What do we pay so much when dji can do it for cheap!

This is interesting....it's goes on to start that it can fly anotomosly.....it also states that it can fly in

GPS and radio frequency-denied environments.

Seems kinda interesting to me..and what would happen if sum bad people got their hands this !!

dronedj.com...

The government isn't interested in saving money, it's only interested in making sure the right people get paid.

a reply to: Slys13

This can easily be done for cheap with apm or pixhawk or any f3+ flight controller almost. You can write in missions and fly waypoints using sattelite maps and auto-take off and land, etc. Its very cheap, under 100 dollars

a reply to: Slys13

Talk about comparing apples and cars. You're talking about a drone you can pick up and carry on the one hand, and UAVs capable of carrying weapons and the size of a small aircraft or larger on the other. That's like asking why you can buy a pickup truck for $25,000 but a semi truck, with the same safety features starts at over $100,000.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Maybe you are right ..but a swarm of the dam things would be crazy !!

pixhawk and mission planner are quarter of the price.
DJI pounds it’s users with limitations. The use of the manifold is really just DJI trying to secure a spot in the already booming market.
If this type of tech interests you, look into Emesent.
They are an Australian company that I assisted with the development of the their product called the Hovermap.

We used active liar scanning for not only mapping but position control in underground mines.
I was under a NDA with the company for 2 years while I crashed, lost, and generally broke a lot of their stuff.
But that’s what they wanted.
Real world use, real world situations, real world consequences.

If one of their craft was lost in the stope, I’d send my contact in AU an email, 2 -3 days later the replacement craft or part was hotshotted to my mine site.
Great team over there.

DJI however, I’ve been fighting with them to honour the warranty on one of my Phantom 4 Pros. The thing dropped out of the sky while conducting a mapping mission.
They told me they do not know what happened, yet they feel the don’t have to replace the craft.
That’s the difference between a consumer company like DJI, and an industrial supply company like Emesent.
One cares about their clients.
The other cares about sales.

a reply to: Slys13

And the entire swarm would carry a fraction of the payload a single Reaper can carry. And that payload will increase once Loyal Wingman and other programs are up and running.

a reply to: Macenroe82

Didn't you do some test with drones in caves ...I thought so e one here posted about in year or two ago...zaphod thanks for your wealth of knowledge!!

a reply to: Slys13

DJI is a Chinese owned company.

The Army, while I was in, banned the use of DJI drones for official purposes.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Slys13

Talk about comparing apples and cars. You're talking about a drone you can pick up and carry on the one hand, and UAVs capable of carrying weapons and the size of a small aircraft or larger on the other. That's like asking why you can buy a pickup truck for $25,000 but a semi truck, with the same safety features starts at over $100,000.

You do not know the world of defense contractors.... You know, where a simple nut and bolt costs 350.00, if it belongs to a high speed jet. It can be done much cheaper.

a reply to: TheGreatWork

And you do know that a 737 costs a hell of a lot more than a Cessna 152, right. I know defense contractors better than most, and there's no way in hell you're getting a Reaper or a Global Hawk for the cost of a DJI. They could be cheaper, but you're not getting the cost down much.

Our military drones would have those civilian drones with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

a reply to: projectvxn
DJI can track your drone remotely from its GPS, which means the Chinese Govt can watch you as well. Not a particularly smart step in the interests of saving money using them if your potential adversary can see your every move. I would also wager they could therefore hack your video feed locally which is even worse. This is akin to using mobile phones that they could also track, remotely turn on microphones and cameras etc. And we know the Chinese for example, have actively been pursuing this due to recent revelations and incidents where they have been caught out.

a reply to: TheGreatWork
And you clearly do not know or understand the laws of aerospace approvals and production, nor the basics of mass production versus manufacturing costs. Its NOT a military thing.

A full set of engine mount bolts on a large civilian widebody airliner like a 777/A-380/A-350 etc can set you back at least $3-5000US, per engine. And you pay that every single time you drop an engine. Thats $300-500 per bolt, minimum. Why? because only a few thousand of those bolts will be manufactured per year world wide, they are uniquely sized for that specific application, must be manufactured using extremely high material and production quality control. Usually require expensive production processes and have gone through a very long and very expensive regulatory approval process that is constantly being audited and checked to maintain critical quality. Because the last thing you need is those bolts failing in their intended use. That all requires time and money, for something you will use your very expensive manufacturing machinery and materials to make only a few thousand of. A standard AD rivet or an AN bolt in say 1/4" or 5/16" on the other hand will cost mere cents each because they are less critical individually, are easier to make and most importantly, will be manufactured in the hundreds of thousands to tens of millions per year using easier manufacturing processes. Yesterday I saw a mechanical push pin coded cabin door lock on an airliner replacement attempted. That lock unit was made out of mostly CNC milled 2024 aluminium alloy and stainless steel, nothing special but it cost about $20,000US. Why? because only a few hundred of that aircraft have been made, less than 12 a year are now being built, and some configs probably dont have that lock fitted. Which means after 12+ years of production its reasonable that including spares the entire design, approval, production and certification of that lock may need to be amortized across a production run of maybe 300 units or less.

The same argument can be applied to drones. Sure the US military gets ripped off and the taxpayer could be given a much better deal, but its still an expensive process. The specialized and military spec quality drones may only have a few thousand to a few tens of thousands total life production run. DJI on the other hand will probably pump out at least ten times that number of one particular series per year to a lower build quality, and without the added features the military version may need like weatherproofing or jam resistant controls.

Apples are apples and oranges are oranges, and never the twain shall meet...

a reply to: thebozeian
Should try and source early 1940,s Raf aircraft parts.

a reply to: Slys13

That's correct.

I was Awarded by the Canadian Institute of Mining, for being the first person to bring drones into the underground environment.
I then used that platform to push for a new level of safety in the mining industry.

I partnered with a Swiss company and designed the lighting scheme and helped perfect the roll cage on their drone.
There are no mines in Switzerland, so again I was the test pilot.
Paid to crash and burn lol.

This is the video of my drone entering a drop raise.