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Preparing Countermeasures For Terror Attacks Using Drones (remotecontrolproject.org)

An anonymous reader writes: You can add terrorist-controlled drones to the list of dangers we need to be prepared for, says the Oxford Research Group. Its new report contains information about over 200 current and upcoming unmanned aerial, ground and marine systems, and evaluates their capabilities for delivering payloads (e.g. explosive devices), imaging capabilities (e.g. for reconnaissance purposes), and their general capabilities. Even though the report notes that commercial drones have a limited flight time, range of movement, and payload capacity, and that their operators still have to be relatively close to a potential target, the researchers are particularly worried about the possibility of drones being used as remotely controlled explosive devices. They say, "The technology of remote-control warfare is impossible to control; the ultimate defence is to address the root drivers of the threat in the first place."

102 comments

  1. Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Stop destabilising foreign nations and victimising populations and there won't be any terrorism (except the false flag variety, which is almost all of it anyway....so stop doing that too....)

    1. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Terrorism is just a red herring. The fact that you don't acknowledge that means you should shut up and listen.

    2. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop destabilising foreign nations and victimising populations and there won't be any terrorism (except the false flag variety, which is almost all of it anyway....so stop doing that too....)

      This would only be true if there were no muslems left on the planet.

      Read up and learn a bit. Invasion, subjugation, suppression and conquering are what they are all about and all they have ever done (unless someone else was beating up on them.)

    3. Re:Better Idea.. by camperdave · · Score: 2

      Do you know how many Muslims were in the Irish Republican Army? or how many the IRA targetted?

      Not a single one.

      You don't have to be Muslim to be a terrorist, and you don't have to be a terrorist if you're Muslim. All you have to do is be a bully to someone else's coward.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    4. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you know how many Muslims were in the Irish Republican Army? or how many the IRA targetted? Not a single one. You don't have to be Muslim to be a terrorist, and you don't have to be a terrorist if you're Muslim. All you have to do is be a bully to someone else's coward.

      The first part of your sentence is true. The second part.. not so much. Learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    5. Re:Better Idea.. by truck_soccer · · Score: 1

      Here. watch this unverified youtube video that someone made in windows dvd maker with pictures from cnn.

    6. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read up and learn a bit. Invasion, subjugation, suppression and conquering are what they are all about and all they have ever done (unless someone else was beating up on them.)

      You mean like Christians have done to Africa, America and Asia?

    7. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just supported the point.

      England invaded Ireland, screwed over the Irish, which gave Rise to the I.R.A. and terrorism.

      It doesn't matter who is being screwed over, resistance is inevitable. That resistance is called 'terrorism' because it puts it in a nice box that lays the blame on the victims (to allow perpetuating of the situation that created the terrorists so that the initial objectives, usually financial, can be continued).

    8. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop destabilising foreign nations and victimising populations and there won't be any terrorism (except the false flag variety, which is almost all of it anyway....so stop doing that too....)

      This is what simpletons actually believe . Serioulsy, how do some of you manage to walk and breathe at the same time without injuring yourselves? Or has sub-100 IQ become the new average? MEMO TO PUSSIFIST MORONS: Guess what? There are assholes out there in the world every single day that don't give a fuck about anything other than destroying what everyone else has because they don't have it, and seizing power wherever and whenever they can, and they don't care how many people they have to kill, or buildings they have to blow up to get what they want, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the U.S. and it's policies. Your being a complete and total pussy little coward won't change a gods-be-damned thing, except to make it easier for them to kill YOU, and everyone you know, enslave and rape your wife and daughters, and destroy everything that doesn't smell like THEM. So how about you WAKE THE FUCK UP, take off the gods-be-damned rose-colored glasses, stop being a fucking pussy, and see the world for what it is, and DEAL WITH IT!?

      *** DROPS MIC ***

    9. Re:Better Idea.. by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      This is a red herring because international terrorism is not the root issue here. Drones are a very affordable technology that could be used by any whack-job with a desire to cause damage and pain, regardless of motives.

    10. Re:Better Idea.. by camperdave · · Score: 2

      Um... No. The parent post said there would be no terrorism if there were no Muslims. The IRA is just one of many counter-examples.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    11. Re:Better Idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, just like banning guns meant that there wouldn't be any more murder.

      Fucking tard.

  2. One word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Skynet

    1. Re: One word by WarJolt · · Score: 1

      Right. Let's get rid of the terrorists and replace it with a psychopathic machine.

