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Venezuela President Maduro 'survives drone attack'
- malloryerik 8y agoCan drones be stopped? They have the potential to wage campaigns of automated political violence. I see companies trying to protect against them, like Dedrone [1] -- how effective are these? I imagine most here have seen it, but if not, you must see the slaughterbots video. [2] [1] https://www.dedrone.com/ https://www.dedrone.com/ [2] https://youtu.be/9CO6M2HsoIA https://youtu.be/9CO6M2HsoIA
- mrlatinos 8y agoThese drones were stopped by snipers, so yes.
- nowarninglabel 8y agoDo you have some verifiable information on that? The government narrative is it was a drone attack, but there doesn't seem to be any footage to show that. Has anything been released to verify the attack as being from drones?
- malloryerik 8y agoEven if not real, half of the people at HN could probably pull off the real thing or far worse -- fortunately the good people here are mainly rational and peaceful, but the rest of humanity isn't always so. I can't help but feel that some nasty bottle has just been uncorked.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- everdev 8y agoThe article says an unknown group called "Soldiers in Tshirts" claimed responsibility and said that army snipers shot down the drones. But, the group didn't respond to interview requests and firefighters at the scene said it was a gas tank explosion at an apartment building. The burn marks on the building look like a few stories tall and a few apartments wide. If it was an aerial explosion is seemed like a pretty big one.
- anonymfus 8y agoIs it possible that drone explosion caused gas tank explosion?
- rfDetection 8y agoUsing radio spectrum detection methods is probably effective against the script kiddies of the drone world, but to sell the idea that this could defend motivated, funded attackers, operating with murderous intent, feels like The Illusion of Safety and a heaping spoonful of snake oil at best. Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones they bought off the shelf at Best Buy. Or, I mean maybe they will be in the picture but as decoys, why not? The point being, that obviously a kamikaze DJI drone is some simple simon nonsense, and I would not bet my life on a team of corporate product managers selling some agile/scrum developed MVP product line that relies on sniffing for consumer band radio telemetry.
- jonathankoren 8y ago> Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones they bought off the shelf at Best Buy. ISIS was using DJI drones[0] effectively[1][3]. There’s even been drone swarms using commercial drones in Ukraine.[2]. Even well funded armies like the IDF are using these things.[4] Weaponizing hobby drones has been happening for a long time now. [0] https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb9wmb/isis-will-no-longer-be-able-to-use-dji-drones-as-weapons-in-most-of-iraq-and-syria https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb9wmb/isis-will-no-long... [1] (content warning: the propaganda video linked to i this article shows a death.) https://www.funker530.com/abrams-tank-commander/ https://www.funker530.com/abrams-tank-commander/ [2] https://globalnews.ca/news/4236518/the-new-drone-warfare/ https://globalnews.ca/news/4236518/the-new-drone-warfare/ [3] https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/uas/2018/01/05/how-650-drones-are-creating-problems-in-iraq-and-syria/ https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/uas/2018/01/05/how-650-dro... [4] https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/06/18/first-isis-iraq-now-israel-idf-use-commercial-drones/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/06/18/first-isis-i...
- nasredin 8y agoAnother way drones are weaponized is for information warfare, e.g. ISIS propaganda showing their SVBIED attacks.
- mikec3010 8y ago> Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones if you precalculated its path, you could probably navigate by inertial methods using gyros/accelerometers allowing you to be completely dark in the RF spectrum.
- kornish 8y agoThere are a few companies working on drone detection and anti-drone technology. I believe Black Sage ([1], based in Boise) provides protection tech for military applications and for venues like sports stadiums. [1]: https://www.blacksagetech.com/ https://www.blacksagetech.com/
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- everdev 8y agoEMP blast, nets, lasers, signal jamming - there are a few ideas but nothing full proof. I've heard of multiple people just shooting then down if they trespass, so there's always guns. I can't remember the article but I saw on HN a story where law enforcement triangulated a drone operator who was doing something criminal like smuggling. I'm sure that would be just as beneficial for deterrence if the operator knew they would be found.
- jonathankoren 8y agoSerious question: Has there ever been an actual weaponized EMP on any scale? I’ve never heard of one, and there seems to be real doubt among nuclear arms control experts that this is likely or even possible in a practical sense. https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-overrated-threat-from-electromagnetic-pulses-46e92c3efeb9 https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-overrated-threat-from-e...
- everdev 8y agoNot that I know of, just ideas at this point.
- A2017U1 8y agoI've seen a few companies not just signal jamming, but actually hijacking the radio signal to take full control of the drone. Still plenty of consumer models have full autonomous modes guided by gps, so I guess that's got to be part of the mix too.
- dingo_bat 8y agoI think just the act of detonating a nuke sets off an EMP. However all electronics getting fried just before the entire city is incinerated ranks pretty low on the priority list.
- jonathankoren 8y agoWell that's kind of the thing right? Once you launch your ICBM, the fate of your cities are already sealed. On top of that, the effects seem to be highly variable. From a practical point of view, you might as well just use them in a traditional manner.
- dingo_bat 8y agoI am assuming you are talking about countering drones in a civilian, non-war setting. Because drones are no use in a war against any nation with any semblance of an air force at all.
