>These drones won't be carrying bullets. They'll be carrying tiny payloads of VX nerve agent to be "effective detterent."
Seriously? I don't know how this comment is at the top of my list. I have never seen a citation more needed. A single bullet fired at close range from one of these drones would be much more effective than dropping some nerve agent. If you can aim effectively and have 20 of these - only one of which needs to get within 10 feet then the target is much more surely dead than an LD50 nerve bomb. If you are going to do that and not give a crap about collateral then just fire a missile from the plane or a big drone. Mini drones are much more likely to be used for recon than attack.
What's really more important than size of the drones is quantity. How do you stop a plane? You shoot it down. How do you stop 100 planes? You shoot them down, but it's a lot harder. How do you stop 100,000 drones, who are deliberately doing things to make them hard to shoot down all at once? Just about the only two answers are A: with another 100,000 drones of your own shooting back or B: a very, very big EMP, or a lot of EMPs of significant power. Both of these have problems of their own.
There are other problems; for instance, you need a delivery platform because small drones can't carry enough energy to transport themselves long distances. Always the real world interferes with the dream (nightmare or otherwise). But what you potentially end up with is another phase transition in warfare, such as occurred in the industrial era, where there were militaries that were industrial, and there were the militaries that would have saved a lot of time and lives if they just surrendered immediately, because they never stood a chance.
The laser systems definitely have the potential to be a significant component of that phase transition. Goodness help the current-gen military on the receiving end of both the drone army and the lasers.
And let me say again, I'm not utopian or starry-eyed about these systems. Lasers have their own problems, too. But the sum total of all the techs currently coming down the pike are dripping with potential, and one need not study much history to notice that multiple such phase changes have happened before so it's not like it's a far-out idea.
A micro-drone the size of a bullet or smaller can't fire one. I agree recon makes vastly more sense, but we pay scientists to be Dr. Strangelove, so if there's a way to arm them, I've got faith in the Pentagon/DARPA to come through with something.
Seriously? I don't know how this comment is at the top of my list. I have never seen a citation more needed. A single bullet fired at close range from one of these drones would be much more effective than dropping some nerve agent. If you can aim effectively and have 20 of these - only one of which needs to get within 10 feet then the target is much more surely dead than an LD50 nerve bomb. If you are going to do that and not give a crap about collateral then just fire a missile from the plane or a big drone. Mini drones are much more likely to be used for recon than attack.