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Any kind of white powder can be reported as a dangerous poison. Like anthrax or similar.
Drone bother...
- Thread starter cmartinez
- Start date
I used to live in a place that had a serious choke point in the highways leading out of Chicago towards the Lake County suburbs. I used to joke that you could bring the whole area to a standstill by having one nude girl on an overpass.
Society only works when most people behave themselves most of the time.
Raymond Genovese
- Joined Mar 5, 2016
- 1,653
The drone in question is understood to be an "industrial" six-rotor type thing which could cause considerable damage if it lands on someone/something expensive. There is a fear that shooting the drone could knock out one or more of its rotors causing it to spiral out of control and onto a nearby motorway rather than causing it to drop vertically.
The British Army were eventually deployed to the scene after some delay. Here in the UK, the armed forces may only be deployed in a civil situation at the request of the chief officer of police so I imagine there will be quite some scrutiny applied as to why this assistance was not requested sooner. The military is understood to have procured a number of Israeli designed "Drone-Dome" systems with radar better suited to tracking drone-like objects and also with the capability to jam their control signals. There is a laser "hard-kill" option with this equipment but the Ministry of Defence is believed not to have purchased this add-no, doubt due to cost.
The British Army were eventually deployed to the scene after some delay. Here in the UK, the armed forces may only be deployed in a civil situation at the request of the chief officer of police so I imagine there will be quite some scrutiny applied as to why this assistance was not requested sooner. The military is understood to have procured a number of Israeli designed "Drone-Dome" systems with radar better suited to tracking drone-like objects and also with the capability to jam their control signals. There is a laser "hard-kill" option with this equipment but the Ministry of Defence is believed not to have purchased this add-no, doubt due to cost.
Perhaps not as alarming as it seems, given that the airspace has already been cleared due to the drone threat.
What is more alarming is the attitude of many members of the public, whose statements have included:
"Why is the government wasting all our money on nuclear weapons if they can't shoot down drones?"
"Why are we buying American F-35s if we don't have enough planes to stop drone attacks?"
"Why don't we launch a missile with a large explosive warhead from a destroyer and hope it doesn't land on the nearby city?"
Sadly with the pressures on our MoDs budget if the government caves to pressure and invests in anti-drone technology it will lead to the decommissioning of a frigate or submarine or some such. Shortcomings in our defence only make the news when there's a problem like this.
Time to resurrect a dying practice. We've had the answer for centuries. I think there could be big money over the horizon for the few remaining falconers out there. Falcons/hawks could be one of the most effective methods of drone control that humans could possibly conceive. With some kevlar armor these birds could drag the copters out of the sky with little risk of injury.
Your first reaction to the suggestion of pet birds in body armor is probably a chuckle; mine was, too. I didn't take it as a serious idea. It is. There are videos of these trained birds taking out drones already on the internet and it's very impressive.
Falcons/hawks can spot a drone from a mile away (literally) with way better resolution and accurate contact identification than radar/sonar, swoop in faster than any drone it might conceivably be pitted against, and swiftly cripple the drone before it ever reaches dangerous proximity to an airfield. The birds have more autonomy than a counter-drone drone ever could, can make split second decisions and maneuvers that a drone could never replicate.
They're smart. They don't require a pilot. They don't require batteries. No worry about collateral damage from flying bullets or signal jamming. And if the worst happens, they're soft and won't destroy a plane.
It would probably take time and effort to train the birds (and train the trainers to train the birds) for a brand new application. They're trained for hunting rabbits & other small prey. They would need to be trained for operation in the same airspace as planes; maybe responding to commands from ATC to vacate certain areas when needed. Maybe birds and falconers could work in shifts, one falconer could manage several birds at once, keeping the airspace always patrolled by more than one bird.
Your first reaction to the suggestion of pet birds in body armor is probably a chuckle; mine was, too. I didn't take it as a serious idea. It is. There are videos of these trained birds taking out drones already on the internet and it's very impressive.
Falcons/hawks can spot a drone from a mile away (literally) with way better resolution and accurate contact identification than radar/sonar, swoop in faster than any drone it might conceivably be pitted against, and swiftly cripple the drone before it ever reaches dangerous proximity to an airfield. The birds have more autonomy than a counter-drone drone ever could, can make split second decisions and maneuvers that a drone could never replicate.
They're smart. They don't require a pilot. They don't require batteries. No worry about collateral damage from flying bullets or signal jamming. And if the worst happens, they're soft and won't destroy a plane.
It would probably take time and effort to train the birds (and train the trainers to train the birds) for a brand new application. They're trained for hunting rabbits & other small prey. They would need to be trained for operation in the same airspace as planes; maybe responding to commands from ATC to vacate certain areas when needed. Maybe birds and falconers could work in shifts, one falconer could manage several birds at once, keeping the airspace always patrolled by more than one bird.
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Interesting idea ... one flaw that comes to mind would possibly be the size of the drone... I think
I agree. There are many articles about training falcons and eagles to attack drones. For example: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...tary-is-using-falcons-to-build-a-drone-killer
What really bothers me the most is that regulatory efforts lump all "remote controlled" model aircraft into a classification of "drones." The difference between that and what I and my buddies fly couldn't be more different. I was in the 4th grade (9 years old, 66 years ago) when I got my first RC-capable model kit ( Berkeley J-3 cub) as a birthday present just before the beginning of the school year. I had been building model airplanes long before that (from a 9-year-old's perspective). In fact, before I finished that J-3 (more than a year later), I had built an Esquire trainer and flown it under radio control. In those days,we made our own transmitters, and our single-channel receivers were bought for about $20, which was a lot of lawn mowing. Escapements (not servos) were powered by rubber bands. Your commands were limited by the number of turns you could pack into the rubber bands.
Today, I still enjoy such flights. I don't need or want FPV. Modern, basic equipment is all I need to take off and land in one piece safely. Restrictions on airspace for VIP's is reasonable, given the fools who fly FPV multi-copters, but the 400 foot altitude limit is not ( I also fly sailplanes now). There are few thrills like catching a thermal and following it to wherever, all within line of sight, of course.
I am not alone in regretting a once beautiful hobby being weaponized.
As for falcons and hawks, they are far better flyers than I am. Like many sailplane pilots, I have tried to chase them. They always win.
That's maybe because flying old fashioned RCVs requires a significantly larger level of skills than a modern drone. Now anyone can fly those things, and they're also way cheaper. No wonder they've proliferated so much.
AlbertHall
- Joined Jun 4, 2014
- 12,625
Latest news seems to be saying maybe there weren't any drones at all - the two arrested have been released without charge. This would of course account for why the operators could not be found.
Mass hysteria?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...chaos-arrested-couple-released-without-charge
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...ibility-there-was-never-a-drone-a4024626.html
But now this has been broadcast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46670714
Mass hysteria?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...chaos-arrested-couple-released-without-charge
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...ibility-there-was-never-a-drone-a4024626.html
But now this has been broadcast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46670714
Answer the question yourself, next time you see this
on the plane you are getting off from. The slim chance of having Tom Hanks landing you safely on the Potomac, offers no hope, I guess.
