#artificially intelligent fixed artillery

[ac-disastrous]

Per my mom's request, the "pretty-eyed robot girl".

[aviationanddefence]

Global Combat Drone Market report

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles are another name for combat drones (UCAVs). Unmanned aerial vehicles, or "combative drones," are utilized for a variety of tasks including target acquisition, surveillance, reconnaissance, and carrying aircraft ordnance, including bombs, missiles, and ATGMs, to hard targets during drone assaults. Usually, a human with autonomy controls these drones in real time. Unlike unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicles, UCAVs are utilized for both drone strikes and battlefield information. There won't be a human pilot on board this type of aircraft. The aircraft is smaller and lighter as a result of not requiring a human pilot or any equipment because it is operated by a remote terminal.

Key drivers of the growth of the combat drone market:

The Global combat drone market report is expanding because of the evolving and sophisticated nature of warfare, despite potential obstacles from the quick development of anti-drone technology. The combat drone market will develop as a result of the evolving, technologically enhanced character of warfare. Many countries are concentrating on the development of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) for counter-insurgency and internal warfare. These vehicles are commonly used to monitor border regions, which are contentious, and can improve security at a minimal cost.

The combat drone market is growing as a result of numerous nations and contractors funding R&D projects aimed at deploying a large number of UCAVs to improve their ability to evade anti-aircraft weaponry and engage in combat with adversarial states. The development of long-range spy combat drones increases the potential prospects for the size of the global combat drone industry. The integration of control, computers, surveillance, computer intelligence, and reconnaissance technologies into UCAVs contributes to their long-range attack potential.

Patterns impacting the Battle- Size of the Drone Market:

According to market estimates for combat drones, the fixed-wing category has the largest share and the fastest compound annual growth rate. The development of complicated delta wing and delta wing unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) with enhanced combat capabilities and the ability to fly at extreme speeds is mostly to blame for this, as expenditures in the combat drone sector have increased. Investing nations include the US, China, Israel, Russia, India, and Iran in these types of war vehicles. According to current combat drone industry trends, China is introducing new UCAV variants and employing stealth technologies in unmanned systems. China has stated that the Cai Hong 7 UCAN, which is high altitude, is being developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA).

Market Forecast and Dynamics for Combat Drones:

An overview of the combat drone market The expansion of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) is being driven by advancements in frameworks and regulations connected to aerial operations, as well as greater usage of UAV in military applications that has led to a spike in UAV use in disaster relief missions.

According to a combat drone market analysis, concerns about drone safety and security as well as a shortage of qualified operators are the main obstacles to the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) industry's expansion. Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) have greater prospects thanks to ongoing technological advancements in UCAV, which are coupled with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Applications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UCAVs) include directing artillery fire, detecting fighter jet targets with lasers, surveillance, obtaining electronic intelligence, and assessing damage after a strike.

Analysis of the Combat Drone Market for Recent Advancements:

According to Combat Drone Market sources, the South Korean government has accepted a proposal to start producing reconnaissance and surveillance drones by 2031. The purpose of manufacturing and acquiring these drones is to improve the military capabilities of the nation, particularly on the island bordering the northwest. Boeing chose to transform former Lockheed Martin F-16 jet fighters from the US Air Force into manned and unmanned target drones, with a contract value of USD 49.7 million.

According to Combat Drone Market reports, after delaying the American predator drone deal in favor of the Made in India initiative, the Indian government is now thinking about buying an indigenous long-range unmanned aerial vehicle with strike capabilities that is being developed by a private Indian company in collaboration with an Israeli defense manufacturer.

[tastydregs]

Ukraine’s War Brings Autonomous Weapons to the Front Lines

When the war came to Sergiy Sotnychenko’s neighborhood in March 2022, he found himself carrying out daily performances for the drones that hummed constantly overhead. Desperate to prove that he wasn’t a combatant, he put on an orange hoodie which, out of all the clothing he owned, seemed least likely to be mistaken for military fatigues. He tried to show the drones he was carrying out innocent activities, like planting onions. Sometimes he would wave. 

That March was a nightmarishly violent month for Kyiv’s outskirts, including Irpin, where Sotnychenko lives, but there were moments when he allowed himself to feel comforted by the drones flying above. He imagined the Ukrainian army watching his small acts of resistance. “I felt reassured because I felt that I wanted to show them that we are holding out,” he says, speaking through a translator provided by the Museum of Civilian Voices, a project documenting ordinary people’s experience of the conflict in Ukraine.

