Cricket: Germany's new autonomous VTOL battlefield flying stretcher

[@AbdullahHusain-h3m]

German doing great اللهم بارك

[@michaelneuwirth3414]

Many companies around the world are certainly working on such drones, because the concept of vertical take-off and landing offers a straight line everywhere as the shortest connection between two points, and one-person transport is the basic unit of measurement for the payload of this type of drone, so to speak. A hybrid drive will probably help to alleviate the range problem in the future. The most important thing will be the electronically controlled flight and the lower acquisition and maintenance costs compared to a conventional helicopter.

[@_Breakdown]

Interesting - wish they’d explain HOW it is supposedly prevented from being taken down

[@Orbital_Inclination]

A lot of propulsive redundancy vs a conventional helicopter

[@jonjonsovich1420]

This is useless

[@mememachine5244]

@@Orbital_Inclination LMFAO, nah bro what are you waffling about

[@Orbital_Inclination]

​@@mememachine5244shall I put it into easy words for you? A normal helicopter has one or two main rotors. If one fails, it falls out of the sky. This has multiples, and is designed to still operate with a loss or two, providing greater survivability.

[@SWGOHWARS-66]

Cozzzz it has "electronic warfare systems 😂😂" honestly a stinger would take this down in seconds ..anything heatseeking never mind a regular flak AA gun

[@KingDomsKingdom85]

Fascinating

[@RoyalEngineersVeteran]

The British had one being tried out a while ago

[@danielwhyatt3278]

Indeed. We were developing one a few years ago now and it seemed really promising. I even so an effective mark one version about two years ago now in person and it seemed well developed (although didn’t see it fly when I was there). I wonder why Germany is claiming to have the first here. Perhaps we still aren’t pushing hard enough with the technology as usual, while this German model is regarded by them as a fully dedicated model rather than a multipurpose model like the one the UK has developed could be. Although it feels safe to say Ukraine will put something like this into practice first long before Germany, let alone the UK armed forces do.

[@veeeks2938]

Yeah, there were several different Malloy Aeronautics drones. One carried a dummy payload meant to simulate a human casualty. The most interesting model was a drone that dropped a homing torpedo in a test.

[@spacexo1986]

Great invention 🎉 👍nice❤

[@bartmanxoxo]

Nice 🎉

[@lyft4238]

This thing is gonna get taken out accidentally

[@ValterUngerson]

russia dosen't need that

[@ArchDudeify]

Yeah they may be developing mass grave digging robots instead

[@pauldannelachica2388]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@generalstack6540]

Gosh that looks like e easy target 🎯

[@Orbital_Inclination]

Anything is an easy target if you use it poorly, don't plan effectively, etc. Thankfully, we put more effort into protecting our kit that people seem to think.

[@saltymonke3682]

Depends

[@SWGOHWARS-66]

​@Orbital_Inclination but do you even have flares for example?

[@Orbital_Inclination]

​@@SWGOHWARS-66not on this demonstrator, but that doesn't mean the final in-service product won't. This is just an evaluation trial, not a final acceptance test.

[@krunchie101]

Medical vehicles tend to be easy targets, yes.

[@Blastoice]

This has just started the way for amazon to make all their delivery drivers redundant

[@AlOh-2]

The cricket 😳 Looks more like a whale 🤣

[@johnribble]

Zeppelin

[@afterglow5285]

Make the video at night with cyberpunk lights and call it the robodrone or cyberdrone

[@Sjoldschool]

It can only evacuate one casualty at a time and can’t determine what a trained pilot can in the heat of the moment… can it administer medical treatment if things go wrong during the flight?? No. Medical evacuation helicopters or armoured personnel vehicles with medics are required or these drones will be delivering dead bodies to the hospital.

[@Orbital_Inclination]

No one said its going to entirely replace MERT, but kit like this could supplement the demand very nicely, especially if they allow a stabilised casualty to reach medical care within the golden hour.

[@UR_HR]

If its choosing the drone or lay where you are for 24hrs, you might find yourself choosing the drone

[@Truthbomb918]

I'm sure someone would prefer to be on the way to medical professionals instead of dying in the field

[@lucimorgenstern4443]

I doubt they're delivering to the hospital, but on the front lines, if someone needs care they can't get on the field, these could bring them to a fallback point to receive better medical attention. Just because it can't do everything perfectly in every situation doesn't mean it won't save countless lives.

[@bosoerjadi2838]

​@@lucimorgenstern4443Yes. And/or to a zone where it'd be considered (relatively) safe to land fully crewed and equiped medevac helicopters.

[@hannovonbahrenfeld5986]

The iron cross is a statement

[@Orbital_Inclination]

Yes, that it's being operated by the German armed forces

[@BeatonArmaments]

That's always been the German identifier since the 1950's. Ww2 they used the Balkenkreuz (Iron Beam) markings.

[@peterfeeney721]

Why no RED CROSS markins given it's set role as a Medical vehicle?

[@OUKIKO]

Because it becomes a priority target for the russians.

[@Orbital_Inclination]

It has a red cross on the rear of the vehicle

[@ad_astra5]

@@Orbital_Inclinationit’s also a demonstration/proof of concept, so it probably has its own prototype/technical markings instead

[@drbendover7467]

What's the bet Russians will aim to shoot these drones down:)

[@Orbital_Inclination]

Maybe, but shooting something with the red cross symbol is a war crime

[@DoctorOfProduct]

Soon, humans will no longer fight in wars, so Robot Repair Units will be more useful. They'll repair drones and other robots directly on the battlefield. 🚑⚙🤖

[@bosoerjadi2838]

Cricket? One would've thought that the Germans would have named such a vehicle the Valkyrie or Walküre.

