Ukraine used ArduPilot to help it wipe out Russian targets. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

Open source software used by hobbyist drones powered an attack that wiped out a third of Russia’s strategic long range bombers on Sunday afternoon, in one of the most daring and technically coordinated attacks in the war.

In broad daylight on Sunday, explosions rocked air bases in Belaya, Olenya, and Ivanovo in Russia, which are hundreds of miles from Ukraine. The Security Services of Ukraine’s (SBU) Operation Spider Web was a coordinated assault on Russian targets it claimed was more than a year in the making, which was carried out using a nearly 20-year-old piece of open source drone autopilot software called ArduPilot.

ArduPilot’s original creators were in awe of the attack. “That’s ArduPilot, launched from my basement 18 years ago. Crazy,” Chris Anderson said in a comment on LinkedIn below footage of the attack.

  • @[email protected]
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    101 month ago

    We need more. We should all keep the effective strategies quiet and secret. That way they can be used again and again.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 month ago

    Despite the name ArduPilot it appears to be based on Raspberry Pi:

    https://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/ardupilot-and-blueos-for-companion-computers/134879

    The hardware is built on top of this:
    https://www.seeedstudio.com/Ochin-Tiny-Carrier-Board-V2-for-Raspberry-Pi-CM4-p-5887.html

    Very impressive project, based on several other open source projects.
    It’s amazing how you can develop projects of such sophistication both cheap and fast, exclusively based on opensource. 👍😀

    Imagine the time and cost it would take, if Ukraine had to build this from the bottom!
    If it was an American manufacturer, it would probably be a billion dollar project.

    Edit PS:
    Although this seems well documented, this is probably not a beginner project.
    But for a team with some previous knowledge of working with similar things, I bet it’s relatively easy.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 month ago

      That’s wild, I was just reading about blueos for a project and that’s what they used? These kids are so fucking impressive

    • @[email protected]
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      31 month ago

      It primarily runs on STM32 microcontrollers. Hardware ranges from $200 whoop quads to six figure, professional grade aircraft.

  • bean
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    61 month ago

    Can you imagine if they had to license it? lol

    Ohhh sorryyyy. We would LOVE to support your attack which will be unprecedented in modern warfare… if only there wasn’t this tiny little eensy-weensy license ‘issue’. We’ve moved to a subscription for your drone warfare software. Per device. You can save 10% if you subscribe for a year. Early termination fee applies. To cancel you’ll have to call and attempt the phone labyrinth. $19.99/min.

    • ssillyssadass
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      11 month ago

      I’m now imagining a scenario in which the democratic nations of the world are in a war against oligarchs with corporate armies, and the corpos losing due to their hardware having licensing issues. Like the corpos are so addicted to fucking people over they can’t help but fuck their allies over.

  • @[email protected]
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    31 month ago

    Yeah, I doubt there’s many commercial options for drone swarm plane destruction. Who is this for?

  • Diplomjodler
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    311 month ago

    "That’s ArduPilot, launched from my basement 18 years ago. Crazy,” Chris Anderson said…

    One hell of an achievement to put in your resume.

  • [email protected]
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    441 month ago

    The shelves of your nearest hobby store hold the weapons of the future, with only a minimal cost. And that’s terrifying.

      • [email protected]
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        381 month ago

        No, definitely terrifying. War should be costly and terrible. That’s the only reason it isn’t more common, that its cost is objectionable. Pax economica, while flawed, is more subjective than ever before. And I do not like that.

        • @[email protected]
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          81 month ago

          War should be costly and terrible

          So that only the most powerful and elite can engage in a monopoly of violence eh? I’m far more concerned about a well funded local police agency thinking they need a bearcat, or a global power thinking they need a bomb that can split the earth in half than a neighbor with a drone and a 3d printer.

          You’ve got it all wrong. The dissolution of the high technology, grand tower approach to war fighting is a good thing.

          • [email protected]
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            31 month ago

            Governments will use drones. It will cost little. War will be a lighter proposition. That’s what I’m getting at.

          • @[email protected]
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            71 month ago

            There is little to no risk with choosing this as your terrorism device compared to the other options. No getting caught planting a bomb, no getting shot when you pull out a gun. Acquiring the parts is cheap, easy, and hard to track. Hell, they probably won’t even catch you if you get shot down unless you leave your remote transmitting.

            And what about that same police force with hundreds of these instead of 1 armored vehicle? They don’t even need explosives, you can put guns or tazers on these things. No witnesses when they kill someone through their 3rd story window.

            I don’t really care who is at the controls, it’s scary that anyone can get it - and I say that as someone who would be crushed if they started heavily regulating flying

            • @[email protected]
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              1 month ago

              There is little to no risk with choosing this as your terrorism device compared to the other options.

              Hobbyists have been flying remote control aircraft for decades.

              I say that as someone who would be crushed if they started heavily regulating flying

              Flying is heavily regulated.

