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Why on earth would Xi want Siberia over Taiwan? [For its mineral abundance:](https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2007/1294/reports/paper8.pdf) > Siberia is one of the major regions of the world whose > energy and mineral resources will be important during the > 21st century for industrial development not only of Russia but > also of many other countries, particularly in Europe and the > Asia-Pacific region. Siberia has some of the largest explored > and potential reserves of energy raw materials in the world > (gas, oil, coal, gas hydrates), as well as major concentrations > of nickel, cobalt, platinum-group metals, diamonds, rare earth > elements, helium, agricultural minerals, and many other types > of mineral raw materials. These resources are mainly concen- > trated in Siberia’s northern and eastern regions, commonly in > very remote areas. Many of these deposits were discovered > only in recent decades and have yet to be developed. It is pre- > dicted that further significant resources will be discovered in > Siberia given the generally low levels of exploration that have > been conducted in regions that have good geologic potential > for undiscovered resources. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/37 "2026-05-25T10:50:40Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > You mean like the Italians who allegedly paid to be allowed to sharpshoot in Sarajevo? The prosecutor believes this is a war crime. I was thinking more along the lines of the International Brigades in Spain. Were those people also worrying to you? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/38 "2026-05-25T12:36:55Z")
They would be if they bought into the right to shoot from a place that carried no risk at all to themselves but could kill others, including civilians. That is not how I remember the International Brigades. And technically, depending on which country they came from, the International Brigades would be considered mercenaries today, and that, depending again on their country of origin, may also be illegal or even a war crime. The cause may be laudable, but the way is not necessarily fine with me. You seem to think I may condone war crimes if they are commited in the name of an ideology you suspect I endorse. It is a bit of an hypothetical question, but I hope that you are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/39 "2026-05-25T18:21:35Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > They would be if they bought into the right to shoot from a place that carried no risk at all to themselves but could kill others, including civilians. That is not how I remember the International Brigades. A cursory review of groups like the International Brigades would show many members who paid to get to Spain (or wherever) to get into the fight. Once in battle, we would have to admit that at least some of these people did nasty things. That is how war is. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > And technically, depending on which country they came from, the International Brigades would be considered mercenaries today, and that, depending again on their country of origin, may also be illegal or even a war crime. The cause may be laudable, but the way is not necessarily fine with me.. “Mercenary” is a word I cannot define. I avoid it. (Why would the country of origin of an international volunteer make one a mercenary? Is the American volunteer a combatant while the Chinese guy next to him a criminal? Why?) > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > You seem to think I may condone war crimes if they are commited in the name of an ideology you suspect I endorse. It is a bit of an hypothetical question, but I hope that you are wrong. Please excuse me, I do not know you. I do not have any opinion of you or your ideology. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/40 "2026-06-05T19:39:42Z")
The previous thread had a topic I wanted to comment on but was shunted to this thread. A couple weeks ago Ukraine said the cost to kill a Russian soldier was $882, which is a historically low cost. Russian sources say there isn’t any point to mobilize more soldiers as they will just be killed by cheap drones. The details are reported by [Preston Stewart on his youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7XVZKbDIQ4). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330.md?page=3)