[ExI] Autonomous killer drones will soon be here

[Adrian Tymes]

On Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

> Adrian what I meant was a low-mass targeting drone of perhaps 10kg, which
> would have little or no radar signature, it would be hard to see, would
> make very little sound
>

That's roughly what I was positing too, only I was going for lower mass
specifically so the drone would avoid raising official suspicion for being
undetectable because drones under 0.25 kg are officially allowed to not be
registered (so e.g. their not broadcasting ID would not be unusual).


> and would do nothing other than identify one particular person and paint
> him with a targeting laser from a distance of perhaps 1000 meters (some
> cameras are that good now), to guide incoming rocket propelled projectiles
> with end-game guidance aboard.
>

GPS guidance (calculated from cameras and the targeting drone's GPS) might
be that good too, and not require the give-away of targeting lasers.

Guided artillery (mortar-like) seems lower cost and more generally
available than rocket propelled projectiles.  Depending on the degree of
guidance and mobility of said projectiles (especially if artillery launch
is merely how they get close to the target), the projectiles themselves
might skirt the line of being called "drones", as in Bill's reply.


> None of that requires huge amounts of funding or anything that couldn’t be
> smuggled into the country in a form unrecognizable as a weapon designed to
> take out one specific person.
>

Instead of smuggling, build it in the country.  Most countries where there
would be public protests the government might want to suppress have enough
capacity for end-stage assembly, from commodity components that don't need
smuggling (if the components in turn aren't manufactured locally).


> I hear Iran has issued a fatwa against that guy who is the current US
> president, I can’t think of his name at the moment, but he does outdoor
> rallies.  The Iranians have money and they have plenty of guys already in
> place.  Result: we may have already witnessed our last outdoor political
> rally.
>

I'd be more worried about the followers of said current US president
implementing said measures against those who protest said current US
president.  That's what I originally thought you were worried about.
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