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UK Now Has Systems To Combat Drones (bbc.com)
Detection systems are now able to be deployed throughout the UK to combat the threat of drones, ministers say. It follows three days of disruption at Gatwick airport last week, when drones were sighted near the runway. From a report: Security minister Ben Wallace said those who use drones "either recklessly or for criminal purposes" could expect "the most severe sentence". It comes after the couple arrested and released without charge over the chaos at Gatwick said they felt "violated". About 1,000 flights were affected during 36 hours of chaos at Gatwick airport last week. The airport has spent 5 million Pound ($6.36 million) since Wednesday on new equipment and technology to prevent copycat attacks.
oh yes it didn't
Felt violated? Should have violated their piece of shit asses straight to jail for 5 years. Plus I hope the airlines and passengers sue the life out of them
No Evidence of an Actual Drone
The only purpose of "anti-drone" equipment at this time is to transfer money from the buyer to the vendor.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Many of us have shotguns too.
The guy's statement seems meaningless to me. I mean, the Royal Marines are "able to be deployed" around the country. Just might take a week or so. Since the battery on the typical drone lasts less than 30 minutes, wtf? The question isn't why he made such a vacuous statement, it's why anyone would bother reporting it?
I suspect that the salespeople had been shopping these to the airport officials for sometime now. This week they were able to charge "full retail" and them some.
It isn't hard to build anti-drone gear, assuming anti-missile lasers exist. Drones don't have anti-anti-missile gear.
Radio direction finders can locate transmitters in range. Lancaster bombers can then take out the one that suddenly runs away when you blow up the drone.
This not only removes the problem, but also puts on a vintage aircraft show.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It is actually very hard as that gear needs to be usable next to an airport or in a city. Remember why they could not use snipers?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Come to think of it, maybe the whole attack war a marketing-stunt...
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Ben Wallace filter: blah blah blah knee-jerk reaction bla bla bla.
I'm sure this was well thought out and the UK has purchased a system worth every pence.
But won't divulge any actual information.
Is it possible they will be using specially trained hawks and owls to hunt drones near the airports?
Finding bits of a drone doesn't mean that it was the actual drone causing the kerfuffle.
Where did anyone claim to have downed the drone causing the problems? The government couldn't even find the actual people responsible .
There isn't even credible footage of the drone.
Why lasers when you can fry it with microwaves?
Ezekiel 23:20
No I don't remember why they can't use a little 410 shotgun to pop drones at all. Must be fear mongering because bird shot is risk free.
1. Mysterious drone appears (or not!) in the skies over Gatwick Airport...
2. ...Some days later, 5m is spent with an unnamed drone countermeasures company.
3. PROFIT!! (no ??? needed!)
Can someone with actual aircraft knowledge explain how drones are a danger to commercial aircraft?
The drones with which I am familiar are lightweight devices largely made of plastic and Styrofoam. It seems to me that the danger is similar to that of a bird strike, meaning substantially zero, unless one is ingested in an engine. In addition, it seems like it would be very, very difficult to actively pilot a drone -- a relatively slow moving object, having limited range and flight duration -- into the path of a commercial jet, even one on takeoff or final approach. (Besides, one can only imagine what the turbulence on or near an active commercial runway would do to the control-ability of a drone.)
What is the actual danger? What am I overlooking?
They must be silly then that they did not do that. Or maybe you are just an idiot with no clue how things work in the actual world.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Great idea! And fry tons of very expensive radar, communication and safety gear in the bargain!
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
No I don't remember why they can't use a little 410 shotgun to pop drones at all.
Because a shotgun has an effective range of about 50 meters, and Gatwick Airport has an area of 674 hectares (2.6 sq miles).
You would need thousands of shotguns, and some way to aim and maintain them.
Also, there is a simple counter-counter-measure: The drone could fly slightly higher.
Then they have to fine violators heavily and make those fines like student debt here in the United States, impossible to discharge in bankruptcy. The fine for disrupting airport traffic should start at $100,000 and go up from there. Maybe then people would think twice and thrice before pulling stupid stunts like this.
What's the most severe sentence for flying your drone at the wrong time/place. I'm thinking hanged, drawn and quartered.
You would need thousands of shotguns, and some way to aim and maintain them.
