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Pentagon Confronts a New Threat from ISIS: Exploding Drones
- ryoshu 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Decision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Decision - modern warfare
- caffeinewriter 10y agoI've been meaning to read Kill Decision for quite some time. Daniel Suarez has some really unique perspectives using near-future fiction. Daemon and Freedom™ were fascinating glimpses into the potential of the future of modern day technology.
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoKill Decision was fantastic. Not as good as the Daemon series in my opinion but anyone who liked that series will not be disappointed with Kill Decision.
- remarkEon 10y agoKill Decision is great. Another great near-future fiction about how modern warfare might evolve is Ghost Fleet. Fast read, and highly interesting - if a bit frightening. https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/0544142845 https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/05441...
- azinman2 10y agoIt was only a short matter of time... Now imagine what happens when drones with explosives/guns/chemical weapons start flying into sports stadiums, concert halls, etc in unpredictable swarms.
- dogma1138 10y agoYou had RC planes and helicopters for well ever, quads are no different.
- CoryG89 10y agoI've not seen very many cheap RC planes or helicopters large enough to carry a significant brick of C4.
- dogma1138 10y agoYou haven't looked hard enough, also a brick of C4 wouldn't do nearly as much damage as you would think. A cheap 100-200$ RC plane can carry 1-2kg if pushed which is considerably more than any drone at that price range. In fact older RCs could carry more since they were still petrol based newer electrical ones tend to have considerably less power on average.
- flukus 10y ago> You haven't looked hard enough, also a brick of C4 wouldn't do nearly as much damage as you would think. Does it have to? It's main job in these scenarios is as a high speed shrapnel dispersal device.
- dogma1138 10y agoNot effective in open environments, you need a lot of explosives. Suicide vests contain about 12kg of explosives usually and even they are only exceptionally effective in highly enclosed environments.
- flukus 10y agoBut suicide vests have very limited (by bodies) lines of sight to their target that they have to try and punch through don't they?
- cyberferret 10y ago
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- BinaryIdiot 10y agoI can't say I'm surprised I'm only shocked they didn't really prepare for the eventuality. A small vehicle that can travel in 3 dimensions can easily carry explosives and other weaponery. It's only a matter of time before this is common place and with the ability to throw a drone out of your backpack and send it flying it's going to get worse. I always remember FPSRussia's drone [1] and I'm surprised they haven't made these in mass over there. [1] https://youtu.be/SNPJMk2fgJU https://youtu.be/SNPJMk2fgJU
- TaylorAlexander 10y agoFYI, FPSRussia is produced by Americans in America. The Russian thing is a gag. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPSRussia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPSRussia
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoYup! He's so over the top I had a feeling he wasn't really Russian. Still entertained on the off chance I pass by a video of his. Watching a video of him without the accent is so weird.
- mintplant 10y agoReminds me of the V-1 "flying bomb" used by the Nazis in World War II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb
- zengid 10y ago>>>I always remember FPSRussia's drone [1] and I'm surprised they haven't made these in mass over there. Looks like it's CGI.
- mentos 10y agoReminds me of the movie 'The Jackal' I really hope we don't over correct out of fear because drones will be a net positive for society.
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- microcolonel 10y agoThat long range beam forming microwave weapon (DEW?) they were working on could probably do the trick. It'll be a pain to have to monitor for this crap though.
- Spooky23 10y agoNo need. There are automated machine guns that use microphones to automatically do counter-sniper fire. I'd imagine a platform like that will emerge to counter this threat.
- microcolonel 10y agoThe problem is with missing all the time. With the DEW, your ordinance intercepts at the speed of light, and covers lots of area down range. With machine guns, you have a 1/many chance of hitting the thing any given second.
- nojvek 10y agoAfter reading "unmanned: illusion of perfect war", it seems American military has more drones than all countries combined. American drones have killed quite a lot of civilians. While I don't like war, it was about time someone gave US a taste of their own curry.
- M_Grey 10y agoIt's one of those things that outrages everyone, until they get the same capability, and then is utterly adopted. We do a lot of things wrong, mostly to do with overuse of our assets, but there is nothing inherently wrong with drones. Our policy of using them so freely on the other hand...
