Just for heads up, this seems to mess your DNS by default. At least on my Raspberry Pi OS it rewrote /etc/resolv.conf to point to its own DNS which only knew NetBird hostnames, nothing else.
Fixed this with:
sudo netbird down
sudo cp -f /etc/resolv.conf.original.netbird /etc/resolv.conf
sudo netbird up --disable-dns
Also, pings seem to be consistently about double compared to Tailscale between the same hosts.
If these would be as successful as implied, we’d have seen lots and lots of videos of them in operation, from both sides.
Sure, these might work in some small operations but nothing changes the fact that these are far too easily disabled by small arms fire, cheap drones, even anti-personnel mines etc. Now if they’d have their own air defence (small radar/camera array + shotgun), be faster and more agile and someone would be able to solve the control issues under jamming (with God forbid something else than AI), then maybe, maybe these would make a difference in the frontline too.
But until then, only useful outside the drone threat in the rear, or in some diversion missions.
Does not really matter that much as the foe from the east will litter the place with their nastiest stuff anyways. The warzone will be wasteland for years or decades, so it will make very little sense to complicate one of the most simple pieces of equipment. It’s also one of the most effective one against the centuries old ”meat wave” tactic.
In odd chance that you happened to forget your encryption password on old Jolla, the reset needed factory assistance, which cost some tens of dollars. So a nothingburger really, did not appear predatory, simply a bit lacking UX design.