Now this is beginning to sound entertaining.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Even if it does work, it will use radio frequency interference. And an airport is full of RF equipment - Instrument Landing System, VOR, radars, pilot communications. Or they could be shooting down drones. The airport will have to be shut down because RF interference or bullets from anti-drone guns.
This being the UK, and the Tory party... don't expect to be flying your drone Christmas present within 100 miles of an airport, school, hospital or house.
to be precise.
If only we had some way of emitting millimeter waves in only one direction...
Ezekiel 23:20
Shooting down drones is easier said than done - https://youtu.be/rGLxKXtkHpY
RF jamming or trying to triangulate the guy with the control is worth a shot, but a truly dedicated attacker will program the drone to fly around airport autonomously.
It's no wonder they had such a hard time getting rid of the drone. It's pretty darn asymmetric situation, especially if it comes as a surprise. One fairly foolproof way to go about it, is to have drones of your own that you can crash into the unwelcome visitor in the airspace.
Front page news on Boxing Day here in Australia at the moment is this story about a drone interrupting waterbombing attempts of a bushfire in Tasmania. So we need this system here too.
I don't know enough about drones but I assume the ones that have any reasonable range use radio for communicating from the remote. How hard is it to use direction finding techniques to find the source of the transmitter controlling the drone?
They say there were drones but most likely was nothing or one of their people. Then have ridiculous reaction by grounding the flights and create emotional response. Three days later they have a system deployed around all UK airports? We're talking the government here. They can't do anything in 3 days.
That system, whatever it is, has been installed already, and the 'drone' incident created to justify activating it. Wake up people.
More funny stuff coming from the UK. Is this country for real? I wonder if it's elaborate entertainment or something.
BTW Israel decided to celebrate Christmas by sending a bunch of cruise missiles but the Syrians weren't bothered much by them and shot almost everything down! If the UK needs advice about anti-air defense they can consult with Russia and Syria.
------------
1 Summary
The Integrity Initiative now accounts for most of the budget of a Scottish-registered charity named the Institute for Statecraft founded by Daniel Lafayeedney and Chris Donnelly in 2006. Most of the overt funding for this programme – about £2.6 million / year – comes from the Conflict Security and Stability Fund’s Russian Language Programme, now merged with a secret Counter Disinformation and Media Campaign. Office space in central London and most of the staff salaries, appear to be provided as a covert benefit in kind.
A close examination of past and present posts held by individuals associated with the Integrity Initiative indicates that specialists in military intelligence and other senior military personnel with responsibility for StratCom (strategic communication) operations are closely involved in the programme.
The activities of the Integrity Initiative include:
(...)
6 Role of the FCO and the Ministry of Defence in the Integrity Initiative
(...)
6.2.3 Relation to the MoD’s StratCom programme on the Syrian conflict
Kevin Stratford-Wright was a Lt-Colonel in the British Army till 2012, where his last position was as Head of Information Operations for the regional HQ in Afghanistan. From his LinkedIn page we have a description of an MoD StratCom programme between 2012 and 2015 that was ‘the UK’s largest of its kind since the Cold Warâ’, and has become ‘a template for activity elsewhere’.
UK Ministry of Defence – Strategic Communications Programme Manager: June 2012 – June 2015 (3 years 1 month) London, United Kingdom
Established a Strategic Communications programme to support UK government policy in a conflict zone.
– Developed strategy and plans.
– Engaged across the UK government (and internationally) to win support and approvals and to secure funding.
– Developed Statements of Requirement in partnership with selected enabling-contractors.
– Monitored and coordinated multiple project strands and reported on their activities and impact across UK government and to international partners.
– Generated year on year efficiency savings through constructive engagement with enabling contractors.
– The programme has been recognised as the UKâ€s largest of its kind since the Cold War. Its approach has also recently become a template for activity elsewhere (accepted by both UK government and international partners).
From the timing and scale of this StratCom programme, the ‘conflict zone’ can only be Syria. In 2012 Stratford-Wright was working in the Targeting and Information Operations(TIO) unit of the Ministry of Defence that was renamed Military Strategic Effects in 2013. As Stratford-Wright noted, his approach has become ‘a template for activity elsewhere’. One feature of the MoD’s Syria StratCom operation has been the outsourcing, via the FCO and the Conflict Security and Stability Fund, of activities to ‘enabling contractors’: companies or nonprofit foundations set up by former military officers. The media operation for the ‘moderate armed opposition’ was outsourced in late 2013. Although the tender document was issued by the FCO, metadata reveal that it
Trained birds can capture do es pretty well.