- cyberferret 10y agoOr, to flip the viewpoint around 180, "Drone strikes are a safe, low risk, low cost and legitimate method of snuffing out the lives of people we believe and supporting, funding, training, or harbouring people who mean to do us harm with absolute impunity and no consideration for the justice system." ...until the 'other guys' start doing the same. Then it becomes a heinous, unfair act of terror.
- M_Grey 10y agoExactly... perspective dominates all.
- grandalf 10y agoIt's just a slightly more high-tech version of terrorism...
- rebootthesystem 10y agoBefore I ask the question: I am not arguing with or criticizing you. I am not taking sides. I am genuinely interested in answers to my question. I am not myself sure what that answer could be. Killing anyone is horrible. We should be past these kinds of behaviors as a species. That said, here's the question: How would you approach eliminating terrorists, terrorist training camps, terrorist strongholds and terrorist leaders with zero collateral damage? Of course, knowing full well that the collateral damage is split between terrorist supporters and absolutely innocent people. Remember, these are the very people who not only want to but have killed thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands innocent civilians throughout the world. If they could detonate a massive bomb in the middle of a stadium full with 50,000 people, they would. In other words, they are coming to kill you, your family, friends and loved ones. What do you do? In many ways it's the old "If you could save a thousand lives by taking one, would you?" I've heard opinions ranging from "just get out of the middle east and let them rot in hell" to "one nuke, one time and it's over". Not sure what the answer is. Always interested in hearing what others might thing the solution could be.
- logicallee 10y agoPeople, this is so much bigger an issue than anyone is giving it credit for. This is huge. Without exception every American three letter agency, and others, are completely dropping the ball by not giving this faaaaaaaaaaar more weight than anyone is giving it. Literally there is this tiny little wall, it looks like this >< and it's like 0.5 mm wide, and the only thing separating one side from the other (safety versus a complete disaster) is the fact that it takes some intelligence to play with drones and terrorists are by definition dumb (since it means they have not even understood enlightenment philosophy, that you can disagree with someone but defend to the death their right to say or believe differently from you - a 250-300 year old advancement in civilization.) That's it. This is not a wall that you can count on remaining up, as drones become turnkey easy to use automated solutions. Agencies need to act on this now because they will not be able to put the genie back in the bottle. This is really, really serious. EDIT: I've been downvoted, but I don't think drone software has any backdoors, safeguards, or even registration requirements, and I don't think drone manufacturers even vaguely consider that they might be making what could be part of munitions, or give a second thought to completing an order to a war zone or to anyone, except of course unless there is some kind of general embargo or difficulty (that applies to every class of products.) I think it's being left too free, to be honest, and the possibilities that will unfold naturally are not going to be well. I strongly advise agencies to put in the necessary legal and technical safeguards today, not when it is too late. Other posters point out that this stuff might apply "just as well" to model airplanes -- but I personally don't think this is true at all. A model airplane won't fly to a specific user-supplied location unattended. it's a different beast entirely and it's not being handled with enough seriousness, in my personal opinion. I don't know that much about drones though. (Just flew a small cheap model helicopter toy, like a $20 one. I'm basing this based on general reading.) I stand by my comment.
- atarian 10y agoSo the elephant in the room.. what steps will governments take to prevent a domestic attack?
- noonespecial 10y agoThere's already a small, really fast drone that's just packed with explosives in wide use today. They do suck at steering though. Of course its an RPG.
- ChuckMcM 10y agoIt has been obvious to some for years that small quad/hexa-copters with POV capability is the hellfire missile of an insurgency. We've talked about it here on HN lots of times. However, as it is true with many ideas, there is the idea and there is the execution of that idea. Now that there are confirmed uses of this sort of system in the field I expect much more energy in finding ways to mitigate them. On the plus side it is easier to destroy/disable a drone than root out a sniper's nest, on the down side it is really hard to defend soft targets from pop-up deployments of them.
- mordant 10y agoAnother term for 'exploding drones' is 'cruise missiles'.
- doe88 10y agoJust recently 2 french special forces commandos and their local handlers have also been targeted by this new kind of attack [1] (in french). [1] http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/10/11/irak-deux-commandos-francais-gravement-blesses-a-erbil-par-un-drone-piege_5011751_3218.html?xtmc=irak&xtcr=1 http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/10/11/irak-...