But when Sotnychenko watched a Russian armored personnel vehicle drive through Irpin, shooting indiscriminately at the houses around him, he realized there was no way the drones were on his side. “I started hiding from all drones,” he says. “Sometimes I hid under trees or behind the branches. Sometimes, I managed to escape into my basement.” When a drone appeared above Sotnychenko and his 77-year-old mother as they tried to escape Irpin, they ran from it, certain it would kill them. 

The way Sotnychenko’s perception of drones was transformed over that month, from ally to enemy, echoes a shift that has taken place for civilians across Ukraine. At the start of the war, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance. But as the war edged toward its second year, Ukraine’s successes were eclipsed by Russian bombardments of Iranian-made kamikaze drones, used to target energy infrastructure and plunge parts of the country into darkness.

The war in Ukraine is the first large-scale conflict to see widespread use of drones on both sides. That has made it a crucible of innovation, as both invader and defender experiment and refine their technologies and tactics. But experts now caution that the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles is driving militaries—in Ukraine and beyond—to hand over more and more control to artificial intelligence, and ultimately moving toward systems that can operate on the battlefield without human involvement. 

“The massive use of drones in the war in Ukraine is pushing for more AI-guided weapon systems,” says Wim Zwijnenburg, project leader in humanitarian disarmament at PAX, a Dutch organization that campaigns to end armed violence. This, he warns, would create a slippery slope. “Justification for defensive purposes can easily change into offensive use when the genie is out of the bottle.” 

In the early days of Russia’s invasion, drones were mostly used as surveillance tools, like the ones Sotnychenko saw above Irpin. Russian forces used Orlan-10 fixed-wing drones to monitor troop movements and assess artillery damage. But it was Ukraine’s use of the Bayraktar TB2, made by the Turkish company Baykar, that transformed public perceptions of drone warfare. 

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 10/24/2020

Assassination Classroom EP#09 - Transfer Student Time: The students of Class 3-E are greeted by their first transfer student, an artificial intelligence from Norway known as the Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery, who uses calculations to assess the best way to shoot Koro-sensei, managing to blow off one of his fingertips with her second barrage of gunfire. However, the students quickly gets sick of her constantly firing her weapons during class, deciding to tape them shut themselves so they can study properly. After class, Koro-sensei makes some modifications to the Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery, giving her a more human personality. The next day, the students appreciate her more and nickname her Ritsu. Later that night, Ritsu's inventors are outraged with the changes and decide to remove all the modifications. However, Ritsu manages to hide her new personality from them before it is deleted, deciding to secretly defy her inventors for the sake of keeping her promise to help her classmates.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#39 Finale - The Sleeping Slave: Mista tries to force the truth from Scolippi, who explains that his Stand Rolling Stones creates stones with images of people at the moment of their deaths. Once a person touches their own stone, they are allowed to choose to accept their death. He affirms that after the florist's daughter touched her stone, she realized that she was about to die and committed suicide to allow her organs to be transplanted into her ailing father and save his life. Upon learning this, Mista tries his best to prevent Bucciarati from touching his own stone, almost killing himself in the process. Back in the present, Giorno and the others learn that, despite his body being dead, Polnareff managed to keep his soul attached to the turtle, which Giorno decides to keep the arrow inside for safekeeping. The series ends with Giorno being watched by Mista and Polnareff as he is instated as the new leader of Passione.

Black Clover: Six Months of Training Arc EP#136 - A Black Deep-Sea Story: The Underwater Temple is attacked. The Bulls visit the beach to begin serious training. Noelle begins having memory flashes of her mother. Kahono and Kiato take the Bulls to the Temple. Gifso explains they were attacked by a Sea Guardian who has become violently angry and the only ones who can soothe it are Kahono and Kiato. To test herself Noelle offers to use Sea Dragon’s Cradle to enter the Void. Yami sends Finral with them but forbids anyone else from helping. In the Void they are attacked by mutated fish monsters. Noelle manages to tap into the Natural Mana of the ocean and defeats them. Travelling deeper they find a Kraken which Noelle defeats with her Valkyrie Water Armor. Finally locating the whale-like Guardian Kahono and Kiato soothe it, revealing the Guardian has recently given birth and her protective instincts caused all nearby sea creatures to protect the baby, and causing the Kraken to attack their Temple. Now soothed, the Guardian gives Noelle a memory of her mother, making Noelle realize Acier must once have visited the Guardian as well. Noelle and the others return to the surface to celebrate. Yami privately praises Finral for growing from the useless good-for-nothing he used to be, then punishes him for accidentally teleporting a Kraken tentacle on top of him during Noelle’s fight.

