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Many UAVs Vulnerable To Directed-Energy Weapons
mask.of.sanity writes "A New Zealand researcher has detailed ways that UAVs can be crashed using cheap tools like Herf guns and GPS jammers, and could even be downed by flying drones with more powerful radio. The attacks (podcast) interfere with the navigation systems used by flying drones and are possible because security was not designed into the architecture of some machines."
Yes, of course there are illegal tools that can down them.
Next up: "drones vulnerable to anti-air missiles"
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
It was only a matter of time before anti-drone warfare came about. This happens with every new piece of weaponry, the quest for the anti-weapon. They don't call it an arms race for no reason.
The catch here is that these "directed energy weapons" were cheap trivialities bought off eBay and not military EW apparatus or gigantic celestial furnaces.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
TFA refers to civilian UAVs and their derivatives in law enforcement and the like, not military drones.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Beautifully put, and correct.
However:
New Zealand security researcher Stuart MacIntosh told delegates at the Kiwicon 7 conference in Wellington that some vulnerable drone technology designed in the hobby space had trickled down into use by police and commercial operators.
Which makes it notable. Before you use a consumer-oriented item for more serious use, you need to evaluate its fitness for purpose.
Of course, you might go ahead and use it anyway - that's what risk assessment is all about.
When did a directed energy weapon become a "cheap tool"?
Sorry, I initially read NERF guns... anyone can make a mistake. :)
When did a GPS jammer become a directed energy weapon?
You could probably take a low-flying one down with a trebuchet.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Beautifully put, and correct.
However:
New Zealand security researcher Stuart MacIntosh told delegates at the Kiwicon 7 conference in Wellington that some vulnerable drone technology designed in the hobby space had trickled down into use by police and commercial operators.
Which makes it notable. Before you use a consumer-oriented item for more serious use, you need to evaluate its fitness for purpose.
Of course, you might go ahead and use it anyway - that's what risk assessment is all about.
Also true...but honestly, I can't recall the last time cops had to worry about crooks with HERF guns. It would be a lot easier, safer and cheaper for the bad guys to simply *shoot* at the drones in these situations. We're not talking about flights of Predators or Reapers flying thousands of feet up, backed by a Gorgon's Eye implementation. We're talking about what's basically a glorified RC copter flying at hundreds of feet.
I will now coin a new acronym..."KEDW," or "Kinetic Energy Directed Weapon," also known as a "gun," and go speak to a conference about how it is a much worse threat than this...because not only can it shoot down police drones, it can hurt people too!
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
I think anyone who has ever been bird hunting (or clay pigeon shooting) knows exactly how hard it is to hit small moving targets hundreds of feet in the air.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
More like dozens of feet.
Not hundreds.
Bird & clay pigeon shooting is typically small gauge shotguns, whose range is dozens of feet. Not hundreds.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Well, if you can get a drone within 50 yards of me, I could possibly hit it with the shotgun. Outside of that range, things get a whole lot more difficult and it's going to be impossible outside of about 100 yards. Trying to hit a drone using a rifle is about the best you can hope for beyond 100 yards, and those shots would be one in a million.
So, if the drone is flying higher than about 150 feet it is unlikely to be in danger from any kinetic weapon carried by the perp.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
What about you and a couple of your friends armed with AKs?
If I recall correctly that kind of shooting is effective up to 600 meters (concentrated firing).
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
million-dollar sol-air missiles (which they do not have).
Who's launching missiles from the sun? And at such a low cost?
Bullets are also tiny - but there are many of them.
And as long as the coordinates of some of them overlap with those "57 cm across"...
5 guys with AKs can create a bullet ridden area that will quickly cover those 57 cm and more.
Don't think of it as sharpshooting - think flak.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens