Oh, also, minor thing that isn’t particularly relevant: The 40km drone I heard about wasn’t a quadcopter, it was fixed-wing. So, it could probably “go quiet” during the terminal dive towards the target. However, I buy your overall claim that it should be possible to after a few years of R&D make autoturrets that cost-efficiently defend against ~all small drones. (Physics based argument: You don’t have to fly, so you can rest your weight on the ground, so you can have more weight, so you can have armor, bigger guns, etc. for the same amount of money. You lose mobility but for defense that’s probably fine.)
Oh, also, minor thing that isn’t particularly relevant: The 40km drone I heard about wasn’t a quadcopter, it was fixed-wing. So, it could probably “go quiet” during the terminal dive towards the target. However, I buy your overall claim that it should be possible to after a few years of R&D make autoturrets that cost-efficiently defend against ~all small drones. (Physics based argument: You don’t have to fly, so you can rest your weight on the ground, so you can have more weight, so you can have armor, bigger guns, etc. for the same amount of money. You lose mobility but for defense that’s probably fine.)