  3. I'm more worried about hipsters with drones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm much more worried about hipsters with drones. I've seen enough of the videos on YouTube where some hipsters who made too much money ruining some formerly-successful software product's UI end up wasting this money on expensive drones equipped with expensive cameras. Then they recklessly fly these drones over cities or other crowded places, with no thought as to what will happen when their shitty, inexperienced drone piloting "skills" cause the drone to fall from the sky unexpectedly. When this happens, they won't care if their drone injured somebody else or damaged somebody else's property. All these hipsters care about is how the lens on their camera shattered by the impact of the drone striking its victims.

  4. What about repeaters or AI though... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "the ultimate defence is to address the root drivers of the threat in the first place." That'd be great. What if they set up repeaters? Or just program a route?

  5. Summary of report by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    The report notes that drones work for shit in rainy and windy weather. In other words, our best defense is to amp up the global warming until hurricanes are near us at all times.

    1. Re:Summary of report by tgeek · · Score: 1

      I misread the heading . . . I seriously thought it meant we were planning to use drones as our countermeasures for terror attacks . . .

    2. Re:Summary of report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's see, UAV + Hellfire... hmm, that's not a drone we're using as countermeasure.
      You know, the best defense is offense.

    3. Re:Summary of report by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 1

      True, since the rise of the global warming meme we have had far less trouble from these things, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    4. Re:Summary of report by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The report notes that drones work for shit in rainy and windy weather.

      Actually, they're not that bad. Because of their very nature, they are actually resistant to that sort of thing in a way that "normal" R/C aircraft aren't. Auto-leveling flight has been sneaking into R/C airplanes for a while, but it's typical for "drones". A 10dof sensor board will run you $10, a GPS with a nice big antenna is $10, and if you give plenty of altitude then there's little to run into. Brushless motors don't go straight to hell when water goes through them like the old brushed ones did. People report making many flights in the rain without any trouble with the bearings. A relatively heavy fixed wing or most any decent-sized multirotor can operate in some fairly significant weather without too much trouble.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:Summary of report by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 1

      That's a power consideration.

      But power is not a problem : people have been making pulse-jet powered UAVs for at least a decade. (no, the video is not a UAV, but the only UAV video I could find had no audio and the best thing about pulse jet videos is the audio).

      You can make a pulse jet out of bent steel tubing. And because they're powerful, they can be heavy. Because they can run on liquid fuel, they can have endurance. They worked well enough in WWII - their main drawback was their guidance system was shit. Well, now you can buy a powerful computer designed to be integrated into other systems for $4.

      Try fending off a swarm of multiple nap-of-earth flying 200MPH heavy payload cruise missiles powered by a pulse jet and a raspberry pi, launched from pickup trucks on a desert highway.

    6. Re:Summary of report by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2

      Muffed up the video link :

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... - Pulse jet UAV from 2006

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... - 200MPH Radio controlled pulse jet plane

  6. Anti Drones by VAXcat · · Score: 1

    TIme for some enterprising quadcopter company to get a multimillion dollar contract to design and build "drone interceptors".

    --
    There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
    1. Re:Anti Drones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't it be easier just to put up netting around any potential targets?

    2. Re: Anti Drones by WarJolt · · Score: 1

      I'm thinking lasers. The carbon fiber frames will burn up quick.

  7. Root Causes Important, but You have Crime & Cr by Koreantoast · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For those who are trying to hand wave the issue with a broader "well, we shouldn't do things that make people angry *tsk* *tsk*", while addressing the root drivers will help mitigate the numbers of potential incidents, in a world where people have differing opinions, you'll always have a few folks who disagree strongly enough that they may just try to do something like deliver a dangerous payload via unmanned platform. Very least, you're going to have criminal elements that are going to try and exploit this technology for recon or more direct support in committing crimes, maybe even violent support. Therefore, you're going to need this technology to some degree whether through jamming or even outright shooting it out of the sky.

  8. Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Equip all households with a laser sighted auto tracking high powered sniper rifle that shares a remote drone database and auto targets errant drones.Nothing bad can happen.

    1. Re:Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      shotgun, dumbass. The NRA is composed of people who understand that gun control is all about keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. We don't point rifles up; we use shotguns for flying things.

    2. Re:Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by camperdave · · Score: 1

      How do you hit a drone with a shotgun without pointing the muzzle up? Throw it?

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    3. Re:Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by truck_soccer · · Score: 0

      Try rereading his comment. Failing that, go back to card books and building blocks.

    4. Re:Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      The point you missed is that shotguns are not rifles. Shotguns are generally smoothbores.

      Shotguns are aimed up because that is what is used for hunting birds. You don't generally hunt a flying bird with a rifle. You want shot dispersal to bracket them for much the same reason you wanted to shoot at airplanes with proximity fused ammo or a veritable hail of bullets: it's hard to hit a flying, moving object with a single slug.