The drone actually hovered by the windows of the control tower, seriously, who would be stupid enough to do that and not expect police to follow the drone back to the users, manually. There is no way, any one could have expected to get that drone back or not get arrested trying. The whole thing a massive false flagging scam and no one can pretend otherwise. A real investigation needs to occur and those corporate douche bag types need an extended custodial sentence. I dare so more millions will be spent on anti-drone measures and new regulations created to restrict their use (not that I am opposed to that noisy invasive things but at least be honest about and do not put people's lives at risk with false flag bullshit).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
It's a clay pigeon shooting team with unlimited shells
From a country that pretty makes hunting it's national sport, I find it amusing it took them this long finding a solution. And I'm baffled it doesn't include a rifle.
No I don't remember why they can't use a little 410 shotgun to pop drones at all.
Because a shotgun has an effective range of about 50 meters, and Gatwick Airport has an area of 674 hectares (2.6 sq miles).
You would need thousands of shotguns, and some way to aim and maintain them.
Also, there is a simple counter-counter-measure: The drone could fly slightly higher.
Or one shot gun and a guy on a golf cart to drive to wherever the drone is. Fire fire rock salt, then buckshot, then rubber shells. Snipers could have used rubber bullets too. Non/Less lethal in general and basically harmless at terminal velocity after being shot UP (where the drone is) first.
Or, here is a thought, another drone carrying a short length of nylon cable. Just ram the other drone and it will either break the bad drone's rotors or tangle in them.
Oh, but it is a Shanghai Bill post. First order thinking about a second order problem. As usual.
The drone actually hovered by the windows of the control tower, seriously, who would be stupid enough to do that and not expect police to follow the drone back to the users, manually.
How do you expect them to do that? Given the range involved, and the ability to fly over obstacles, they can't follow your drone without an aircraft. You need drones to catch drones.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No one was able to even photograph this alleged "drone" - how do you expect to shoot it out of the sky?
Seeing it's not the airfield but it's the airplanes that have a problem with the drones, I would suggest giving the planes ways to defend themselfs. Get a couple of passengers in gun-turrets and let them combat the skies of England once more! Sort of like this passenger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Bingo. Governments do not even try to hide their corruption anymore.
There are plenty of photographs, except they are all of black dots, thanks to the distance, altitude and size of the drone. I don't expect that will stop the loony US conspiracy theorists for a second, though. Loonies gonna loon.
You won't stop crazies being crazy, conspiracy theories are far more compelling to them than mundane reality. A rational argument won't work because they are not rational. The best you can do is ignore the conspiracy loons and lobby for better mental healthcare.
Suggest you go learn about microwaves before fear mongering.
Just another day in Paradise
Isn't information on government contracts available, unless there's some kind of security classification?
Just another day in Paradise
You might consider learning something about RF instead of making stupid statements.
Not guilty still equals lots of lovely cash in sales of those papers.
They may have to pay compensation, but the paper would still be laughing all the way to the bank ?
You think you can target that stuff well, against a moving target in a potentially reflector-rich environment? Also, microwaves are not laser. You get some side-emissions in all directions, no matter what you do. And, incidentally, all this has been tried and failed.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
There is no way to make a wise $6 million purchase of ANYTHING in just a few days. It takes time to carry out due diligence. This airport management is clearly incompetent, unless the story should have said they BEGAN the process of spending the money.
>It isn't hard to build anti-drone gear
eh? not buying it.
if they are shooting at/blowing up drones at the end of the runway there won't be flights taking off.
control systems are easy.
make an autonomous drone that simply flies across the airport airspace and rf shield it to kingdom come. get it going good and fast on a complex flight path and neither radio interception/jamming or shotguns will work.
I've flown RC toys and model rockets and am a little dismayed at the fact that in some countries (Canada) the drone usage laws are stupidly restrictive. However if you fly a drone into an airport that's just asking for trouble and not getting any sympathy from me. It's really too bad common-sense doesn't work for some folks. Some simple defences against drones might be a Net gun or a EMP Canon as most consumer drones won't be that well shielded. A hobbyist drone could be shielded against EMPs but that just makes it easier to catch the pranksters because it's customized.
Or just a shotgun