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Drones of all types, sizes, shapes and functions. There will be numerous types of "Sleeper Drones" that can be put into place for months or even years in advance and be activated when needed. Drones will be in land, sea, air and even space. Drones will vary in size between the smallest placed years in advance in hiding places, buildings and infrastructure. Some will be placed in ports and sea lanes and in torpedo form that can be tuned to ships signatures. Drones will end up being the key weapons from the very smallest measured in ounces to full blown nuclear charges. Warfare as we know it will soon become obsolete as modern electronics and communications. totally change the game. There will also be software drones or code that can be activated when needed. Tech will change warfare in ways most can't even imagine. Sadly, war is the last refuge of the incompetent for it represents true failure to put available resources to their best and most efficient use. Semis of all types have totally changed the most dangerous of games, war in this way and ways that haven't even been imagined yet. Hopefully, we can learn promote more productive uses of the what the semi community is creating. Any thoughts or comments appreciated.
First, I completely agree that war is the last refuge of the incompetent. The more I've studied military history and it's impact on society and civilizations, and the outcomes of the war (i.e. usually more war later), the more I'm convinced of this. (If anyone wants to discuss this further - I'm happy to do so privately).
In the case of drones, there's actually a bit of tail wagging the dog here with respect to civilian and military. While military drones were here first (UAVs) in large quantities years prior to larger civilian use drones, it's now advancements in smaller civilian drones that seem to be driving thinking in military. The commercial critical mass and "off the shelf" capabilities for civ drones are making it easier for the military to start changing tactics - see what's going on in Ukraine and Russia for proof of this. (Ironically drone warfare is "low tech" compared to fighter planes, and even tanks.)
I don't think there is much the semi industry can do other than honestly report what % of their production goes to military use, so it's all above board and people know what's happening. If a company like TSMC refused to provide ICs to the US military (as a poor example), it would have cascading negative effects both for them and the ecosystem. I couldn't imagine what would happen if US based Intel tried to do that. The big risk to military is re-using public code on their drones (very likely) which can make exploits more readily obvious than if they were using fully proprietary / clean sheet code of their own.
"Glass half full", it's possible drones may allow for more 'targeted' warfare than giant bombs or powerful missiles -- meaning less collateral damage than equipment used today. It may even be less impactful to the environment than driving a tank platoon through terrain, or flying a bunch of fighter-bombers to their missions (less emissions, etc.).
Anyway I'd love to hear others thoughts here - this is a great topic, but I think it's just a case of UAVs are what's next, and "small" UAVs are likely to supplant large vehicles (air, land, and sea) for various reasons.
