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- Hacker News
- If we're going to expend time and effort on finding new and exciting ways to destroy other members of our species, it might be worth noting that the major change in battles over the last decade seems to have been flooding the zone with cheap, micro-to-small drones, not something like this.
That being said, perhaps we find something more productive to do with our time as humans?
by lenerdenator - Being armed to the teeth is all you can do when your neighbour is Russia.
I just wish more of my Swedish countrymen understood that.
by Gud - You can't fly a micro drone thousands of km'sby _joel
- > not something like this
When all you make are hammers, all your enemies look like nails.
by rbanffy - Be careful that you're not able to fight the next war because all your effort is working on solving the problems of the past war when your enemy has found a better way around it.
It would be nice if humans could find ways to not kill each other, but the reality is humans have a very poor track record and you would be a fool to not put at least some effort into defending yourself.
by bluGill - All of the current conflicts (russia / ukraine, us / iran) would consider drones as a nuisance if:
#1. For russia / ukraine neither side has air superiority. If one side had it, they could be obliterating the other side with a constant stream of 500 lb gravity bombs. Each of which has more explosives than 100 drones.
#2. For us / iran, the US is unwilling to risk any pilots. And iran has some air defenses in place. The US could drop bombs from up close, gravity mk-82's and jdams every hour for months. Currently they are using standoff weapons which are either minimally effective (drones) or crazy expensive (Tomohawk, Standard Missile, etc.)
One B1 gets shot down, and 4 crew get paraded around in downtown Tehran, and what little support trump has will vanish.
What am I trying to say? Drones have a place. They don't obsolete anything. The key is to have the weapons available to meet the time in which they are needed.
by budman1 - I'm surprised manned aircraft are getting so much money/attention. I suppose you could fly them remotely too though (but pricey for a drone).by JKCalhoun
- The article says this one is autonomousby intrasight
- is it manned? I assumed autonomous means unmanned?
“Saab has unveiled its A3 collaborative combat aircraft concept—an autonomous, tailless, supersonic, double-delta-wing air vehicle”
- should've made nice cars instead T_Tby blini-kot
- those kids don't stand a chance against such an epic aircraft
- I'm betting that High-End Concept will win the race over Saab.by philipov
- I still consider the Saab Draken one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_35_Draken
Especially the top view:
https://www.flyajetfighter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Sa...
by taolson - Agreed!
Though I prefer this picture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20171007130915!Saab_Drake...
Reminds me of Apogees Raptor and similar fighter plane DOS games.
- how about a 2-door 900 turbo revival?by gnatman
- I would be willing to try a Saab 4dr EV...
Or just bring the 9-3 Turbo back!
by esseph - my goodness how i miss mine!by jjtheblunt
- I'd be happier with a 9-3t (small t not large T) redo.
But nooo, SAAB sold their auto division to GM in 2005.
by lightedman - With the bare minimum of modern electronics. The dream.by fnordsensei
- Rare moment on HN where I can share that I had a 9-3 Viggen. Such a wonderful car, wish I didn’t need to sell at the time.
- The goal of concept to aircraft in 36 months is admirable. Anduril recently built a jet in a similar timeframe. In the US at least, the last 30 years after defense industry consolidation has caused great stagnation. The F-35 took over a decade and went monstrously over budget, more as a jobs program than as a functional product. Competition showing they can build a jet faster and cheaper is what we need to kick the DoD into gear with the large contractors.by ecshafer
- The DoD needs a kick in the opposite direction.
Make the Pentagon finally pass an audit. Cut its funding. It is clear the profligacy is incentivizing bad decisions - the new normal in the Strait of Hormuz being only the latest.
It's clearly too much of a toy and too much capability for the past few decades of both civilian and military administration. An entire generation only knows the United States military as an institution of blunder, excess and failure.
After cleaning house, the United States should also bring back the draft. More social spending should be paired with more public service. It will be harder to start wars of choice and treat veterans like beggars when everyone's kids will have to sacrifice. This will not degrade capability, as many of the most capable militaries in the world have a draft - notably Israel. Making people from Iowa and New York serve together would be good for a dangerously fracturing country. The "volunteer professional" military was created to get around opposition to Vietnam. It's a disgrace.
- F-35 took nearly 3 decades.
As it stands US tech companies don't want to do high volume low cost drones, so ukraine will likely end up doing it and become the supplier for other countries.
- That depends on what you mean by "concept to aircraft". Boeing and Lockheed Martin built flying JSF prototypes pretty quickly after receiving the initial program requirements. But it took a lot longer to reach operational status. Ironically the biggest delays were caused by software development, and that part isn't any easier for unmanned systems. Maybe Saab and Anduril will be faster than Lockheed on the software side but so far they haven't delivered anything with even a fraction of the capabilities.by nradov
- Industry and wealth transfer and job creation programs have different goals. Congress is at odds with efficient industries.by newsclues
- > Competition showing they can build a jet faster and cheaper is what we need to kick the DoD into gear with the large contractors.
The problem is, will there be enough of a demand? Part of why military procurement programs are stretched so long now is because the hot war that these things might be used in (aka, an all out direct war with Russia or China) is... increasingly unrealistic, but at the same time the US (or EU) still have to maintain the know-how, and we don't need hundreds or thousands of unit which makes the unit price including R&D extremely high.
by mschuster91 - Canada is (rightfully) re-thinking their F-35 commitment after the current U.S. Administration bullied them in trade negotiations: https://youtu.be/ukYxk31zXWgby tpowell
- The DoD changing its mind several times did not do the F-35 project any favorsby wbl
- TIL Saab was an aerospace company. My Dad had a '98 Saab. It had an "S" button on the shifter. It stood for "speed". When we were 7/8 years old we'd beg him to press it and it would speed up 10mph. I got my license in 2011, immediately took that car onto the highway and pressed the S button.
Nothing happened. I went home and read the manual. S stand for sport. It keeps the engine in a higher gear than normal for quicker response
- Aerospace and defence!by newsclues