Paintball Progress - Dragonfire Drone

Yup, you read that right folks, there's now a Black Ops 2 "Dragonfire-esque" paintball drone out in the world looking to ruin your day.

Game of Drones - Paintball Drone Demonstration

Now just check out this short video to get the jist of where I'm going with the article before you move on. You'll want to see their system to understand my proposed upgrades.

Now no-doubt this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in the paintball world however it does have some design and systems operation problems that I think could've (should've?) been handled before they went 'to print' as it were with this video.

Avionics:

Avionics include "communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform individual functions." -- Wikipedia Avionics. Although I'm not saying that these guys need to get their hands on military-grade avionics tech, but they could eliminate the need for a secondary operator (from their current gunner-pilot system) and make the drone that much more "combat effective" because, isn't that what we all want on the field? To be a more potent force on the battlefield?

Let's put it this way, if the United States military can control bomb disposal drones and UAVs in combat scenarios using an XBox controller (no, I'm not shitting you) then what's to stop these guys from doing the same?

I'm sure you recognize the little guy in this image folks, yup he's the little MQ 27 "Dragonfire" drone from Black Ops two. as part of the collector's edition you could actually get your own but that's not the point. The point I'm trying to make is that with the proper avionics system, fan cowlings (which improve lift) and potentially some servos and other small electronics mounted on a suitable platform... You could create a working, articulated gun platform for MILSIM paintball. 

All you would have to do to make this thing "field safe" would be to chrono the gun, make sure that the fan blades were cowled and had top & bottom shields made from chicken wire or even latticed, high-test fishing line. At that point no one's getting their fingers into the fans, the edges are guarded by the cowlings (see the circular pieces around the Dragonfire's blades if you're unsure of what a cowling is) and the gun's not firing hot. You treat the drone like a tank, unable to be shot out but fine to be nerf rocketed or air strike targeted and you've got yourself one HELL of a weapons system.

Cowlings:

Not just a safety feature, cowlings on fans actually amplify the fan's lift capabilities by focusing the air. To compare this, imagine a ceiling fan and a floor fan. The ceiling fan's air movement is fairly general, and air's allowed to deflect outward off of the blades rather than straight down.

I've included this diagram and although it may appear very dry, sterile and unappealing it explains the effects of a cowling placed around a fan quite well. As you can see from this schematic, the airflow being more focused is not the only reason for the increase in lift.

Because the air is travelling over the upper portion of the cowling (not upward directional arrows on the left and right sides of the schematic) it creates a low pressure zone which applies a lifting force to the cowling itself. This effect is noted and explained in the schematic as well.

This folks, this increase in fan efficiency, is why cowlings are such an important part of an 'optimized drone design.

Dexterity:

So you've got a weapons platform that is fast, rugged and powerful enough to suit your needs, but how do you turn that weapons platform into a true weapons system? You need to not only add a weapon to it, but you need to make that weapon as potent as possible for maximum battlefield effect.

Keeping with the COD references, here's a little remote sentry action from MW3. This little graphic helps to depict the rotational and angular mobility required for truly apex performance from any gun platform.

The remote sentry is able to rotate around on it's stem and pivot to aim up or down from the main housing around the turret's weapon. This means that a target can be struck from almost anywhere around the fixture, making it a truly versatile killing machine. The only downfall of this weapons system is that it is a static item and cannot move once placed... That's where we get the "Dragonfire" from... It's the military lovechild of UAV's and hypermobile turrets.

With this type of system, or a less mobile, forward-only facing system with some vertical and horizontal targeting potential mounted on a drone, you can now strafe your targets (again, only to the extent that you have horizontal mobility) while maintaining a straight and level flight path.

Summary:

Now that you've ensured a field-acceptable level of player safety, improved the mobility and lethality of your weapons system you are truly ready to take to the skies and rain death.

I really think that this is the next big thing in MILSIM. We've already seen tanks, and guys decked out in the latest gear available to civilians, rocking strobe and laser sights and even NVGs however... When paintball combat becomes an airborne sport? THEN it's the truest warfare simulation that you're going to get.

Sure, building or buying one of these drones isn't going to be cheap. You're looking at some serious electronics, programming, and the man hours involved in getting these things off of the drawing board and into the skies are outrageous. Despite all of that, with the advent of 3D printing, free sourced designs and schematics and the ever-advancing digital age, I'm betting it won't be long until drone warfare is a commonplace sight on MILSIM fields all across the world.

Just remember guys... No matter what you're facing, the situation can almost always be remedied by remembering the Noob Baller mantra...

Keep calm and throw paint!

Joshua J. Taylor - The 'Noob' Baller