      You should always point any weapon downrange and/or toward the ground when it is not in use, but there's no reason whatsoever to point an actual rifle up at the sky unless you're trying to take a lucky shot at an airplane.

    5. Re:Easy peasy.. the NRA solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In all the years of going to the site. A long time ago this was a site for smart people, you know news for nerds. Its sad to see the level of IQ for this site to slip to the temperature of a glass of water at room temperature.

      Of course it was pointing up its a shotgun. No you don't throw it you make sure of your target and you pull the trigger. Please take a basic firearms course.

      Yes it is perfectly safe. I myself have been hit with falling shot and it is nothing more than sand falling on your head. No danger at all.

      A wise man once said it is best to keep quite an have people think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

  9. Easy solution by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

    Shotguns are still standard issue for most police patrol cars, right? Just fill em up with birdshot instead of buckshot and problem solved. It would be like skeet shooting, but instead of shooting at a clay pigeon it would be like shooting one of those explosive targets that had been catapulted into the sky.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:Easy solution by ScentCone · · Score: 2

      I routinely fly my multi-rotor camera platforms up over 300'. Good luck with bird shot at that distance!

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    2. Re:Easy solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I routinely fly my multi-rotor camera platforms up over 300'. Good luck with bird shot at that distance!

      Turkey loads. 3 inch magnum loads with #4 steel shot. I'll take you down.

  10. the smaller drones work well inside by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    you know: a sports arena, school, etc.

    1. Re:the smaller drones work well inside by chispito · · Score: 1

      you know: a sports arena, school, etc.

      If you can already sneak your explosives inside a building, why do you need a drone? Just drop it and leave. Or stay, if that's your persuasion.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:the smaller drones work well inside by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      you know: a sports arena

      I am actually wondering when entities like the NFL and NCAA will start using camera-equipped drones to film football games. They already have cameras mounted on rope and pulley systems for most aerial shots, but a drone would allow for much more interesting (and more available) filming angles. They've already started putting cameras in the end zone pylons, so the technology to get live broadcast quality cameras down to a size small enough for drones (and drone reliability up) can't be more than a few years away.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re:the smaller drones work well inside by RoccamOccam · · Score: 1

      I was recently at a game covered by ESPN where they used a drone. It was at a smaller university with a new stadium and it appeared that a normal overhead camera wasn't in place. So, when I saw the camera-equipped drone (with ESPN logo), I assumed they would be using it to replace the cable-mounted camera. However, I'm pretty sure that it was only used for crowd shots and that it was never allowed over the field of play - ESPN just flew it over the stadium crowd. I'm guessing that there was some restriction (like from the NCAA) that kept them from using the drone that way.

    4. Re:the smaller drones work well inside by bluescrn · · Score: 1

      So the risk of crashing a drone onto a crowd is better than risking any injury to a highly-paid sports star?

    5. Re:the smaller drones work well inside by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're not so very smart. Read their post again and see if you can figure out why you're an idiot.

  11. who really cares? by nimbius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Im sure for anyone who bought a "drone" 2 weeks ago at christmas, this article is neat. However fearmongering aside Terorrism in 2015 killed only 34 people in the United States, the country with the most drones. heck, in 2014 auto accidents alone killed 34,000 people here...and by comparison terorrism is almost a non-issue when pitted against heart disease, which kills 610,000 per year. Unlike terrorism, which is costly to defend against, most of the cases of heart disease in the united states that claim a life could have been prevented by simple diet and exercise. Hell, in 2013 there were 33,000 firearm related deaths in the US, almost 1000 times the number of terrorism related deaths.

    but, you know...terorrism...gotta stop those terrorists.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Counterpoint. Vehicle deaths, while sad and lethal, have an impact that is well calculated and has a very small affect on the stability of our nation. However, terrorism is a tool used by people intent on destroying our nation, the impacts of which include things like losing our nation and way of life and little things like the freedom of speech and religion. Which of those is actually more important to address?

    2. Re:who really cares? by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      It's reasonable to suppose that fear of getting caught is a deterrent against many acts. You know that whole "if you could be invisible.." thought that people explore? Nobody ever answers "put in unpaid overtime without the boss yelling at me," or "watch rabbits up close without scaring them away."

      Drones (yes, that's the word people have collectively decided to use -- no quotes required) provide a delivery platform with large or total deniability, and that changes peoples' (largely unformalized) risk assessments. It would be foolish to believe that nobody would capitalize on that. No, there haven't been any attacks yet, but once the dam breaks, expect to see more and more of it.

