Iran Super Thread- Merged

[Colin Parkinson]

I have to wonder if miniaturized vacuum tubes or simplified chips similar to what was made 30+ years ago might be a way to break into the market. You may not need hi-tech chips and manufacturing processes if you can recreate earlier processes and use those for the simpler tasks. We were making some sophisticated drones in the 1980's and even clockwork drones in the 1960's

 

[lenaitch]

It’s more complicated than that. Demand for the highest grade microchips has become utterly dominated by the couple major GPU manufacturers serving AI data centers. So pure-fab chipmakers like TSMC with the highest end lithography machines are all in on that, serving NVidia, AMD etc. But the military hardware in question, while advanced, is built on chips that aren’t nearly so cutting edge; the manufacturing thereof is going to be constrained by intellectual property nights and production scaled for small batch moreso than physical hardware capable of making the chips and circuitry. It’s more that major defence companies won’t happily expand production facilities unless they can be assured of sustained higher demand. And that, in turn, runs on political timeframes due to the inherently political nature of U.S. defence procurement and budgeting for same.

I'll take your word for it - my knowledge isn't at that level. All I know is that I was recommended to buy a new laptop late last year by our IT-geek son-in-law because of a pending increase. I acknowledge that 'consumer level' chips are likely different from other applications.

Why everything from your phone to your PC may get pricier in 2026

The price of Ram - once one of the cheapest computer parts - has more than doubled since October 2025.

www.bbc.com

 

[FormerEnlisted]

I have to wonder if miniaturized vacuum tubes or simplified chips similar to what was made 30+ years ago might be a way to break into the market. You may not need hi-tech chips and manufacturing processes if you can recreate earlier processes and use those for the simpler tasks. We were making some sophisticated drones in the 1980's and even clockwork drones in the 1960's

I think fiber optic controls simplify things greatly because there is a direct link for commands. Not that it is simple, just that the organic evolution we have seen tends toward simplicity as a means of defeating EW countermeasures.

Some models have self healing mesh networks driven by a decentralized AI that treats the overall attack like a swarm. The optical recognition assigns a point value and then tunnels the attack. This is being done with 'archaic' chips from a consumer perspective. If we stopped retail cellular sales we could probably support this indefinitely - not that the foundries making them would last that long.

Carney should finance the entire vertical supply chain from foundry to assembly. IBM currently runs a half dozen so poorly its assessed that their management team reduces total equipment valuation by several billion each. We could spend $10B for turnkey domestic CPU production and then turn closed automotive lines into component production. We have everything we need to do this, including massive slag heaps of rare earth minerals.

If Ukraine has taught us anything, its that whoever can win the drone war will win the land war. That is a realistic national goal for us. Time for Commonwealth Air Schools 2.0.

~~~~

American
NVIDIA Jetson Series (Orin, Nano): used extensively by Russia (in the Lancet, Molniya, and V2U barrage drones) and Ukraine for onboard computer vision and autonomous target tracking.

Texas Instruments (TMS320 / Sitara / MSP430): Found frequently in digital signal processing, battery management, and power distribution units on Russian long-range drones.

Microchip Technology (ATmega328P / AVR / PIC): Standard 8-bit processors used by Ukrainian volunteer groups for basic engineering, payload drop mechanisms, and secondary trigger switches.

Maxim Integrated / Analog Devices (ADM3232 / Sensors): Used for interface transceivers, air data computing (ADC), and serial communications.

Switzerland / Europe
STMicroelectronics (STM32F4, STM32F7, STM32H7, STM32G0): Powers the core flight controllers (such as those running Betaflight or ArduPilot) and air data computers in Russia's Geran-2 (Shahed-136) and Geran-4 loitering munitions, as well as thousands of Ukrainian FPV quadcopters.
Infineon Technologies: German-designed microchips and clock oscillators recovered in Russia's newest missile-like reconnaissance and decoy drones.

China
Espressif Systems (ESP32 / ESP32-S3): Used by Ukraine wireless video transmission (ESP32-CAM) and secondary communication links.
Leetop (A203 Minicomputer): Chinese-manufactured carrier boards used by Russia to integrate American NVIDIA processors for AI-driven autonomous scouting.

Russia
Milandr (1986VE series) / Mikron: Russia manufactures its own basic 32-bit MCUs (based on the ARM Cortex architecture). Typically reserved for the Orlan-10 reconnaissance system.

 

[Furniture]

I think fiber optic controls simplify things greatly because there is a direct link for commands. Not that it is simple, just that the organic evolution we have seen tends toward simplicity as a means of defeating EW countermeasures.

Some models have self healing mesh networks driven by a decentralized AI that treats the overall attack like a swarm. The optical recognition assigns a point value and then tunnels the attack. This is being done with 'archaic' chips from a consumer perspective. If we stopped retail cellular sales we could probably support this indefinitely - not that the foundries making them would last that long.

Carney should finance the entire vertical supply chain from foundry to assembly. IBM currently runs a half dozen so poorly its assessed that their management team reduces total equipment valuation by several billion each. We could spend $10B for turnkey domestic CPU production and then turn closed automotive lines into component production. We have everything we need to do this, including massive slag heaps of rare earth minerals.

If Ukraine has taught us anything, its that whoever can win the drone war will win the land war. That is a realistic national goal for us. Time for Commonwealth Air Schools 2.0.

My only major issue with this idea is that it could easily lead to us becoming too specialized in a role that gets countered by other technologies.

We went away from V1(better Shaeds) type missiles after 1945 because they could be intercepted by Spitires. There is zero reason to believe that modern V1s are immune to counters.

We are far better served by investing in multiple warfare specialties.

To bring this back to the war in Iran, I suspect half the problems faced by the Americans and their allies in the region is that they have too few low-tech solutions for low-tech problems. They waste ESSM type missiles on systems a 40mm Bofors was designed to counter.

 

[brihard]

To bring this back to the war in Iran, I suspect half the problems faced by the Americans and their allies in the region is that they have too few low-tech solutions for low-tech problems. They waste ESSM type missiles on systems a 40mm Bofors was designed to counter.

I think there’s a lot of truth to this. Western militaries have evolved in recent decades to be ultra casualty averse, which necessitates selective engagement with exquisite weapons. There has been a sort of technological hubris, to the extent that it seems there really has been a belief that an initial onslaught of cutting edge weapons could take any enemy out of the fight. Ukraine should have been a huge warning sign on this, and Iran is proving it false.

This is correctable with money, political will, and a military willingness to change doctrine and adapt.

 

[Furniture]

This is correctable with money, political will, and a military willingness to change doctrine and adapt.

My greatest fear is Canada learning the wrong lesson, and going all-in on the "cheap" low-tech end, and losing the other half of the fight.

Iran is still flinging around a few high-end missiles, so we cant afford to not have/lose the ability to counter those as well.

 

[brihard]

My greatest fear is Canada learning the wrong lesson, and going all-in on the "cheap" low-tech end, and losing the other half of the fight.

Iran is still flinging around a few high-end missiles, so we cant afford to not have/lose the ability to counter those as well.

Yup. We need both. More Canadian troops die without both.