[@bobskywalker2707]

I don’t understand how this is more effective than a helicopter for medivac. A helicopter can carry more wounded, moves faster, and can’t be shot down by some yahoo with a hunting shotgun

[@Orbital_Inclination]

This is quieter, exposes less crew to danger, cheaper to operate and maintain, greater redundancy and less critical failure modes than a helicopter, to name just a few. I don't see this replacing medivac, not by a long shot, but it is a good addition

[@jw1548]

big slow enemy target. 👎

[@tothethreshold.9965]

You know what else is a big slow target, a medevac helicopter. This is a quarter the size of an heli without risking a flight crew so far more likely to used in situations where a safe landing zone can not be secured. Very low thermal signature, 12 rotor design so far higher redundancy. Wont work in all situations but when your options are death vs a ride in this thing to a hospital unit i know which i would choose.

[@sonsofthesilentage994]

Another ad from broke britain

[@Orbital_Inclination]

What? Are bots just coded poorly, or do you just not understand what this clip is about?

[@MikeLawtonUK]

Errr, you do realise this was promoting GERMAN technology?

[@blueshepard7]

That's incredible!!! Sadly the Israel goverment will only see this as a sh00ting practice 😢

[@FLORIDIANMILLIONAIRE]

Reporting zero sales.

[@MikeLawtonUK]

Why would they be reporting any sales at all when at prototype level? The technology readiness level (TRL) of this is level 6, meaning it’s at customer demo level, designed to get their feedback on performance and features. From here it’ll be refined further, then formally launched. (Yes, I do work in technology R&D!)

[@TJ-wo1xt]

Ok, cool, .................what happens if it's shot down?

[@Orbital_Inclination]

Same as what happens if a MERT helicopter is shot down, or your ambulance hits a landmine. The idea is to put effort into the planning and protection so that doesn't happen very often.

[@TJ-wo1xt]

@Orbital_Inclination no it's not the same. A helo has a door gunner, 2 pilots. This is good for uncontested areas, not for the once under fire

[@Orbital_Inclination]

​@@TJ-wo1xtand? The addition of a crew makes no difference if it gets shot down, just more casualties to evac. As for this vehicle's use cases, it could easily be outfitted with a defensive aid suite, or provided with Apache escort in the same way MERT helicopters are. Besides that, it has a lot of potential for uncontested airspace, as you pointed out.

[@lucimorgenstern4443]

​@@TJ-wo1xt Quite the opposite. Real world isn't some flashy action movie, doesn't matter how many guns are on a heli, it's not landing in a hot zone. These have th chance to at least bring critically injured to a nearby camp to receive attention that field medics can't give them. I'm sure theyll also have a guard for direct routes. They're not just going to send it in and call it good, entire procedures for usage and safe transport will be out in place. Just because it isn't a literal flying tank from cyberpunk, doesnt mean it can't save countless lives.

[@michaelneuwirth3414]

...... then maybe it falls down?

[@seanwoodyatt7342]

Nice idea, sadly though, like all electric vehicles, it'll spend most of its time on charge and won't be able to travel very far to be of any true use.

[@Orbital_Inclination]

You clearly don't understand electric vehicles very well

[@seanwoodyatt7342]

@Orbital_Inclination I understand them better than you. Get off the drugs and alcohol and try using your brain for a change. Electric vehicles were brought out before they'd even started thinking about traveling distance and charging times. Internal combustion engines travel hell of a lot further, don't need to spend hours on end being charged up, fuel for internal combustion engines can also be made from plants, unlike the materials for the batteries in an electric vehicle, which have to be mined, causing more damage to the earth, destroying more wildlife habitat and killing off more animals, potentially causing some animals to go extinct, plus if a petrol vehicle runs out of fuel, then it only takes a minute or two to fill it back up again no matter where you are, where as electric vehicles can't, they have to be put on a truck or trailer and transported to a charging point. You clearly need to go back to school to be taught how to use your brain.

[@Orbital_Inclination]

​@@seanwoodyatt7342You've perfectly proved my point. Let's address the battery materials first. They're predominantly lithium, and over 99% recyclable. Your arguement over making fuel from plants is moot because that doesn't happen on any significant scale to make any actual impact, and the land/water/agricultural machinery and processing requirements for such an operation are unfeasible at any decent scale. Let's also not deny that plenty of the materials found in modern ICE vehicles aren't also mined, or that the fuel that powers them doesn't primarily come from environmentally disastrous drilling operations. As for the recharge time, that would only be a factor if you only operated one or two. On an average squadron of helicopters, there are a dozen or more. The odds of them all being airborne at any one time are practically zero, due to necessary time on the ground for maintenance, and rotation of airframe use for fatigue life management. That leaves plenty of time for recharging, which can be done by any military diesel gen-set that are widely available, if renewable grid options aren't available. It is also far easier to swap an electrical drivetrain than a conventional turboshaft or piston one, due to far less plumbing involved, and far fewer components. That makes maintenance far easier.

[@michaelneuwirth3414]

@@Orbital_Inclination ... he's still young, he'll understand at some point how to replace an empty battery with a full one.