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.
Finally found an open source project I’d be proud to contribute to.
Same, how do I join?
Even when the other side uses it?
deleted by creator
When open source software has its use limited
for war, it stops being open source.Eh. I don’t really care what
the OSIa 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.
I completely agree however in a situation like this, the only solution would be to never have any open source software for drones. You can put that limited license on your software, but come on, do you think a warring nation is going to concern themselves with that? The only solution is to not have open source software for things that can even be remotely used like this
If I were Ukraine I sure as shit wouldn’t care what license you have on it. If it’s available and I can easily use it without consequence, I would use it.
The FSF is very much the opposite of “a handful of tech giants in a trenchcoat,” yet they take the same position.
Yeah. The FSF is far from perfect as well.
JFC. There’s at least one in every forum.
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?
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?
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
Nothing was disingenuous. Don’t care if you think it is lame.
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.
That’s disingenuous.
I believe it’s use as a weapon on Russia is why they support it
Where does the creator say they support its use for warfare? Did you even read what they said on the matter, or are you making assumptions? They just said it was “crazy” and “never in my wildest dreams did I predict this usage” [sic.]
I already said I believe and stated why. Nice try. I stated previous poster. Not the creator. You are changing the who.
“Nice try”? It’s called “misunderstanding.” I was wrong, mea culpa. But to default to assume I did it on purpose for…idk what? Come on.
You were too busy arguing and trying to push your opinion to bother to understand what was going on.
You can say
I asked a question, didn’t make a statement.
If you want to push
When did that happen?
“Just asking a question”, is a form of statement.
Sure.
“are you really that dumb?” “How stupid do you have to be to XYZ?”
Just a question, eh?
That’s a loaded question. You should learn the difference.
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.
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.
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.
Open source FTW!
An incredible a feat, and this is it’s a pretty terrifying new way to conduct warfare.
The shelves of your nearest hobby store hold the weapons of the future, with only a minimal cost. And that’s terrifying.
terrifyingempoweringftfy
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.
War is costly and terrible, and it always will be, regardless of the magnitude of resources required to wage a war.
Your semantic argument costs 300 dollars to destroy with a grenade sent through a closed window from a person 500 miles away.
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
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.
Governments will use drones. It will cost little. War will be a lighter proposition. That’s what I’m getting at.
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
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.
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.
"That’s ArduPilot, launched from my basement 18 years ago. Crazy,” Chris Anderson said…
One hell of an achievement to put in your resume.
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.
We need more. We should all keep the effective strategies quiet and secret. That way they can be used again and again.
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.htmlVery 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.It primarily runs on STM32 microcontrollers. Hardware ranges from $200 whoop quads to six figure, professional grade aircraft.
That’s wild, I was just reading about blueos for a project and that’s what they used? These kids are so fucking impressive
It supports other hardware including more “embedded” systems. I’ve run it on a RasPi clone and on an F4 Clone
Yeah, I doubt there’s many commercial options for drone swarm plane destruction. Who is this for?
Well drone strike would make quite a fun game too
