> The gap between consumer electronics and mil-spec capability keeps shrinking
My friend's brother works in munitions and had, in his spare time, designed and prototyped a missile that could be built for about 10k. He pretty much was ignored by the contractor he works for.
Shockingly, as of a couple weeks ago, they are all hot and bothered to talk.
That tracks. The defense primes have zero incentive to make things cheaper — their business model is cost-plus. A guy building something for 10k in his garage is an existential threat to programs billing 500k per unit. Of course they ignored him until the geopolitical situation made it impossible to keep ignoring.
> That tracks. The defense primes have zero incentive to make things cheaper
Same in medical imaging industry.
Well, there are cheap portable ultrasound scanners and endoscopes.
True.
I was talking about those that are meant for hospitals. Was peripherally involved with a fledgling startup that was developing something cheap. Hospitals straightaway said noway.
They would be desirable in places with poor advanced imaging penetration like Brazil. Usually only the largest city in a state has this sort of imaging.
If you build a tool optimized for human destruction, you are feeding a system where violence is the default currency
We are heading to robotic wars where abilities and cost efficiency are the key factors. Like today drones in Ukraine war. Attack + defense + automation, + money + production
I wonder what could have possibly sparked that... lol