"The Russians had lost an estimated 3,000 tanks in the previous year, along with 9,000 armored vehicles, 13,000 artillery systems, and more than 400 air-defense systems, Cavoli said in written testimony. The main weapon that the Ukrainians had used to inflict this damage was the suicide drone, which costs about $400 to make……………….“It’s Ukrainian housewives,” Papperger (CEO Rheinmetall, Germany's biggest arms manufacturer) said of their factories. “They have 3-D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones,” he said. “This is not innovation.”
Mr. Papperger needs to look up the meaning of the word 'innovation'. Upending the decades-long paradigm of tank warfare, with decentralized, cheap production that people can do from home with 3D printers, is about as innovative as innovation gets. But when your job depends on selling tanks …….
Also, the specifics here mask a broader 21st-century trend. Decentralization. What used to be "heavy industry" and "national energy grids" can more and more be done by home solar energy and 3-D printers.
Despite Ukraine demonstrating that cheap drones are the future of warfare, 2026's wars show some people still haven't got the message.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
2 Comments
It is not that the armed forces in the West do not want these off-the-shelf solutions. The military industrial complex’s corporate side not only wants barriers to entry for new suppliers, but also to produce its promised deliveries at a pace far lower than they are willing to tool up and hire to achieve them. “Stockholder value” and crusty old farts like this guy are essentially saying, “Fuck the national security mission! I have a quarterly gain to show and that means layoffs and demanding much more for the far less we will produce!”
Decentralized production of drones in Ukraine is a necessity, not a “luxury”.
What use is there for a centralized streamlined production when several dozens of Shaheds that slipped through AA (and with attack numbers in thousands it’s bound to happen) can turn your wonderful centralized factory/assembly hub into dust after one evening