Here's some upcoming Toonami changes:

The Promised Neverland Season 1 Marathon - October 31, 2020

Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld Part 2 replaces JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind on November 7, 2020 at 12:30 AM

Fire Force Season 2 will premiere on Toonami on November 7, 2020 at 1:00 AM, moving Assassination Classroom to 1:30 AM

Gemusetto: Death Beat(s) premieres on Toonami at 2:00 AM, replacing Black Clover.

Slightly Damned Page 989: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/989

[collapsedsquid]

To start with, missiles. Lots and lots of missiles. The US and its allies notoriously keep underestimating how many smart weapons they’ll need for a shooting war, then start to run out against enemies as weak as the Serbs or Libyans. Against a Russia or China, which can match not only our technology but our mass, you run out of munitions fast.

Specifically, you want lots of long-range offensive missiles. Ochmanek mentioned Army artillery brigades, which use MLRS missile launchers, and the Air Force’s JAGM-ER smart bomb, while Work touted the Navy’s LRASM ship-killer. You also want lots of defensive missiles to shoot down the enemy‘s offensive missiles, aircraft, and drones. One short-term fix there is the Army’s new Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) batteries, Stinger missiles mounted on 8×8 Stryker armored vehicles. In the longer term, lasers, railguns, and high-powered microwaves could shoot down incoming missiles much less expensively.

The other big fix: toughening up our command, control, and communications networks. That includes everything from jam-proof datalinks to electronic warfare gear on combat aircraft and warships. The services are fond of cutting corners on electronics to get as many planes in the air and hulls in the water as possible, Ochmanek said, but a multi-billion dollar ship that dies for lack of a million-dollar decoy is a lousy return on investment.

In the longer run, Work added, you want to invest heavily in artificial intelligence: not killer robots, he said, but “loyal wingmen” drones to support manned aircraft and big-data crunchers to help humans analyze intelligence and plan.

Sure that sounds militarily useful but how many new IP capital assets will that generate?

[shotguns-and-socialites]

Profession: The Mechanic

“In short, intelligence, considered in what seems to be its original feature, is the faculty of manufacturing artificial objects, especially tools to make tools“

--  Henri Bergson

Since the passage of time weathers all things, the modern world has come to depend on the professionals working in the Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations. Often trained as a apprentice, these experts internalize the logic of machines, with the best mechanics able to identify a problem by sound alone. One hundred years ago, a master mechanic could know how to fix anything, but today, specialization is key, with vehicle service technicians, telecommunications experts, and watchmakers being some of the most notable specialties.

Combat: In combat, mechanics normally use tools and their combat robot.

Adventuring: Mechanics are good at keeping machines working their best, so they like to work with engineers and transporters.

Alignment: Fixing most machines is a one person job, so mechanics lean towards Individualism.

The Mechanic

HP: 7/level

PP: 5/level

Bonus Skills: Machinery plus two of: Artist, Computer Use, Driving, Engineering, Forced Entry, Smith, Traps

Physical Attack Bonus: Profession level.

Mental Attack Bonus: ½ Profession level, rounded down.

Proficiencies: Unarmed, voice, tools, artillery, guns, pajamas, casual

Powers: Mechanic powers are governed by Dexterity.

Professional Abilities

Level 1: Handyman’s Friend - Once, the mechanic may awaken a device as if by the Robot Buddy power, except that it requires no special ROM chip, the mechanic never rolls any maintenance checks, one of its mental attributes is 2, one is 0, and another is -1, and one of its physical attributes is 2, one is 0, and another is -1. The friend’s HP is equal to 1 plus the higher of its Acuity and Dexterity plus 4 times the mechanic’s profession level, and its PP is equal to 0. It receives a bonus to mental and physical attack and defense rolls equal to the mechanic’s profession level. It is a level 0 character.