              • @[email protected]
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                21 month ago

                Quadcopters are relatively new and the barrier to entry is way down. In the past few years, the technology has advanced considerably and it’s cheaper than ever making it a “reasonable” option for a more casual terrorist. You’re talking to one of those hobbyists, by the way.

                Flying commercially is heavily regulated but purchases aren’t. 3 of my quads are illegal to fly without a license but there’s nothing stopping you from building identical (or better) models.

                This isn’t to say I think they should be illegal. It’s just scary how its easier than ever for someone to become a terrorist from their basement.

        • @[email protected]
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          31 month ago

          War should be costly and terrible

          and it still is and it will be

          that’s the point, more often that not, to take money and burn it while producing more fuel for propaganda

          not saying that’s whats happening in Ukraine, but this has happened a ton in the past and will continue

        • @[email protected]
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          1 month ago

          War is costly and terrible, and it always will be, regardless of the magnitude of resources required to wage war.

          • [email protected]
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            1 month ago

            Your semantic argument costs 300 dollars to destroy with a grenade sent through a closed window from a person 500 miles away.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 month ago

      Well, there is the whole payload aspect you need to figure out.

      If you have that figured out, the rest is and has always been relatively trivial in comparison.

      The trucks in the videos clearly never went through any check of the cargo. Could have had a simple trebuchet design in there and haul some explosives onto the airfield.

      • @[email protected]
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        21 month ago

        The cargo area had a false ceiling didn’t it? Like I saw one that looked like you could open the back of the ‘trailer’ but there was a fake ceiling with the drones above that.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 month ago

          Afaik they had fake ceilings yeah. However noone that would bother to look, would be tricked by fake ceilings. That trick exists since horse carriages. The fake ceilings only give the driver some deniability.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 month ago

        Yeah, that’s something I feel like is being taken out of context. It’s the getting the explosives within range of the planes that was impressive to me. They could have had mortars/rockets/etc. and probably done similar damage at that range.

        I’m sure drones increase the success rate, but it wasn’t drones that made that operation a success from my understanding.

      • HellsBelle
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        81 month ago

        Even when the other side uses it?

        Sure, if they promise to just blow up empty planes sitting a tarmac.

        Guaranteed Russia doesn’t go for it tho.

        • unalivejoy
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          151 month ago

          When open source software has its use limited for war, it stops being open source.

          • trevor (he/they)
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            81 month ago

            Eh. I don’t really care what the OSI a handful of tech giants in a trenchcoat have to say about the ethics of my licenses.

            If someone wants to allow modification, distribution, and usage of your software, in the spirit of open source, but don’t want it to be used by organizations that bomb children, I’d consider that better than an Open Source™️ license.

            • @[email protected]
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              41 month ago

              Yeah, i don’t think any military will care about what restrictions you put in your license anyway. What are you going to do about it? Sue them?

              • @[email protected]
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                31 month ago

                Yeah, sadly they’ll just use it. Or they’ll pay a contractor who uses it and claims that they made it themselves.

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 month ago

                  If you create a technology and make it publicly available you need to consider the possible uses and misuses. Misusers wont be held back by a license limitation. That is a simple fact of life.

            • @[email protected]
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              31 month ago

              The FSF is very much the opposite of “a handful of tech giants in a trenchcoat,” yet they take the same position.

      • @[email protected]
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        181 month ago

        You can say this about any change, or innovation - vaccines, democracy, the Internet, psychology.

        If you want to push it completely into a political only view, why should we not become an isolationist nation, which steals but never contributes back?

        • @[email protected]
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          21 month ago

          You can say

          I asked a question, didn’t make a statement.

          If you want to push

          When did that happen?

        • @[email protected]
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          51 month ago

          The post I replied to stated it was a project they could support on an article about how it was used as a weapon against Russia. I believe it’s use as a weapon on Russia is why they support it. I asked them a simple question to invoke them to think, but then you chimed about all technology and even vaccines. And then talking about becoming an isolationist nation? What are you even talking about?

          • @[email protected]
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            1 month ago

            Asking people to think by riding the line of just asking a question is pretty lame. If you want people to think, don’t bury that. The method you employ is the same disingenuous tactic to defend the other side.

            What if the Russians did the same? They didn’t and it’s not on the table. They’ve already made up a war and prolonged for multiple years in an attempt to kill off and reclaim Ukraine

              • @[email protected]
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                121 month ago

                That’s the thing. I’m not replying to you specifically. I don’t think you’re going to change. Chances are most people like you don’t.

                I’m replying to educate all of the onlookers. What this guy did sucks and here’s why. And this is what you do about it.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 month ago

    Incredible. Watching the evolution of this technology is frightening.

    Vietnam first televised, gulf first shown, now Ukraine i can look at the last moments of a conscripted Russian from an office chair. Insane.

    Fucking world keeps it interesting. Morbidly.