Drones, drones

We’ve been using drones for years now – Predators come to mind right off – but our drones are typically multi-skrillion dollar airframes which can seemingly do almost anything – but there’s that skrillion-dollar price tag.

Now, if Ukraine has taught the world anything, it’s how useful drones can be on a modern battlefield – and how cheaply they can do it.  Seems every time you turn around, you run into term like “drone swarms” and hear of drones that only carry a light load… but if that light load consists of only a few pounds of high explosive, someone may be in line to have a bad day. And we’re hearing how our gazillion-dollar air-defense missiles work so well, and we are shooting drones down like crazy – but a million dollar missile taking out a $35,000 drone starts making no fiscal sense in a big hurry.

So now instead of million-dollar predators we’re leaning more to $30K drones, or even at worst case, maybe something like our Lucas drones – they only cost $10,000 each and can fly 63 mph, a hair over 100kph. A few pounds payload, 80 minute/50 mile range. But let’s hear from Japan.

Japan’s AirKamuy 150 drone—built primarily from corrugated cardboard—hits 74 mph while costing roughly the same as a decent gaming rig. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force isn’t just testing these things; they’re actively using them for training after Defense Minister Shinjir? Koizumi personally met with AirKamuy to discuss deployment.

The cardboard airframe sports water-resistant coating, carries a 3-pound payload, and maintains 80-minute flight endurance across 50-mile ranges. More importantly, it assembles by hand in 5-10 minutes without specialized tools—meaning you could theoretically build swarms faster than IKEA furniture.

And now we get to the price tag – only $2500 each. And due to their flat-pack design, you can fit 500 in a shipping container (I would presume a 40 footer, a 20′ just seems too small). But 500 on the back of a truck? That is some capability. And that is less than  10% the cost of Iran’s cheapest Shahed drone.

AirKamuy positions these drones for package delivery and disaster relief alongside military target practice. Emergency response teams could theoretically deploy communication relays or medical supplies without risking expensive equipment in dangerous conditions. The disposable nature that makes them perfect for military expendable roles also suits civilian missions where recovery isn’t guaranteed.  Gadget Review

AirKamuy is also working on a $450 wooden drone…we are getting ever close to the old 10 cent rubber band airplanes you could buy when I was a kid. But these newer cheap drones can help take out an enemy. Makes you think – maybe in years to come archaeologists will say “yes, this is definitely the battle site – we’ve found hundreds of exploded cardboard items here.”

Category: Science and Technology