# The Dope on Drones: For Discussions on Combat Drones on all Battlefields and civilian Use

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330>\
**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")\
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**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 23, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-on-drones-for-discussions-on-combat-drones-on-all-battlefields-and-civilian-use/1030330/2 "2026-05-23T13:19:53Z")

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A reply from the end-of-war thread, that I refrained from posting after your note:

> [@Russia - Ukraine: end of war predictions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-ukraine-end-of-war-predictions/1030002/52):
>
> What is more reliable than rock-solid reliable?

Lots of things, actually. If the design specs call for something to be 99.3% reliable, you’ll probably be able to achieve that… but if the design specs call for it to be 99.999% reliable, you’ll probably get about 98%. And a lot of military hardware is especially prone to those over-optimistic estimates, especially given that a realistic assessment of military-hardware reliability in actual use is 50%, given that in any engagement, one side’s going to lose.

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