    3. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The cars, dumbass. Enough with your rhetoric about terrorists "destroying our nation". If the best they can do is kill 34 people a year then they're obviously not very good at their job. Let's concentrate on important things and save our money instead of wasting it in a fruitless attempt to stop terrorism entirely, which is a literall impossibility.

    4. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are obviously quite afraid of a possible ISIS-dominated future. Otherwise arguing that 34 terrorist deaths (last year in the U.S.) is more important that 34,000 vehicle deaths doesn't make sense.

      Our war on terror has been a fiasco. We would have been better off doing nothing. More U.S. soldiers dies in our gulf wars than in 9/11. Some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanistanis are dead. And we have way more problems than than when we started! Not too mention the injured soldiers, horrible laws like the patriot act, wasted money, millions of refugees, etc.

      Do you question anything? What about the loss of our freedoms? Don't you remember communism, and what happens when you give a government too much power? Aren't you afraid that we will become a police state? Isn't that more real than some guys in a desert half a world away with ak47s and pickup trucks?

      Better yet would be the american public put a stop to our governments imperialistic dealings with that part of the world. I wonder how it is that a powerful government can restrains itself from imposing its best interests on others.

      I'll tell you what I am afraid of. I'm afraid of the countries of the west turning into police states. Enough of us would have jobs. There'd be plenty of corporate sponsored things to do, but not so much else. Lots of people would medicate, starting with kids in grammer school. You wouldn't want to say or do anything wrong, because everything is kept track of. Meanwhile it's all hacked and sold every which way. The collective public are distracted by politically divisive squables, celebrities, and a never ending stream of fear and manipulation. This is the world that we will grow old in. This is the world we'll be leaving to the next generations. We don't live in a police state yet. But then again, only 34 people dies from terrorists in the U.S. last year. II think the powers that we are giving corporations and the government are going to long outlast some guys in the desert with pickup trucks and AK-47s. That's what I'm afraid of.

      I feel like I'm living in communist USSR. We're doing what I was told as a kid that the bad guys do.

    5. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      using drones to carry out an effective attack would require a drone more capable than a standard hobby shop supply. Line of sight is required, with a range of about 300 feet. You might as well just walk to your target and blow yourself up.

    6. Re:who really cares? by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1

      But think of the pork!

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    7. Re:who really cares? by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And that is exactly what reality looks like: Terrorism is not a relevant threat in the west, unless a power-hungry political class, a press serving them and a population that does not get it makes it one. The mechanism at work here is that a population in fear is easy to rule, as a population in fear is dumb.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:who really cares? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Our war on terror has been a fiasco.

      I disagree. The purpose of this "war" obviously was never to be won (because it cannot, just like the now over 100 years of the "war on drugs"), but to keep the fear in the US population and the west in general alive. This serves several purposed. For one, a population in fear is easy to govern. It also serves to blow up the budget for organizations like the DHS, the TSA, the NSA, etc. All these organizations are primarily in love with power and money, their actual duty, namely to server the US population, comes a distant second if they remember it at all. And the "war on terror" has one other desired effect: It keeps validation for the actual terrorists up. It keeps them motivated, it allows for easy recruitment (David vs. Goliath Effect, nobody likes a bully) and it keeps them funded. Because the worst thing you can do to a terrorist organization is to not take them seriously and the absolute, unmitigated best thing for them is to style them as some sort of great threat. That makes them feel really important and bad-ass.

      Now I submit that the people that orchestrate this "war" on terror do not all know this, but they will either be dumb or they will understand very well what they are doing. Both kinds are a serious danger to western values, as exemplified by, for example, universal snooping and reduction of freedoms. In comparison to the severe damage these people have done and continue to do, all the things the terrorists have managed look puny and unimportant.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    9. Re:who really cares? by erapert · · Score: 1

      If you're including suicides in that firearm deaths figure then you're being disingenuous.

    10. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Counterpoint. Vehicle deaths, while sad and lethal, have an impact that is well calculated and has a very small affect on the stability of our nation. However, terrorism is a tool used by people intent on destroying our nation, the impacts of which include things like losing our nation and way of life and little things like the freedom of speech and religion. Which of those is actually more important to address?

      Cars! The only reason "terrorism" impacts our western freedoms and way of life is because we allow our dictator^Wdemocratically elected governments use it as a pathetic excuse to strip away more basic human rights and grant themselves more power.

      Fear is a powerful tool in the manipulation of the irrational populace. Fear can turn a group of otherwise intelligent individuals into a mob of morons. 34 deaths over a year is less than one a week, but the media whips it into a frenzy in their usual quest to sell an ever-increasing number of eyeballs to advertisers.

