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It doesn't seem like much of a threat at the margin, given how easy it is to get much more practical and effective weapons like firearms and automobiles. For a
by baddox 10y ago
It doesn't seem like much of a threat at the margin, given how easy it is to get much more practical and effective weapons like firearms and automobiles.
For a relatively sophisticated group that needs aerial reconnaissance, drones certainly slash costs, but for actual terrorist attacks on citizen targets I'm not particularly worried.
- glangdale 10y agoSure, there are already all sorts of ways for some fruitcake to attack and kill a number of civilians. However, what disturbs me about the citizen target scenario that it expands the scope (locations and timing) of what can be targeted and reduces the requirement that the attacker has to be willing to accept a near-certainty of death or capture during the attack. If someone wants to drive a truck through a farmers market or the like, it's pretty hard to stop them. What worries me is that this sort of technology allows that someone to instead to choose to attack something like a concert, public rally or political event with a greater symbolic significance despite a (2D) police perimeter, fences, bollards, etc. It may not increase the casualty risk but it may certainly increase the "theater" potential (which has traditionally been a big part of terrorism - witness the fixation of airports/airlines).
- cardiffspaceman 10y agoSpeaking of effective weapons, Tamil Tigers did aerial bombardment in the latter stages of their rebellion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6494121.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6494121.stm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tigers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tigers It is stated in the above that the LTTE forces smuggled small Czech planes in pieces.