Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Drones Within a Drone Riding a Balloon

Posted by Soulskill on from the unidentifiable-flying-object dept.

smitty777 writes "Given the U.S.'s recent drone issues, what is the new recipe for sending a drone over another country of interest? Simple, just take a balloon and attach a Tempest drone to the bottom of it. Now, attach two more CICADA drones to that. The balloon climbs to over 55k feet, then drops the first drone, which can travel another 11 miles or so. It then deploys the CICADA drones. These unpowered gliders slip past radar undetected and start sending back information. There are future plans to mount many (count hundreds) of the CICADA glider drones to the Tempest in the future. The article quotes the flight engineer describing the process as 'straightforward.'"

20 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing new by sethstorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's just drones, all the way down.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:Nothing new by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Yo Dawg"

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  2. I await the day by TheCarp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When some other country gets caught trying to spy on the US in this manner.

    How loudly do you think the war drums would beat if Iran launched something like this into our country? Pakistan? China?

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    1. Re:I await the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This isn't something you'd want to use for covert, peacetime operations. The only stealth factor in these mini-drones is that they're hard to detect or shoot down in the air, simply because they're bird-sized. Once on the ground, they're painfully obvious. Littering your opponent's landscape with hundreds of sensor-bearing paper airplanes that home in within fifteen feet of their target... that's not stealthy or covert. That's going to be noticed quickly.

      Besides, the post-balloon range is only ~50 miles. This isn't useful for deeply penetrating an opponent's airspace.

      These are for naval surveillance. A balloon launch can happen from the deck of any ship, even from a surfaced sub. The range is appropriate for scouting around your position at sea, and you don't have to worry as much about detection if these things degrade quickly on contact with the sea. In fact, you might not even be worried about detection at all if you're in international waters.

    2. Re:I await the day by poetmatt · · Score: 2

      Actually, there's more comedy.

      Who do you suppose might be able to use these once they fall to the ground (even if disabled, anything short of being blown up)?

      Hint: the party you're spying on.

    3. Re:I await the day by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 2

      Most poor countries spy on us using $300 hookers with hidden cameras or wads of cash that are 2-4 times the annual salary of the government worker they're trying to compromise. A $10,000,000 stealth drone is sorta overkill for espionage.

    4. Re:I await the day by Skidborg · · Score: 2

      Yes, and your enemies can go and refill bullet casings that you leave on their soil, and might shoot you with them. These are similarly cheap, disposable tech.

      --
      Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
  3. Yo Dawg.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard you like drones, so I put drones in your drones so you can spy on stuff while you spy on other stuff.

  4. Awesome! by jdavidb · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think everybody should have this, and then everybody can watch to make sure that nobody is up to no good.

    --
    Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
  5. CICADA? by towelie-ban · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought cicadas weren't due back until 2021?

  6. Mistakes in summary by Walking+The+Walk · · Score: 2

    There are a surprising number of mistakes in this summary. TFA says the balloon goes to 57K feet, then the Tempest goes 35 miles or so (30 nautical miles), and then the Cicadas go the last 11 miles.

    Unleashed at 57,000 feet, the Tempest drones traveled as far as 30 nautical miles before unleashing their Cicada cargo. Once deployed, the Cicada drones glided an extra 11 miles, and landed an average of 15 feet away from their target locations.

    --
    A recursive sig
    Can impart wisdom and truth
    Call proc signature()
  7. I was wondering what had happened to by jd2112 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wile E. Coyote. It appears he has found a job as an engineer at a defense contractor.

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  8. That's not a balloon... by macraig · · Score: 2

    ... it's a hive mothership!

  9. RoHS? by Antony+T+Curtis · · Score: 2

    As an added bonus, they can not adhere to RoHS when building their disposable gliders and pollute their enemies with PCBs, lead, cadmium, mercury and lots of other lovely chemicals...

    --
    No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
  10. Uh oh, sounds like a great assassination weapon by wisebabo · · Score: 2

    So what's to keep someone from doing the exact same thing but attaching grenades to the secondary drones?

    As the summary claims, it would be undetectable by radar and, if put into a dive on the final approach, would be traveling too fast for guards armed only with assault rifles to reliably SEE them and shoot them down (gliders also have no heat signature). Seems like a weapon that could be used even against heavily guarded outdoor events like the swearing in(?) ceremony of the U.S. president, the Kremlin military parade or the Pope delivering Mass. Or how about a Justin Bieber concert.

    A while ago I thought that maybe a (very) high altitude balloon dropping guided tungsten darts (darts not rods fom God) would be a poor man's ballistic weapon but this might be even better because of a greater cross-range capability.

    1. Re:Uh oh, sounds like a great assassination weapon by the_fat_kid · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd like you to have a seat over here...
      How long have you been a terrorist agent?
      Who else is in your cell?
      Did my wife send you?

      --
      -- Sig under construction...
    2. Re:Uh oh, sounds like a great assassination weapon by jeffmeden · · Score: 2

      After looking at the photos, it is likely that the secondary drone is probably about 1/30th the weight of a typical handheld explosive. I am sure you could probably come up with a somewhat effective explosive that was weight-compatible with the micro-drone but it is not likely within the capabilities of foes of the USA, RUS (unless the cold war restarts) or even Justin Bieber. It doesn't mention it, but knowing a little about miniature aviation in general I can say that the micro-drone is probably in the range of half an ounce, and any additional weight at all, even the weight of a paperclip, would dramatically impact it's flight capabilities.

      From this page: http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/grenade/hand.html it appears that even with a 16oz grenade your casualty radius is only 1 foot beyond the drones accuracy radius, so even if you could deliver it you are still not likely to actually take out one designated target because they could flee the kill zone. And again, the flight characteristics of one of those micro-drones with a grenade on it is barely different than the flight characteristics of a grenade by itself: it's going to obey gravity and not your will.

  11. Woah. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    the CICADA's logic boards serve as its wings, while inside are gyroscopes, GPS circuits, and a batch of sensors driven by a custom algorithm.

    A custom algorithm? Like, they wrote some software? These defence contractors are pretty far out, I would have expected them to just load her up with Microsoft Word and hope for the best..

  12. Re:Err by suomynonAyletamitlU · · Score: 2

    I think you mean, "You must spawn more overlords."

  13. Re:Ummm, why... by sackbut · · Score: 2

    That is an 11 mile radius (380 sq miles) you can saturate with the sensor filled drones. Or 11 miles on either side of the balloons path. 22 mile wide coverage is pretty decent with minimal risk of personnel that would normally be used to place sensors (within 15 feet of target!).