      Terrorism is visible to the ignorant because the media reports on it. But it's in the news because, by definition, it's an unusual occurrence. That causes fear.

      We saw the same basic problem with shark attacks, child abuse (in general) and sex crimes (adult or otherwise). Sensationalist reporting on them (while ignoring other matters) grabs eyeballs. The public sees a deluge of reports in the news and assumes that there is an epidemic. Raised awareness of the issue causes more people to follow it, and in turn the media reports on it more to sell more eyeballs. In the mean-time Joe public is jumping up and down demanding that the government protect him from the evil $THREAT at all costs, even though actual facts would tell him that $THREAT is insignificant compared to being killed in a car accident.

      Just imagine what would happen if the media reported on every single fatal car accident or heart attack. The reason they don't report on them is because they're so damned common.

    11. Re:who really cares? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      They are not really talking about protecting the general public, they don't give a crap about the general public. This is about protecting specific people from targeted assassinations. The simplest attack, coating a drones blades with a toxin and flying it at the targets head, a very small drone but still logically very effective, the infamous poisoned blade.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    12. Re:who really cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No worries! Under the soon-to-be-reality new definition of "terrorism", anything causing death will be labeled "terrorism"!

      So "causing a car accident" becomes "car-inflicted terrorism", "heart disease" becomes "anti-cardiac terrorism", "exercise" becomes "health-freak terrorism", "firearm offense" becomes "gun terrorism", "HIV" becomes "HIT", "old age" becomes "degeneration terrorism", "thinking" becomes "thought terrorism", and "false flag operations" becomes "government-mandated for which we legally can't take any responsibility and that actually is the fault of the victim shut up asshole terrorism".

    13. Re:who really cares? by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      Terrorism is the mouse that roars.

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
    14. Re:who really cares? by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      Sports drone with FPV control, or AI face recognition and GPS. Setting a drone up with 1 km + radio is also not very difficult.. Or with a bit more technical ability use an IR laser designator.. Fit it with a knife or an anti-personnel grenade or small high explosive bomb. Or as rtb61 said you could cover a drones blades with poison..
      If you have a really high profile target and some more money then go for an attack based on drone swarming technology.. Stopping one drone might be quite easy but stopping a dozen of fifty at once? That's the big (near future) fear the military are currently worrying about..

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
  12. Crashing to the ground into a crowded street... by Koreantoast · · Score: 1

    There is also that small question of what happens when a five, ten or even twenty pound object hovering from even a few dozen feet comes crashing down into a crowded street. Probably not an ideal solution, liabilities and whatnot.

    1. Re:Crashing to the ground into a crowded street... by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      There is also that small question of what happens when a five, ten or even twenty pound object hovering from even a few dozen feet comes crashing down into a crowded street. Probably not an ideal solution, liabilities and whatnot.

      When they are flying IEDs they don't go crash, they just go boom.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:Crashing to the ground into a crowded street... by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      When they are flying IEDs they do't go crash, they just go boom.

      However, there are no flying IEDs. The whole idea is terminally stupid - there are so many better ways to deliver explosives.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    3. Re:Crashing to the ground into a crowded street... by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

      there are no flying IEDs. The whole idea is terminally stupid - there are so many better ways to deliver explosives.

      I'm fairly certain they all involve math, though.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
  13. Legalize Jamming by gurps_npc · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Just make it legal to jam drones. Problem solved.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Legalize Jamming by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Just make it legal to jam drones. Problem solved.

      So you have a plan for how you're going to jam GPS across a miles-wide area, but without impacting all of the other users who need it? And, you have a pretty good sense of how all "drones" use RF? Meaning, you're going to jam all of the same frequencies that mobile phones and WiFi devices use in the entire area? Please be specific.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    2. Re:Legalize Jamming by wasteoid · · Score: 1

      If it is in fact a drone, that means it is not receiving signals from an operator but flying autonomously, so a jamming signal wouldn't work.

    3. Re:Legalize Jamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You ought to at least attempt to learn a thing or two about allocated spectrum, directional radiators, and tune able power levels before showing you ignorance to the masses.

    4. Re:Legalize Jamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The more shit I read on this site every day, the more I'm inclined to say who cares what the fucking laws are. I'm sure I'm breaking half of them already.

    5. Re:Legalize Jamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

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      http://www.mytractorforum.com/...
      http://www.lawnsite.com/archiv...

      Screwdrivers have been outlawed. We may have a problem...

    6. Re:Legalize Jamming by k6mfw · · Score: 1

      I think airplane pilots will be able to resort to non-GPS means of getting around. But for many drivers, they will be lost and will drive around in circles "where do I go? where do I go? where do I go?" until they run out of gas. And probably they will stall in the worst spots like middle of SF Bay Bridge (plus others in same predicament) causing massive traffic jams.

