- Yes
- No
Hello everyone, and welcome to this new suggestion.
Today, I’m offering you a new suggestion that could bring a bit of innovation and diversity to the flight simulation mode.
The history of combat drone use is part of a gradual evolution of military aerial technologies, moving from simple prototypes of remote-controlled aircraft to strategic weapons systems deployed worldwide.
The first attempts date back to the First World War. At that time, engineers designed devices like the Kettering Bug, a kind of pre-programmed flying bomb, never used in combat. In the interwar period, rudimentary drones, like the British Fairey Queen, were mainly used as flying targets for training gunners. During the Second World War, unmanned aircraft remained marginal: Germany developed the V-1 flying bombs and V-2 ballistic missiles—the forerunners of automatic weapons—while the United States experimented with Project Aphrodite, bombers loaded with remotely guided explosives, without any real operational success.
With the Cold War, drones found their first real use: reconnaissance. The United States, keen to spy on the USSR and operate without risking the lives of its pilots, deployed UAVs such as the Ryan Firebee in the 1950s. In Vietnam, they were used to gather information and conduct electronic warfare missions. The USSR, in turn, developed its own models, such as the Tupolev Tu-123. From the 1970s, Israel became a pioneer in the tactical use of drones for surveillance, jamming, and the coordination of air operations, as seen during the 1982 Lebanon War.
Beginning in the 1990s, advances in electronic miniaturization and guidance systems ushered in the era of armed drones. First used to designate targets in Kosovo in 1999, they reached a new level in the early 2000s: the CIA and the US Air Force armed MQ-1 Predators with Hellfire missiles. The first lethal strike was carried out in 2002 in Yemen. These devices quickly became central to the “war on terror” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, enabling long-range, often controversial, strikes. Israel, for its part, uses its armed drones in various regional theaters.
The 2010s marked the global proliferation of combat drones. New players such as Turkey, China, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates developed and exported their own armed systems. Today, drones are essential assets for all the world’s militaries.
In 2023, combat drones appeared for the first time in the game as playable vehicles (outside of events), 3 models were included, the MQ-1 for the United States, the Orion for Russia and the Wing Loong 1 for China. These drones were and still are today reserved for tank battles in realistic and simulator mode. Although initially played by players when they were added, drones are currently rather neglected due to the arrival of more modern and more effective anti-aircraft systems as well as the arrival of aircraft with more destructive weapons.
Today I propose to bring them up to date with the following proposition: why not add drones as playable vehicles in the air simulation mode.
Obviously I suggest adding drones only in high Br battles (from 13.0 for example) in order to maintain a certain historical consistency and keep the game balanced
Why add drones as playable vehicles?
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This would be an interesting addition, the drones bringing a new style of gameplay and abilities rather focused on ground attack while in these BR the players are very focused on aerial combat.
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This would be a realistic addition, drones are increasingly used by all countries, seeing them in combat situations intended to be as close to reality as possible would not be surprising.
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This would be a fun addition, as drones have very different flight patterns than high-Br aircraft, adding them would allow for the emergence of new tactics that could be out of the ordinary.
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It would be a simple addition, drones are not very powerful vehicles, their payloads and their detection/destruction capabilities are not very high, adding them would not upset the balance of the game
However, as always, some negative aspects can be noted.
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The gameplay would be slower than that of airplanes, making drones less attractive
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The tasks that could be performed would be monotonous, apart from ground attack and perhaps a little intelligence gathering, the drones would not have much to do.
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The flight and damage models might need to be reworked.
However, these negative points are mainly related to the players’ desire to play these vehicles and not to the capabilities and balance of the game, making this addition a welcome change for those who want to see them arrive and a random addition for the rest.
Finally, it should be noted that this addition would perhaps be the opportunity to introduce new combat drones into the game (with at least one different skin for each country for those using the same equipment)
Here are some drone models that can be added/used for each country in the game
USA
MQ-1 :
MQ-9 :
Germany
The Germans do not currently possess combat drones similar to what is available in the game, however within the framework of NATO, collaborations with MQ-1/MQ-9 have been carried out.
I may be talking nonsense, correct me if so
URSS/Russia
Orion :
China
Wing Loong :
Wing Loong II :
CH-4 :
Sweden
To my knowledge, Sweden does not use combat drones similar to those proposed, however, being part of NATO, Sweden could be brought to collaborate with countries using MQ-9s in particular.
Israel
Hermes 450 :
There are therefore many flying drones that can be added to the game, moreover as seen earlier this would not change much in the course of the battles in ASB but would perhaps add a new style of gameplay, consequently this idea seems interesting to me and would perhaps be worth looking into.
Tell me what you think about this suggestion.