I can't say I'm surprised I'm only shocked they didn't really prepare for the eventuality. A small vehicle that can travel in 3 dimensions can easily carry explosives and other weaponery. It's only a matter of time before this is common place and with the ability to throw a drone out of your backpack and send it flying it's going to get worse.
I always remember FPSRussia's drone [1] and I'm surprised they haven't made these in mass over there.
I didn't RTFM, but drone defense has been a high priority for the Pentagon and they've been rapidly testing and developing various options.
A big challenge is doing it cost-effectively, AFAIK. Legacy anti-air technology is designed for shooting down airplanes and uses missiles that may cost 100-1000x the drone; it's not affordable to build missiles to shoot down all of an enemy's drones. I've seen reports of sniper rifles, lasers (less than $1 marginal cost per shot, reportedly), electromagnetic weapons that fry the drone's electronics, old-fashioned anti-aircraft guns, etc.
Not only can drones carry explosives, but apparently the Russians very effectively use drones as artillery spotters in Ukraine, and it's not just a battlefield problem: What happens when someone targets a drone at major public events or at VIPs such as the U.S. President? How do you stop it?
I can't say I'm surprised I'm only shocked they didn't really prepare for the eventuality.
One of the countermeasures we can expect is "persistent aerial surveillance" (airship based eye-in-the-sky platforms), which are semi-secret platforms being used in battlefields by the US currently. I wonder how rapidly one of these systems can detect an unknown drone in the air.
After reading "unmanned: illusion of perfect war", it seems American military has more drones than all countries combined. American drones have killed quite a lot of civilians. While I don't like war, it was about time someone gave US a taste of their own curry.
It's one of those things that outrages everyone, until they get the same capability, and then is utterly adopted. We do a lot of things wrong, mostly to do with overuse of our assets, but there is nothing inherently wrong with drones.
Our policy of using them so freely on the other hand...
Before I ask the question: I am not arguing with or criticizing you. I am not taking sides. I am genuinely interested in answers to my question. I am not myself sure what that answer could be. Killing anyone is horrible. We should be past these kinds of behaviors as a species.
That said, here's the question:
How would you approach eliminating terrorists, terrorist training camps, terrorist strongholds and terrorist leaders with zero collateral damage? Of course, knowing full well that the collateral damage is split between terrorist supporters and absolutely innocent people.
Remember, these are the very people who not only want to but have killed thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands innocent civilians throughout the world. If they could detonate a massive bomb in the middle of a stadium full with 50,000 people, they would.
In other words, they are coming to kill you, your family, friends and loved ones. What do you do?
In many ways it's the old "If you could save a thousand lives by taking one, would you?"
I've heard opinions ranging from "just get out of the middle east and let them rot in hell" to "one nuke, one time and it's over". Not sure what the answer is. Always interested in hearing what others might thing the solution could be.
Now imagine what happens when drones with explosives/guns/chemical weapons start flying into sports stadiums, concert halls, etc in unpredictable swarms.
I've been meaning to read Kill Decision for quite some time. Daniel Suarez has some really unique perspectives using near-future fiction. Daemon and Freedom™ were fascinating glimpses into the potential of the future of modern day technology.
It has been obvious to some for years that small quad/hexa-copters with POV capability is the hellfire missile of an insurgency. We've talked about it here on HN lots of times.
However, as it is true with many ideas, there is the idea and there is the execution of that idea. Now that there are confirmed uses of this sort of system in the field I expect much more energy in finding ways to mitigate them. On the plus side it is easier to destroy/disable a drone than root out a sniper's nest, on the down side it is really hard to defend soft targets from pop-up deployments of them.
That long range beam forming microwave weapon (DEW?) they were working on could probably do the trick. It'll be a pain to have to monitor for this crap though.
No need. There are automated machine guns that use microphones to automatically do counter-sniper fire. I'd imagine a platform like that will emerge to counter this threat.
People, this is so much bigger an issue than anyone is giving it credit for. This is huge. Without exception every American three letter agency, and others, are completely dropping the ball by not giving this faaaaaaaaaaar more weight than anyone is giving it. Literally there is this tiny little wall, it looks like this >< and it's like 0.5 mm wide, and the only thing separating one side from the other (safety versus a complete disaster) is the fact that it takes some intelligence to play with drones and terrorists are by definition dumb (since it means they have not even understood enlightenment philosophy, that you can disagree with someone but defend to the death their right to say or believe differently from you - a 250-300 year old advancement in civilization.) That's it. This is not a wall that you can count on remaining up, as drones become turnkey easy to use automated solutions. Agencies need to act on this now because they will not be able to put the genie back in the bottle. This is really, really serious.
EDIT: I've been downvoted, but I don't think drone software has any backdoors, safeguards, or even registration requirements, and I don't think drone manufacturers even vaguely consider that they might be making what could be part of munitions, or give a second thought to completing an order to a war zone or to anyone, except of course unless there is some kind of general embargo or difficulty (that applies to every class of products.) I think it's being left too free, to be honest, and the possibilities that will unfold naturally are not going to be well. I strongly advise agencies to put in the necessary legal and technical safeguards today, not when it is too late. Other posters point out that this stuff might apply "just as well" to model airplanes -- but I personally don't think this is true at all. A model airplane won't fly to a specific user-supplied location unattended. it's a different beast entirely and it's not being handled with enough seriousness, in my personal opinion. I don't know that much about drones though. (Just flew a small cheap model helicopter toy, like a $20 one. I'm basing this based on general reading.) I stand by my comment.
[+] [-] BinaryIdiot|9 years ago|reply
I always remember FPSRussia's drone [1] and I'm surprised they haven't made these in mass over there.
[1] https://youtu.be/SNPJMk2fgJU
[+] [-] TaylorAlexander|9 years ago|reply
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPSRussia
[+] [-] zengid|9 years ago|reply
Looks like it's CGI.
[+] [-] hackuser|9 years ago|reply
I didn't RTFM, but drone defense has been a high priority for the Pentagon and they've been rapidly testing and developing various options.
A big challenge is doing it cost-effectively, AFAIK. Legacy anti-air technology is designed for shooting down airplanes and uses missiles that may cost 100-1000x the drone; it's not affordable to build missiles to shoot down all of an enemy's drones. I've seen reports of sniper rifles, lasers (less than $1 marginal cost per shot, reportedly), electromagnetic weapons that fry the drone's electronics, old-fashioned anti-aircraft guns, etc.
Not only can drones carry explosives, but apparently the Russians very effectively use drones as artillery spotters in Ukraine, and it's not just a battlefield problem: What happens when someone targets a drone at major public events or at VIPs such as the U.S. President? How do you stop it?
[+] [-] msane|9 years ago|reply
One of the countermeasures we can expect is "persistent aerial surveillance" (airship based eye-in-the-sky platforms), which are semi-secret platforms being used in battlefields by the US currently. I wonder how rapidly one of these systems can detect an unknown drone in the air.
Amazed you believed the FPSRussia video.
[+] [-] mentos|9 years ago|reply
I really hope we don't over correct out of fear because drones will be a net positive for society.
[+] [-] mintplant|9 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dogma1138|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nojvek|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] M_Grey|9 years ago|reply
Our policy of using them so freely on the other hand...
[+] [-] rebootthesystem|9 years ago|reply
That said, here's the question:
How would you approach eliminating terrorists, terrorist training camps, terrorist strongholds and terrorist leaders with zero collateral damage? Of course, knowing full well that the collateral damage is split between terrorist supporters and absolutely innocent people.
Remember, these are the very people who not only want to but have killed thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands innocent civilians throughout the world. If they could detonate a massive bomb in the middle of a stadium full with 50,000 people, they would.
In other words, they are coming to kill you, your family, friends and loved ones. What do you do?
In many ways it's the old "If you could save a thousand lives by taking one, would you?"
I've heard opinions ranging from "just get out of the middle east and let them rot in hell" to "one nuke, one time and it's over". Not sure what the answer is. Always interested in hearing what others might thing the solution could be.
[+] [-] grandalf|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azinman2|9 years ago|reply
Now imagine what happens when drones with explosives/guns/chemical weapons start flying into sports stadiums, concert halls, etc in unpredictable swarms.
[+] [-] dogma1138|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ryoshu|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] caffeinewriter|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] remarkEon|9 years ago|reply
Another great near-future fiction about how modern warfare might evolve is Ghost Fleet. Fast read, and highly interesting - if a bit frightening.
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/05441...
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|9 years ago|reply
However, as it is true with many ideas, there is the idea and there is the execution of that idea. Now that there are confirmed uses of this sort of system in the field I expect much more energy in finding ways to mitigate them. On the plus side it is easier to destroy/disable a drone than root out a sniper's nest, on the down side it is really hard to defend soft targets from pop-up deployments of them.
[+] [-] doe88|9 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/10/11/irak-...
[+] [-] microcolonel|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Spooky23|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atarian|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noonespecial|9 years ago|reply
Of course its an RPG.
[+] [-] mordant|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] logicallee|9 years ago|reply
EDIT: I've been downvoted, but I don't think drone software has any backdoors, safeguards, or even registration requirements, and I don't think drone manufacturers even vaguely consider that they might be making what could be part of munitions, or give a second thought to completing an order to a war zone or to anyone, except of course unless there is some kind of general embargo or difficulty (that applies to every class of products.) I think it's being left too free, to be honest, and the possibilities that will unfold naturally are not going to be well. I strongly advise agencies to put in the necessary legal and technical safeguards today, not when it is too late. Other posters point out that this stuff might apply "just as well" to model airplanes -- but I personally don't think this is true at all. A model airplane won't fly to a specific user-supplied location unattended. it's a different beast entirely and it's not being handled with enough seriousness, in my personal opinion. I don't know that much about drones though. (Just flew a small cheap model helicopter toy, like a $20 one. I'm basing this based on general reading.) I stand by my comment.