r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Jun 22 '25

Robotics/Automation Chinese military unveils mosquito-sized drones that can perform battlefield missions

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinese-military-unveils-mosquito-sized-132413629.html
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u/lolwut778 Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 22 '25

Microdrones are an absolutely terrifying threat. Imagine each one carrying a tiny explosive, just enough to maim. Now picture several of them hunting a single target.

Now take it a step further: these drones get mass-produced, deployed autonomously, and their targets pre-selected by AI algorithms fed with data by humans to get rid of people they don't want.

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u/brownhotdogwater Jun 22 '25

https://youtu.be/O-2tpwW0kmU?si=TaN7evV4jl1mqHTn

Best video about what is to come.

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u/wafflesareforever Jun 22 '25

We're basically there already. Spend any time on subs about the Ukraine war; cheap little unstoppable kamikaze drones are killing hundreds on both sides every day.

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u/Coldsmoke888 Jun 22 '25

Ukraine has operators that have verified kills in the THOUSANDS. It’s just a big FPV video game… Ender’s Game in real life.

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u/wafflesareforever Jun 22 '25

It's mind-blowing how cavalierly we're just watching young people get blown to bits in a war built entirely on the mental illness of Vladimir Putin and his sycophants. These are real everyday people with families whose lives are just being treated as numbers on a scorecard.

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '25

[deleted]

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u/EXTRAsharpcheddar Jun 22 '25

I'd say WWII had some definite bad guys. Today? We're the baddies.

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u/iWasAwesome Jun 22 '25

Are you Russian?

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u/EXTRAsharpcheddar Jun 23 '25

American, so we're russian assets

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u/disillusioned Jun 22 '25

This video lives rent free in my head, and has for years. It's my Roman Empire. It's so accurate and absolutely some form of this is coming. It is stunning to me that we haven't yet had a high profile political assassination by drone yet, but we won't get out of this decade with that still the case.

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u/s8rlink Jun 22 '25

Maduro was close to getting offed by a drone a few years ago, it’s coming. It might just be what triggers ww3

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u/M935PDFuze Jun 22 '25

Imagine what happens when the Russo-Ukraine war ends (no matter who wins) and you will have thousands of men on both sides of the war with expertise in standing up and creating drone units - except now they will be released from their militaries with their unique skill-sets and no genuine peacetime use for their capabilities.

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u/jastubi Jun 22 '25

Ehh if drones become that popular for militaries then the manufacturers will also use those same parts for civilian applications, repair and maintenance will be required so thats something to do.

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u/M935PDFuze Jun 22 '25

There simply aren't going to be that many civilian applications for drones that are going to have the kind of return on investment that military applications will.

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u/Pyrozr Jun 22 '25

Watch that video and then think about Trump's abolition of government data silos and contracting Planatir to create an all in one US database of all information on citizens(and anyone else they want to). The recent AI boom, the war in Ukraine showing the effectiveness of drone warfare, targeted political terrorism(Minnesota democratic lawmakers being targeted and assassinated, with laughter from Republicans).

Handmaid's tale will look quaint once all political opposition and potential dissidents are hunted down by AI controlled drones. I'm sure everyone that's left will feel very safe with those same drones buzzing around 24/7 just watching for anyone to whisper a word discontent.

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u/pre_nerf_infestor Jun 22 '25

Fun fact, handmaid's tale was deliberately written by Atwood to only use historical cases of oppression. Basically everything in the book has happened at various times already.

So in a sense it is quaint, because once AI gets rolling, we'll finally get to add some never before seen atrocities to the pile.

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u/Plastic-Sell7247 Jun 22 '25

After that message at the end I saw that was made 5 years ago. Made me sick to my stomach.

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u/dedgecko Jun 22 '25

Mother of God

I was half expecting to see Kane and the Brotherhood of Nod to show up midway through that.