Level 2: Machine Empathy - Whenever the mechanic targets a machine with a healing power, the mechanic recovers HP equal to the PP cost of the power.

Level 3: Mechanic Specialty - The mechanic chooses one of the three mechanic specialties: vehicle service technician, telecommunications expert, and watchmaker. Once chosen, this choice cannot be changed.  

Level 4: Spell Gears - Once a level, the mechanic can install a special component (MSRP $10 times the mechanic’s level) to give their friend the ability to emulate the effects of a single power once a day. These powers cannot be improved, must have an activation time of 1 hour or less, and a level lower than the mechanic’s level, but can be from any class. All costs other than PP must be paid.

Level 6: Gadgeteer Genius - The mechanic never suffers an unfamiliarity penalty to their Machinery, Computer Use, or Driving rolls. They receive a bonus equal to their Dexterity to Charisma-based skills made against machines.

Level 8: Improved Spell Gears - When the friend uses a spell gear, they may apply improvements to it, as long as the total PP cost is less than the mechanic’s level. Like always, all costs other than PP must be paid.

Level 10: Machine Intelligence - The friend gains a profession level of the mechanic’s choice, but not mechanic. They still cannot use clothing, weapons, or accessories. Each time the mechanic levels up, the friend gains an additional level.

Specialty Abilities

Vehicle Service Technician

Level 3: Vehicle Service Technician Powers - The technician may learn Transporter powers as if they were Mechanic powers whose power level equals its Transporter power level.

Level 5: Bond - The technician receives the transporter’s Bond professional ability, except it functions as if the technician is a 1st level Transporter. As an hour-long action, the mechanic may install or uninstall their friend from the bonded vehicle. As long as the friend is installed in the vehicle, the friend and vehicle are considered a single character, they may drive the vehicle without disadvantage, and receives a +10 bonus to any Driving, Area Knowledge, Forced Entry, Machinery, and Stealth skills made while driving the vehicle.

Level 7: Mounted Cannon - As an hour long action, the mechanic can attach an artillery weapon to the bonded vehicle. As long as the friend is installed in the bonded vehicle, they are proficient with artillery.

Level 9: Powered Plating - As long as the friend is installed in the bonded vehicle, if they use a spell gear to emulate a power that only targets themself, they and all the passengers receive 6 protection for the duration off the power.

Telecommunications Expert

Level 3: Telecommunications Expert Talent - Starting at 3rd level, the expert learns an additional number of power levels worth of powers equal to their level each level. They also gain knowledge of all major languages.

Level 5: Strong Signal - Any phone used by the expert functions as if it were a generation 10 phone. This does not change its storage, battery life, or cost.

Level 7: Phone a Friend - By concentrating, as a full round action, on a person whose name they know and face they’ve seen before, the expert divines the phone number of the closest phone to that person. Further, the expert receives a bonus equal to their Dexterity on Charisma-based skill checks made over the phone.

Level 9: App Development - The expert can connect their powers to a server, allowing anyone with a special app they design to connect to it with their phones and use their phones to emulate those powers. The users decide the improvements and pay any PP or other costs. Each power requires one server, the first server comes free as a gift from the expert’s bosses or benefactors, additional servers are $2150. Each session, if there is least one server running, the expert receives their level times the highest power level among the powers connected to servers times $10 in profits.

Watchmaker

Level 3: Watchmaker Power - The watchmaker can learn powers from any profession with an activation time of one minute or longer, or a duration of one hour or longer as if they were mechanic powers whose power level equals their lowest power level plus 1.

Level 5: Good Timing - As long as they wear a watch accessory, the watchmaker receives a bonus equal to twice their Dexterity to initiative checks and never has disadvantage on initiative checks due to surprise.

Level 7: Ticking - Attacks the watchmaker makes against character who have not taken a turn this combat deal an additional 1d12 explosion damage.

Level 9: Sands of Time - The watchmaker becomes in tune with all of their past and future lifetimes, the version of themselves in other timelines and other realities, and other characters that share the same “essential self” as the watchmaker. This allows them to sit down and talk to one of them for one hour a day, which gives the watchmaker advantage on all rolls related to the advice received, and possibly other bonuses, at the GM’s discretion.