Over at Crazy Engineers is a report that Police in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, plan to use pepperspray-equipped drones for riot control:
The Lucknow Police Senior Superintendent has informed the media that they have acquired five drones that are able to pepper spray unruly crowds. These drones cost Rs 6 lakh each and have a range of one kilometre. These drones are able to carry payloads of two kilograms and can fly up to a height of 600 meters. This isn’t the first time the authorities have deployed drones in the state. Previously the state government had hired surveillance drones during important religious and national festivals. The authorities were impressed by their capabilities and decided to buy them instead of hiring them for a fee.
The cost quoted is 600,000 Rupees, or about $9,600 (USD) per drone.
Additional coverage at engadget, Yahoo News and The Telegraph.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @05:58AM
Proving once again that drones are the biggest problem in the universe.
Remember to always shoot down drones. [thebiggestproblemintheuniverse.com]
Vote it up, people.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday April 10 2015, @06:39AM
Drones, heck. Reminds me of one of the most effective anti-helicopter technologies utilized by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong against the Americans. Crossbows, firing a meter-long steel rod. Messes up rotors big time. And close enough, it is a large target. So, you got your drones, all us plebs got our slingshots. Not surprising they are looking at Uttar Pradesh (and if anyone is curious, look for a movie titled "Bandit Queen". She does Boadicea proud.)
To repeat: poor people got the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune, and all the government has got is a flying Romba with tear gas? What is this, District Nine?
OMG, major ambiguity. District Nine, as in Neill Blomkamp's "District Nine", or District Nine in the "Hunger Games"? I am going with Mockingjay, because it involves archery. And ewoks. Low tech defeats high tech every time because high tech is fragile and stupid because it is overly confident.
(Score: 2) by sigma on Friday April 10 2015, @06:45AM
History disagrees.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday April 10 2015, @08:08AM
History? Pray tell, what dost thou knowest of history? Verily, the Ewoks did prevail against the Death Star, as even Lord Vader himself predicted. The Americans had to leave Vietnam in shame, guilty of many war crimes, defeated by a much less technologically capable foe. This lesson was not lost on other nations of the world. Osama bin Laden has triumphed over the United States by provoking the invasion of two independent nations (and my god, if your enemy can get you to invade Afghanistan, you must be truly stupid), and precipitated the dissolution of Iraq, bringing about the final conflict between either Yemen or Iran and Saudi Arabia. Once again, the low tech powers control the outcome.
So go back to History, and ask it again. Perchance it is only you that disagrees, and History is on the side of, well, of History.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @02:44PM
> (and if anyone is curious, look for a movie titled "Bandit Queen". She does Boadicea proud.)
Same director went on to do Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett and Richard Attenborough.