this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
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Japan’s Minister of Defense Shinjirō Koizumi posed with a cardboard drone on Monday during a meeting with drone manufacturer AirKamuy. The AirKamuy 150 is a cheap pre-fab cardboard drone meant to die on the battlefield and it comes shipped in a flatpack like an IKEA shelf.

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[–] belochka@lemmy.world 22 points 11 hours ago

That's the eco-friendliness we deserve, and from Japan no less.

[–] Bloefz@lemmy.world 100 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

At least they don't put people in them this time 😅

[–] django@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Sending young pilots to death in a rapidly aging society would be bad.

[–] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago

Seems sending old pilots it's a win win then.

[–] PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

This will never fly in Seattle! Too wet.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 8 points 8 hours ago

They could use waxed cardboard like fruit boxes.

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 17 points 10 hours ago

I saw the cardboard festival tent hold up to a couple days of rain. Thats probably more than the maximum mission time it needs.

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 18 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

There are cheap and easy ways to waterproof cardboard, but I'm not sure why you would want to attack Seattle.

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Microslop has its headquarters there. That's enough reason to flatten the city and salt the earth.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No, they're headquartered in Redmond.

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

...which is basically just a bedroom community for Seattle.

We need to think big here, lads!

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 8 points 11 hours ago

Trebuchet > wet lump of cardboard drone > boom! Your argument is invalid.

[–] kronarbob@lemmy.world 67 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 13 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Sell overpriced consoles with the tariff money they don't have to pay anymore... But to what end...?

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 31 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This is an approach that could never succeed in the U.S., because there the focus is always on throwing as much money as possible at the defense contractors so that the billionaires can get even richer.

A current example: the war of aggression against Iran that the U.S. is waging in violation of international law.

To my knowledge, not even a halfway plausible reason has been given for this. And so it becomes quite clear that this is simply about shifting state resources into the pockets of the super-rich - and U.S. citizens just go along with it, even though it isn’t even them who are dying by the thousands, but rather, among others, Iranian schoolchildren, hundreds of whom were murdered simply by a bombing of a school...

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

The usa military budget is non comparable to european military budgets, they pay for different things. IMO.

[–] Major_Tsiom@fedia.io 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

They do? What do you mean?

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 9 hours ago

It includes costs for retired personnel and social security (social security is not in the military budget in most or any European countries) for example.

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago

The number of our amazon boxes will block out the sun.

Then we will fight in the shade.

We really gotta stop using the term suicide I'm this context. It's silly this ain't no jihadi jeep

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 18 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 11 points 14 hours ago

...and supplied them to Ukraine.

[–] Major_Tsiom@fedia.io 7 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

So… like a very slow missile then?

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 hours ago

Radar doesn't work very well on cardboard. Ukraine has already been using drones like this since 2023.

[–] FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Doubt they have much carrying capacity for explosives like a shahed drone which is $25k, while these $2k cardboard drones are great for surveillance with little concern for loss.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 7 points 11 hours ago

It doesn't take much explosive to defeat infantry.

Sure, it isn't flying across the country to hit an installation like a Shahed, but it could function as a longer-range, loitering mortar round.

Lots of small payloads would be useful if you can put a lot of them in the right place: blast fragmentation, HEDP, thermobaric, smoke, illumination, etc.

[–] Muscle_Meteor@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 13 hours ago

Thats one hell of a papercut

[–] StillAlive@piefed.world 8 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 13 hours ago

Origamikaze

[–] NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social 7 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

But why would you use a drone to commit suicide?

[–] robolemmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 14 hours ago

Surprise suicide?

[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

New Amazon assistance suicide subscription.

[–] jafra@slrpnk.net 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Suicide subscription might not be the most profitable business model.

[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Could be used as a family plan. Gotta do something about grandma when she becomes a burden.

[–] timroerstroem@feddit.dk 5 points 15 hours ago

I guess that makes the "suicide" part easier to achieve.

[–] Teknikal@anarchist.nexus 1 points 11 hours ago

For single use it's not a bad idea honestly but I can't imagine they would carry much and things like the wind might play a big factor.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Excited to see one of these bad boys show up at the next WHCD