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
    7. Re:Legalize Jamming by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      You ought to at least attempt to learn a thing or two about allocated spectrum, directional radiators, and tune able power levels before showing you ignorance to the masses.

      Really? You're lecturing me about learning something as I respond to a completely witless post about "just jam drones" being the simple solution?

      No, learning more about directional radiators and tunable power levels won't teach me more that I need to know about how "jamming a drone" that's on a combination of inertial, magnetic, and GPS guidance while moving on a pre-programmed waypoint path at, say, 75mph just above tree-top level as it approaches from a mile away. Though it sounds like YOU could learn a few things.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    8. Re:Legalize Jamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > If it is in fact a drone, that means it is not receiving signals from an operator but flying autonomously, so a jamming signal wouldn't work.

      Not true. The first "drones" were radio-controlled Tiger Moths.

    9. Re:Legalize Jamming by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      The lawnmower police state.. And it wont do a thing to actually combat climate change..

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
  14. .. if you believe the neckbeards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clearly, because we have no domestic terrorists. We also have no foreign nations funding terrorism anywhere, like, say Iran. Keep spouting the leftist bullshit your teachers tell you without any critical thought.

    1. Re:.. if you believe the neckbeards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Our allies in Saudi Arabia are much better at funding terrorism than any of our enemies are.

    2. Re:.. if you believe the neckbeards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just happen to be wrong. They're an order of magnitude behind the Iranian government for directly funding terrorists. Their special brand of Islam is more supportive of violence, but that's very different than directly funding, arming and training terrorists.

    3. Re:.. if you believe the neckbeards. by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      You know, back before 9/11, when websites were "cool". I remember the gaffaws we had looking at the FBIs infamous "10 most wanted" list. Remember that? Seems like a lifetime ago doesn't it? A whole 15-20 years.

      They couldn't even come up with a top 10 list that was the least bit scary. The only "terrorist" on there set off a bomb...at night... when nobody was around. The rest were mostly various drug dealers, including some dude with really wild hair who was (big shock) the one acid dealer.

      So basically, the threat was a joke then, and well... I don't see many bombs going off. I see a large increase claims of plots, but they can't be real because, there arn't enough real ones that ever happened as to justify the ones they catch now.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  15. Let me see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So the terrorists are gonna drone us.

    So we must drone them with bigger drones!

    Oh wait...

  16. Re:Root Causes Important, but You have Crime & by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You also need some way for the general population to be able to verify that the drone shot down actually was used by real terrorists and that it just wasn't something that was said.

    Every action taking against terrorist is an overstep by the government.
    The real laws are against murderers. Those laws have checks in place to make sure that the person caught actually is a criminal.

  17. Obligatory Buckaroo Banzai Reference by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1

    Reporter: "Mister Secretary, what about the possibility of war in the Eighth Dimension?"

    Defense Secretary: "What?"

    1. Re:Obligatory Buckaroo Banzai Reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm glad someone has the balls to face facts!

  18. I'll rain hell foam!!! by wkwilley2 · · Score: 1

    As loosely as the term "terrorist" is thrown around these days, they had better look out for my drone mounted nerf guns

    --
    Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
    1. Re: I'll rain hell foam!!! by WarJolt · · Score: 1

      I'll just spray your done with my super soaker and see who wins.

  19. The recently discussed commuter drone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News of an experimental drone that could carry a human up to 260lb. is germane. It seems likely it could be altered to be entirely self guided, and such a thing could be filled with explosives, germs, chemicals, paintballs, whatever... and driven in a way that, up to the end, would look like a human being flown somewhere. This could be especially amusing inside a city (which logically would be where such things might go).
    As originally designed there is remote control (and btw if that kind of use gets common, how are you going to jam control frequencies without killing innocent passengers?), and the thing is a shade pricey ($100-$200K) for evildoers who are not wealthy.
    Still, considering this kind of threat, it seems the only defenses these guys list in the paper that might work could be active defenses (F16s or such maybe).

    Someone buying such a thing and altering it could be traced perhaps, so an attacker would need to use a stolen one or otherwise use maybe a synthetic identity, and it'd be considerable work. Thus there probably would not be a lot of these. Once the design and crafting of the controls existed though the same attacker
    might be able to do several, not just one.

  20. Drones are not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dogs are. Dogs are a problem. They bite and they bark and they run after you. So I stomp on them. If you stomp on a dog, it's not a problem anymore. So, whenever I see any dogs, I stomp on them all. Stomp stomp stomp.

