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Reuters reports of an experimental drone system tested recently in Germany. Unfortunately there's not a direct link, only this story on the ITNews site:
Basically, a good drone takes down the bad one, as in this excerpt:
"In December, authorities regained control over the Gatwick airfield only after the British army deployed military technology to guard the area. But shooting down drones, or immobilising them with electromagnetic pulses or even jamming them, is impractical at civilian airports given the possibility of inadvertently causing harm to people or aircraft.
Instead, DFS and Rheinmetall, Germany's largest arms maker, have tested a solution that could be highly automated, connecting existing air traffic data with advanced radar systems, acoustic and infrared sensors and optical equipment to first detect possible intruders, and then neutralise them with other drones.
In Wednesday's demonstration, which was hosted by the German military's Technical and Airworthiness Centre for Aircraft (WTD61) about 50 km (35 miles) north of Munich, a "good" drone threw a net over a potentially threatening one, taking it to the ground."
Nets definitely seem the right approach to me. What do you think?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:13PM (14 children)
This is why one of those navy-style ship-mounted lasers might actually be a good idea -- especially if you could modify the power based on the range for safety reasons, if they are as effective as the military say they are. They could easily bring down a consumer drone but are too wimpy to cause collateral damage to real airplanes.
Plus you could have a motherfucker operating it like a video game, going "pew-pew-pew!"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:23PM (7 children)
Still room for collateral damage! That class of 17 little children, who were watching the drone flying will be blinded, for life in some cases! That will make superb propaganda for the TSA.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:32PM (5 children)
Wait a minute. How the hell does this even happen in civilized countries? Aren't drones large enough to have a camera locked-down from certain regions of airspace? I accidentally tried this once (near the beach) not knowing I was in restricted airspace and the motors on that bitch wouldn't even start. Oh, maybe the display showing a "restricted airspace" with a GPS overlay on the map should have tipped me off.
Yeah, I'm sure some electronics whiz could buy one of those and install a GPS signal generator and other custom electronics to bypass everything, but if you're gonna go through all that hassle, then you might as well be a fucking terrorist and fly that thing right into the turbofan intake or propeller of an incoming plane. Or custom-design your own drone that does everything you tell it to do.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:47PM (3 children)
WTF is a "civilized country"? And, how would you know if you saw one?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:00PM (2 children)
The civilians have their mouths sewn shut and then are cemented into the ground with just the head exposed.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:06PM (1 child)
Sounds horrible. How does a sailor get laid?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:34PM
No laid. Only head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @05:35PM
I suppose civilised countries will make custom drone building illegal, and mandate phone app only control, so they can query the drone for its controller and from thence to the registered owner of the phone, so that they can put him in PMITA prison.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:20PM
If the point is to burn a hole in a drone to cause a malfunction, then why not use a "laser" in the infrared range, instead of op-tickle?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:49PM (5 children)
The only way to stop a bad guy with a drone is a good guy with a drone.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:01PM (3 children)
but was that 6 drones or only 5? Do you feel lucky?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:45PM (2 children)
You can have my drone when you...
Oh shoot, it's stuck in a tree.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:08PM (1 child)
Modern day Charlie Brown, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:10PM
Should that be Charlton Heston Brown?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:18PM
After watching the documentary, I thought someone important had to sacrifice themselves and stay on the drone to guide it to collide with the other drone.