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Defending Against Drones

Posted by Soulskill on from the hobbyist-vs-terrorist dept.

theodp writes "The US has not had to truly think about its air defense since the Cold War. But as America embraces the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, Newsweek says it's time to consider how our greatest new weapon may come back to bite us. Smaller UAVs' cool, battery-powered engines make them difficult to hit with conventional heat-seeking missiles. And while Patriot missiles can take out UAVs, at $3 million apiece such protection carries a steep price tag, especially if we have to deal with $500 DIY drones."

2 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong cost comparison by sunking2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not about the cost of what you have to shoot down but what you have to defend.

  2. Re:It's all about the tech by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even high school students are dabbling in autonomous drones nowadays, and most research on autonomous vehicles is open and readily downloadable. Your jammer is not going to help too much if the drone knows what it's supposed to do without radio contact.

    And you need to know there's a drone to jam a kilometer overhead in the first place.

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