World wide ban on drones?

[harryopal1]

It has amazed me that drones can be bought and sold so easily. It seemed to me just a matter of time before some lunatic or terrorist plugged a bit of Semtex and flew one into the path of an incoming or outgoing aircraft or used one as an assassination device at a rally. And now I see news today of an attempt to assassinate the President of Venezuela using explosive laden drones.

General licensing of drones would probably prove to be about as useful as licencing guns in America. The only possible manner of control would be to have them used under very strict laws and special purpose activities such as the CIA using them for wiping out people.

Mind you, I have long wondered why radio controlled model aircraft haven't been used for nefarious purposes.

 

[R Cameron]

I hadn't seen the news yet about the attempt against President Maduro, it's certainly an interesting problem to deal with. Fortunately, drones are very loud and have a very small payload capacity, so getting a deadly explosive near a major political figure would likely be quite difficult. I remember reading about the US presidential motorcade has a vehicle that jams all radio in the immediate vicinity to neutralize potential cellular/radio activated weapons, and I wouldn't be surprised if they also used the same technology when the president makes appearances in certain outdoor locations.

 

[vocalneal]

My son is building a drone in Canada for archaeological surveying. He tells me any drone in Canada heavier than 250g must comply with Canadian aeronautic regulations. Whatever they are? I would suspect registration with a declaration of intended use?

 

[snpark]

If some one really wants to do something, nothing is going to stop them anyway regardless

Who is to the say the next "trend" is not a rogue Apache pilot who suddenly decides to fly off and shot his load somewhere important?
Kind of like a Manchurian candidate pilot / sleeper cell etc etc

We all die eventually, so as long as it's quick and painless I try not to worry about hijack, car crash, mall bombs etc as I am probably going to do from a heart attack or malaria anyway and not from some C5

Or be like Steve Irwin, spend your life kissing poisonous snakes and then get drilled by a damn fish of all things

 

[jstar]

Since the original post the drones have become a huge thing. Of course the wars …. eh military operations in Ukraine and Iran play a big role but in Europe for instance, the presence of unidentified drones at airports and military installations has become a major issue. Probably launched from ships in the Russian shadow fleet.

Now help is coming from Australia. Anti-drone weapons are made there that the whole world wants. The company's stock price rose steeply by 400% last year and the firm has now established a European HQ in the Netherlands.

Director Angus Bean of DroneShield did not dare to dream 12 years ago that he would one day make the crossing from Sydney to Amsterdam. Then he worked at an Australian research office and experimented with two other, young technicians for the first time with drones that they wanted to send into the mines for reconnaissance flights. This way, no more people had to descend to do this dangerous work.

They tried everything to get drones to avoid obstacles independently and they succeeded. „My colleague beat wildly around, but the drone went around his arms like a bat. Then I knew: if we can get this done in a few days with this cheap stuff, then armies and security services really have a new worry.”

For years, almost no one believed in DroneShield's story that soldiers had to prepare for a completely different battlefield. Drones were not the problem in the eyes of commanders. They were especially concerned about new tanks and rockets. How different the world has looked since the war in Ukraine. Drones are not a side issue, but a main thing to be decisive in the fight. The highest generals in the Dutch army also realize this. This week, a completely new drone unit will even be established at the army.

Soldiers will be allowed to buy new stuff for tens of millions of euros in the coming years and it is no coincidence that DroneShield is opening an office in the Netherlands right now. The company hopes to attract a large part of those orders.

Also from other countries, by the way. Since the incidents with mysterious drones at airports across Europe, NATO has announced that it wants to set up a drone wall along the entire eastern border with Russia.

DroneShield can certainly help with that, the Australians think. In the Amsterdam office, Bean shows how. For example, patrolling soldiers carry a small device in their chest pocket, which warns them if there are drones nearby. A comrade then grabs a weapon that does not fire bullets, but can disturb the drone with radio waves. Similar, larger systems can be set up at command posts, barracks or around air bases.

Source: compilation multiple newspapers