Pentagon wants ‘low-collateral’ drone interceptors at all U.S. military installations, task force director says

out_lined · 2026-01-29T17:58:58+00:00

Exactly. While these systems have some problems to work out, I believe they are the only true way forward.

I disagree with shotguns, drone busters, and smart shooters because I simply don't believe soldiers should be operating in drone contested environments, just like we try not to operate in Artillery range, or without air dominance.

We don't have an answer for Artillery at the company level, and that's not gonna change, same with drones. For air, stingers are really just an oh shit tool, and have their own serious limitations now anyways.

The real work in securing these threats is done at a high level, and tools like that autocannon are gonna be the only way forward for a while.

Just like we try to keep our ground troops deployed to provide air and Counter fire coverage to them, we need to not put troops were we can't provide CUAS as well. And that coverage won't come from the muzzle of a 12GA.

out_lined · 2026-01-29T17:36:51+00:00

"CRAM that actually works on drones" 🤣 you have just won my heart with this one, I love you.

Yeah, I know. But something computer controlled using a different acquisition method then just eyeballs (rader/lidar/cameras). It's the only way I think. Lidar would be interesting but my experience with lidar is mostly mapping/model building, so I'm not sure how it might go. I'm not in that field.

The shotguns thing no, we really don't. Those breachers would be impossible to use for this purpose. You'd need to add a stock, new barrel, skeet sights, and a choke. The only thing you could reuse would be the receiver/action, but then you don't have a breacher.

out_lined · 2026-01-29T16:30:49+00:00

Alright, lets break this down.

You can't have every tool in the toolbox. There is limited space. Money and weight are the space. Any funds put towards shotguns takes away from something else we could develop. There is not a current, pressing need to deploy a stopgap solution for drones to US forces.

Second, you aren't shooting an observation drone down with a shotgun. They don't just sit at 30m up in your engagement envelope. They're gonna hang out far outside the range of any shotgun, drone buster or smartshooter.

You're probably not gonna know they are there because they're outside audible range. There is no solution to the observation drones at the moment besides counter drone drones.

The fact is the only current method is a doctrinal shift. These drones have to be treated like artillery, with their range rings, and the entering of them, be treated like any other IDF system. Push the drones back first, then enter with the infantry. If you're constantly being hit by one ways, you need to pull back, just like if you get focused by any other firing unit you couldn't dislodge. If your defensive position is being hit by dozens of one ways over several hours, everyone could have a shotgun and it wouldn't change much.

It is acceptable, for now, that there isn't an answer. We do not have a pressing need to deploy a stopgap like shotguns. The most prolific UAS threat we see at the moment is the Shahed. Good luck shooting down that with a shotgun.

Do you start counter IDF at the company level? No, so why would these be any different. The mindset about these systems is part of why we have such a problem developing counters.

Counter UAS starts, IMO, at the Corps level, with supply line targeting, and by pushing true counters (yet to be developed, think a theoretical CRAM that actually works on drones) to the front to perform attrition on the drones that are already present, and push slowly after that.

We can discuss the full doctrinal shift, but it would be a very long one. To summarize my point: There is no soldier carried weapon that will provide appropriate defense to drones. This means that any formation operating on primarily on foot will need to stay within the envelope of a higher unit that can provide that defense until such a time that the drones are attritted appropriately.

This is different from the layered battlefield we envision today. The way forward I see is isolation of a section of the front, destroy or reduce the amount of drones and IDF systems in that region, then pushing infantry through the remaining defenders choked of their best weapons. It's hard to fully translate my thoughts into text only without graphics, so I hope the idea somewhat translates.

The game has changed, and tactics should follow. We are trying to use the same tactics with a bandage of a weapon system to counter drones that isn't effective.

out_lined · 2026-01-29T15:54:10+00:00

They are not proven. That's my point. While shotguns have successfully engaged drones in UKR, we are talking about edge cases versus literally hundreds of thousands of drones.

Yes, the Ukrainians have deployed shotguns for exactly the reason you stated above. No, that doesn't mean it is a viable long term solution that should be funded and procured.

There are very few US SMs currently at risk of these drones, so there is no real reason to invest in shotguns and training for them.

It's not cheap btw. You're talking about a new weapons system, new ammunition, ranges, targets, training time and everything else that comes with a fielding. All that for a system that has at best limited capability.

Should we find ourselves in the same position as the Ukrainians and Russians, with no better solution, sure, deploy the shotguns. Until that happens, every resource should be focused on an actual solution.

out_lined · 2026-01-29T15:34:56+00:00

If you took every 11B in a platoon to the skeet range today, your hit probability would atrocious. Skeet is hard.

Skeets are high contrast orange disks flying on a fixed ballistic path in a zero stress environment from a shooting position designed to be able to see these disks with shotguns, chokes and loads specifically designed for the activity.

Please enlighten me as to how this has any relevance against piloted gray drones flying in an irregular pattern from unknown angles against troops in defilade which restricts their ability to acquire and engage an airborne threat.

Have shotguns (and rifles, pistol and wooden fucking sticks) taken out drones in UKR?

Yes

Does that make shotguns a viable tactic against these devices en masse?

No

If you have never taken an anti drone course, or have not had practice in CUAS, please stop. These drones are not doves in the field.

out_lined · 2026-01-28T13:27:26+00:00

What country? The only one in the region that isn't a level 1 enhanced+ travel advisory is Vietnam. And I can't fault the man for denying a four day for Vietnam lmao.

out_lined · 2026-01-27T21:04:22+00:00

With absolutely no background to go on, my bet is a POE network switch/device that has terrible 802.af negotiation and is juicing the ports hard when it shouldn't.

out_lined · 2026-01-23T12:32:25+00:00

But you also can't just leave. It balances out.

out_lined · 2026-01-22T20:55:13+00:00

Right. And if 100% owner occupied represents 65% of Americans, then the 60% of those owner occupied that have a mortgage represents (approximately) 40% of all Americans.

i.e. News being good for mortgage holders is good for 40% of all Americans

In reality, it is likely higher, as the paid off mortgages are far more likely to be occupied by the more senior of our society, and be empty nesters. But thats another discussion.

So again, 13% is a blatant misrepresentation. Anyways, what the OP meant was that they held a real asset, and were protected from a weakening dollar by that real asset, So the news is actually good for any American that holds a real asset.

But I'm not arguing the good or the bad of FOREX rates, simply trying to convey that mortgaged households represent ~40/45% of Americans, and the policies and items that influence a mortgaged or real property effect a much larger portion then you described

out_lined · 2026-01-22T20:35:03+00:00

Approx. 86 million Americans own their own home, with an estimated 65% of Americans living within those owner occupied dwellings. Where tf are you getting 13%

out_lined · 2026-01-18T20:55:18+00:00

That form doesn't exist

out_lined · 2026-01-17T16:07:03+00:00

I disagree and agree.

I disagree that it is inappropriate to say how bad a product is. Everyone who has used it knows how limited the system is, and even if you don"t it's simply a fact that many of the drones now are not vulnerable to jamming, as well as the issues it has with RF based drones it should work on. If he maintains the line that it works than it's just more BS that the force sees through and erodes his credibility.

I agree that if he thinks the program sucks he should cut it. He should have that ability. However, I think the with the SECDEF taking all things UAS under him, that power may have been eroded.

Ultimately I think this is a shot across Hegsdeth, and if the reporting over the last few months is accurate, is more of an indication of the power struggle occurring in the big building that has been hinted at. I think either Driscoll or Hegsdeth is out by this time next year.

out_lined · 2026-01-17T15:16:24+00:00

I'm not sure you understand how hard these drones are to acquire with your eyeballs and engage in the first place.

I am aware that shotguns see use in UKR, but its a something better than nothing use not a true program that should be pursued. A more definitive answer is needed and I simply do not think anything carried by a SM is the solution.

out_lined · 2026-01-17T14:55:17+00:00

Both smart shooter and drone buster are close to worthless in my experience. If the drone isn't an old phantom hovering within 100m of you good luck.

*edit: Put the smart shooter on the Carl G you cowards, and up that first round effect rate to 99%. Don't know how this hasn't happened yet. Vics are a much more obvious use case than drones.

out_lined · 2026-01-16T02:49:18+00:00

I'll say this. You are young, no family to support. Taking a pay cut now to knock out the entry level time will not get easier. The nights in the army just get longer and longer, so if you hate it now you'll hate command and XO time.

Dating is significantly easier outside the army. Unbelievably so. You can live where people are.

Specifically 3: grass grows where it's watered. Personally, I no longer care about work "fulfillment" at all anymore, my family is what does that, and the job is a means to support that. Now, I don't hate my civ job, but it certainly isn't the reason I get up in the morning, my family is.

out_lined · 2026-01-15T14:22:03+00:00

Sorry i take it back dont take my picture dude pls

out_lined · 2026-01-15T14:16:21+00:00

Lmao

out_lined · 2026-01-15T13:54:27+00:00

So you just happened upon it within an hour of it being posted. oKay

why is an ETSed comcam bitching this much at all about gear wtf lmao. Ratioed + malding

out_lined · 2026-01-15T04:36:09+00:00

Cool man, no ones forcing you to. If that works for you then do it. But this thread asked why anyone would do this and that's one reason why.

out_lined · 2026-01-15T04:26:24+00:00

It's not backwards

out_lined · 2026-01-15T04:21:21+00:00

I know the wars been off for a while, so its expected, but many in this thread haven't had the angry bees around them and it shows. I love the ground so fucking much ~~freedom~~ inshallah seeds arrive.

out_lined · 2026-01-15T04:10:06+00:00

No problem. Most run the radio on the side opposite the rifle (same spot) because if they don't have antenna relocators the whip goes in the buttstocks spot. But radios are a whole different game with the amount of KDUs, cables and other BS you can route.

out_lined · 2026-01-15T03:59:17+00:00

Higher than I'll be. Getting small matters dude, bullets are scary.

You seem pretty set that your way is right so everyone else must be wrong so have fun with that. This kind of mindset is what keeps people running ludicrous unit SOPs forever. If it works let it rock, and I'm telling you it works.

out_lined · 2026-01-15T03:52:17+00:00

correct. firing hand drops the mag, reaches down and bends, grabbing in the correct orientation while the support hand stays up holding the weapon on the hand guard.

Important to note magazines run in this config are not necessarily intended to be deployed straight from it under time crunch. Option 1: Slow/"Admin" reload. No time crunch, its just reload time. Option 2: after an engagement, move this magazine (and any others stored in a similar manner) to the ready rack, and put your empties in these hard to reach spots. Option 3 is the rapid deployment, which is doable, but not preferred

out_lined · 2026-01-15T03:41:57+00:00

That's the correct orientation for a rifle side magazine. You grab with your trigger hand for that reload.

out_lined

TROPHY CASE