  21. Escalate! by Billy+the+Mountain · · Score: 1

    Measures -> Counter Measures -> Repeat

    --
    That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
  22. Explosives are Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Potassium chloride, aka salt substitute, in solution.

    Install a large, 10cc syringe in the nose of a small drone, equipped with a tiny camera so you can guide it, JDAM style. Fly it high into the sky, so it can cut the noisy motor, glide over the target area, then silently dive out of the sun. You can make it out of plastic cardboard.

    If you can hit, then the target is finished. No alarming explosions, no panic, no screaming. Silent death from the sky.

    1. Re:Explosives are Stupid by gweihir · · Score: 1

      The concentrated stupid of your posting is the only danger here. From the document you link:

      Orally, potassium chloride is toxic in excess; the LD50 is around 2.5 g/kg (meaning that a lethal dose for 50% of people weighing 75 kg (165 lb) is about 190 g (6.7 ounces)). The oral toxicity of sodium chloride (table salt) is about the same, 3.75 g/kg. Thus potassium chloride is harmless for alimentation (and even good for health, see previous paragraph). But intravenously, without the step of digestive absorption, this is reduced to just over 30 mg/kg.

      That still means you have to pump a 75kg person (not large) full of 2.25g (almost all 10ccs in solution) to get a 50% death rate and that is without medical attention and you have to hit a vein (because that is what "intravenously" means). Not a credible threat. I also would also very much expect the target to indeed start screaming and panic if stuck with a large needle without warning. The countermeasure is simple though: Just rip out the needle immediately.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  23. Root Threat by camperdave · · Score: 1

    If you ask me, I'd say the root threat here is the Oxford Research Group. They're the ones yelling "Phear Dronze"!

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  24. self driving cars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Self driving cars eliminate suicide car bombers.

    1. Re:self driving cars by gweihir · · Score: 1

      And then they are out of a job and purpose in life. Made obsolete by technology. I feel sad for them.

      Yes, that is about the level of respect that idea deserves. Sure, somebody will do it eventually, but the danger here is "car", not "self driving" and society has decided to accept it a long, long time ago.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  25. countermeasures ? LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try countering a swarm of these things.. A relatively small army of 2000 drones armed with explosives or worse would be IMPOSSIBLE to stop.. :(
    Jam the GPS frequency ? -> a smart terrorist (if such a thing even exists..) will just make the drones work without GPS.. ex: pre-map the area u want to attack and send in the drones with some cameras or some form of radar system and have them navigate off of landmarks or whatever.. If done this way it wouldn't matter how much jamming u're doing (GPS & control frequencies) anyway since their operation is completely autonomous after they take off.. open-source systems that can be utilized for such an attack is already in the wild. Its just a matter of time before we see an attack like this -> its just to easy!!.. manage the drivers and firmware u say ?? -> LOL.. that would only shut down complete clowns.. Even terrorists have software engineers and have access to whatever hardware they want so if they can fund it -> its gonna happen. and there is simply NO way to stop them.. and plz remember -> 2000 is a ridiculously LOW and easily obtainable number.. the only way to counter such a thing would be EMP and that is way too disruptive in an urban environments. So i guess its GG ?

  26. Sending a drone to Paradise? by seven+of+five · · Score: 1

    Do terrorists really think about using mini copters for attacks? Have they done so already? I mean, the notion of sending a suicide martyr to heaven is much more compelling and romantic than plopping bombs on a flying robot.

    1. Re:Sending a drone to Paradise? by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      Yep they already have suicide robots - they call them 'martyrs'.

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
  27. Re:Root Causes Important, but You have Crime & by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... you'll always have a few folks who disagree ...

    Let's change the object of the article. ... strongly enough that they may just try to do something like deliver a dangerous payload via passenger vehicle. Very least, you're going to have criminal elements that are going to try and exploit this technology for stakeouts or more direct support in committing crimes, maybe even violent support. Therefore, you're going to need this technology to some degree whether through ramming or even outright shooting it off the road.

    The problem isn't criminals use technology because that's always been true. The problem is technology is now a weapon against the state, or occasionally, the people.

    ... remote-control warfare is impossible to control ...

    As Rwanda discovered in 1994, it's also impossible to control 100,000 machetes. What TFA is arguing, is that aerial drone usage needs to be controlled by the safety culture and CYA policies. This is supported by the historical perspective where jumbo jets were flown into buildings. You put a bomb or massive quantities of fuel into any mobile machine it will cause destruction. The appearance of new new technology doesn't change that so this is fear-mongering: Making mobile machines more powerful and more democratic must make everyone afraid.

