I believe the answer lies in the asymmetrical relationship between drone offense and defense. It is very hard to take out drones, far harder than shooting down an airplane. And more expensive. While many defenses have been researched and some demonstrated, I am not aware of any major defense that is the equivalent of a castle vs soldiers in drone defense, nor of many drone vs drone dogfights. Missiles and projectiles and a few emp weapons are the main forms of defense, not drone fighters shooting down drone bombers.
So gathering up into a big column, right now, multiplies the value of a drone bomber’s explosives.
I assume that as defenses appear this will change. But I have also seen a lot of defenses talked about, and never make it into wide deployment.
There are also cost factors at play where missiles to shoot down drones are multiple times the cost of the drone.
I agree that drone fighters don’t exist now. I predict that they will in the future, because it seems to me to be a better way to defend than e.g. autoturrets (only defend a small area, hard to concentrate forces, vulnerable to defeat in detail) missiles (too expensive against small drones) and emp weapons (future drones will be hardened)}
I disagree that gathering up in a big column multiplies the value of a drone bomber’s explosives. Drone bombers usually dive right onto the target and kamikaze/suicide; unless your column is extremely densely packed, a drone that misses won’t accidentally hit something else. By stark contrast with artillery, which is so inaccurate that you probably need to barely be within LOS of another vehicle in your column, else you risk multiplying the expected effectiveness of each artillery shot.
I believe the answer lies in the asymmetrical relationship between drone offense and defense. It is very hard to take out drones, far harder than shooting down an airplane. And more expensive. While many defenses have been researched and some demonstrated, I am not aware of any major defense that is the equivalent of a castle vs soldiers in drone defense, nor of many drone vs drone dogfights. Missiles and projectiles and a few emp weapons are the main forms of defense, not drone fighters shooting down drone bombers.
So gathering up into a big column, right now, multiplies the value of a drone bomber’s explosives.
I assume that as defenses appear this will change. But I have also seen a lot of defenses talked about, and never make it into wide deployment.
There are also cost factors at play where missiles to shoot down drones are multiple times the cost of the drone.
I agree that drone fighters don’t exist now. I predict that they will in the future, because it seems to me to be a better way to defend than e.g. autoturrets (only defend a small area, hard to concentrate forces, vulnerable to defeat in detail) missiles (too expensive against small drones) and emp weapons (future drones will be hardened)}
I disagree that gathering up in a big column multiplies the value of a drone bomber’s explosives. Drone bombers usually dive right onto the target and kamikaze/suicide; unless your column is extremely densely packed, a drone that misses won’t accidentally hit something else. By stark contrast with artillery, which is so inaccurate that you probably need to barely be within LOS of another vehicle in your column, else you risk multiplying the expected effectiveness of each artillery shot.