  28. Hahaha dronefags pnwed YET AGAIN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Suck it dronefags, you're going to get your silly toys taken away from you and then they ship your gay asses off to Gitmo because you're all terrorist scum LOLOLOL XD XD XD

  29. only certain people care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really, drones as explosive devices have been around for quite some time--all those military drones, when they fail (and a lot of them do), they fall and destruct, usually in some town and accounted for as 'collateral damage'. Nothing is new here.

    Just that it will happen: someone with a small drone will perform the above act, likely in a big town... but against the few folks that want protection. And just say some of those folks are heavily related to those that have power and money. Drones are a disruptive technology--embrace it. Drone defence is more about money than safety.

  30. My concerns about losing my life by k6mfw · · Score: 1

    as result of car accident, industrial accident, fire, disease, crime, earthquake, meteor, and a whole number of unexpected causes which terrorism is not on that list.

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
  31. Re:Root Causes Important, but You have Crime & by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    It is far trickier than the current anti-drone technology implies. Consider the flight path of a drone attacking a public speaker. All hovering and manoeuvring is done at a distance to get the drone in the best position for a final run. A path as close to people as possible and just out of reach, on a direct vector as possible. That final run will be done a maximum forward speed, giving seconds as reaction time. The laser will end up being aimed at spectators heads as well as the drone, so now you have, " we had to permanently blind spectators including children but that's okay because they are nobodies and we had to protect the extra special person, also the four peoples heads we blew off when we exploded the drone doesn't count for shit either". That doesn't even take into account destructive lasers being used in metropolitan areas with lots and lots of very reflective windows.

    So something more along the lines of say a chameleon, where a sticky bundle of fibres on the end of a strong line, is fired at the drone and it is reeled in. The unit mounted on fairly high poles around the zone to be temporarily or permanently protected. That way the drone is caught and should it contain explosives it will detonate at a safer range to the public. A compressed air shotgun with rapidly degrading pellets would logically be required for more intensely protected zones. That final attack run is really quick and does not leave much time.

    People doing stupid things near airports or other places is much easier to deal with with the drones moving more slowly and spending considerable time in the location as well as the locations usually having very deep safety zones, this allows capture drones or crash drones with sharp stainless steel blades to be used.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  32. Did Oxford researches try to pilot an UAV? by Max_W · · Score: 0

    Piloting a multirotor or fixed-wing UAV requires years of training. It takes 3 - 4 months just to learn take-off and landing.

    Being a pilot of a manned aircraft is not a transferable skill, as a pilot is not sitting in the UAV cabin and is not looking forward.

    Let them try to land an UAV hundred meters away on a certain spot. Good luck.

    If someone has got enough dedication, discipline, aptitude to become a pilot capable to take off, fly, and land an UAV he/she will not be a terrorist in the first place.

  33. Root Causes? by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    It is a noble idea to address the root causes of terrorism. But can it be done? In the case of the Arab nations, there is a constant cultural pressure caused by being the crossing point of European, Asian and African cultures. Then we have the over- population vs. lack of resources conflict. And on top of that, we see educational levels of a population that are dismal. All of these factors take long periods of time to deal with if they can be dealt with at all. Long term solutions mean nothing when some group goes off of their nut and launches a drone with some sort of weapon attached. Sadly I think, that the only method of controlling such evil is a delivery of a far greater and punitive evil. Usually, if people fear that consequences of an action will surely result in a great likelihood that they will suffer, their behavior will be more moderate.

  34. A decade late and unknown trillions short by TheCarp · · Score: 1

    Seriously, more than a decade ago: http://www.wired.com/2004/04/i...

    The point produced a depressing recognition. There's a logic to P2P threats that we as a society don't yet get. Like the record companies against the Internet, our first response is war. But like the record companies, that response will be either futile or self-destructive. If you can't control the supply of IDDs, then the right response is to reduce the demand for IDDs. Yet as everyone in the class understood, in the four years since Joy wrote his Wired piece, we've done precisely the opposite.

    This wasn't very hard to figure out that when you look at how easy it is to make weapons. The technicalities of terrorism are easy. You can learn most everything you need at the library and always could. You can build bombs, and you can do it without anyone knowing. Its technical work but its nothing compared to some people's hobbies.

    The real question is, why doesn't something so easy happen every day? The problem isn't what is easy, the problem is why would anyone do it. The real enemy is the perception that there is a goal that it can accomplish, and you can't fight that away.

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  35. Arms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The military armed drones, the police armed them, and so are civilians. Drones are a part of the 2nd Amendment and so they are not subject to FAA regulations. They fall under the 2nd and the 9th Amendments.