- anoncoward111 8y agoUmmm all sides have been using quadcopters and RC planes in the Syrian Civil War for years now
- dingo_bat 8y agoIt's a civil war in a "shithole" country. I'm talking about proper battle with a capable air force enabled enemy.
- anoncoward111 8y agoThe Syrian Air Force has multiple Russian fighter jets. All sides have anti air craft capability. If you weren't so polemic, you would be able to understand that quadcopters are a cost efficient and highly effective form factor.
- jonathankoren 8y agoI think of Sebastian Junger's observation about the war in Afghanistan: "Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it's fired by a guy who doesn't make that in a year at a guy who doesn't make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable."
- anoncoward111 8y agoVery very pithy and revealing info you have provided above. Of course, the rocket is forcibly billed to the US taxpayer because of corporate lobbying and the demands of shareholders and politicians alike. At this point, I would almost rather us be forcibly billed the $80,000, and just let the missiles rot. They provide negative value to this Earth when used.
- jokoon 8y agoWhat a doom and gloom-ish video. I understand that AI is a powerful technology that can be misused, but so just like all other technologies. This is plain FUD, using popular science fictional dystopia to send some kind of political message. It's trying to appeal to the lower intelligence of people to pretend something bad can happen. In the end, the military will work on those kinds of techs even if the public doesn't like it.
- mxuribe 8y agoHikvision makes a "rifle" product that jams drones (unmanned aerial vehicles). See http://en.hikrobotics.com/uav/uavinfo.htm?type=18&oid=513 http://en.hikrobotics.com/uav/uavinfo.htm?type=18&oid=513 Hikvision also sells the drones, and a bunch of other accessories. Scroll down to page 9 of the following PDF: http://oversea-download.hikvision.com/uploadfile/Leaflet/Brochure/3-Product%20Brochure/UAV.pdf http://oversea-download.hikvision.com/uploadfile/Leaflet/Bro... I was able to get invited to hikvision's main product showcase/"museum" in China to see all the products that they make - including the above referenced drone jammer...And they do some pretty awesome (and scary!) stuff. I'm sure there are plenty other companies throughout the world which produce similar drone jammer products too. (Its just that this jammer, i actually saw in person.)
- abdulhaq 8y agoThe soldiers were probably not carrying live rounds and taking cover was the right thing to do.
- jonathankoren 8y agoDid this even happen? Initial reports were that firefighters on the scene were disputing that a drone attack even happened, but rather a gas tank exploded in a kitchen in a building across the street. (You can see the building in the above link.) See at the 7:10 reporting mark in https://apnews.com/db760dac560840309cd320648ba12c9a https://apnews.com/db760dac560840309cd320648ba12c9a Also, there was a report that journalists were arrested immediately after the explosion. Which seems rather odd. https://twitter.com/jake_hanrahan/status/1025905621646929920?s=21 https://twitter.com/jake_hanrahan/status/1025905621646929920...
- tim333 8y agoI guess it could end up being like the Turkish 'coup attempt' where it's mostly used as an excuse to arrest a lot of people.
- dredmorbius 8y agoThe confusion, uncertainty, deeniability, and allegations possible make such attacks, or claims of them, particularly destabilising. The root of "war" is the German verwirren: "to confuse, perplex"), from PIE wers- (1) "to confuse, mix up". Cognates suggest the original sense was "to bring into confusion."* https://www.etymonline.com/word/war https://www.etymonline.com/word/war Mission accomplished.
- stan_rogers 8y agoNo, verwirren comes from the same root, it's not the source of war. Your statement is the etymological equivalent of saying that humans descended from modern chimpanzees.
- booleandilemma 8y agoThis is what I heard from a friend who is in Venezuela. Your comment is only the 2nd time where I’ve seen mention of the firefighters. Here in the US all the major newspapers (nyt, wsj, wapo) are going with drone attack because it’s the official statement from the Venezuelan government, but they’re not even mentioning the firefighters, from what I’ve seen. What’s the real story here?
- davidgrenier 8y agoI'm on Chrome 68, how do I prevent bbc.com from playing videos automatically? Thanks.
- Markoff 8y agosettings/site settings/media/autoplay
- kpil 8y agoSeems to be a fair amount of desinformation going on. Why does the soldier in the right part of the picture fall, seemingly handlessly? I'm pretty sure gas explosions in a nearby house don't do that.
- sthgrau 8y agoSince we can't see to the soldier's left, it could just as easily be another person nudged him trying to get a better view of what happened.
- jonathankoren 8y agoThere's no point to that type of speculation. Maybe got pushed. Maybe he fainted. I was at a concert a couple of weeks ago, and the guy standing in front of me just suddenly fell over backwards unconscious. Things happen. You can't tell from either angle I've seen.
- hkai 8y agoThat's a bummer and a sad day for Venezuelans.
- whistlecrackers 8y agoIt is -- hope they get him next time.
- dang 8y agoPolitical flamewar will get you banned here. Please don't post like this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- zyxzevn 8y agoThe media dramatically misinforms us about Venezuela: https://youtu.be/_fV-C1Ag5sI https://youtu.be/_fV-C1Ag5sI And calls for war with "humour". I must be old, but it looks similar to me as the "humour" that Germany had before invading Poland.
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- nonbel 8y agoI was interested in whatever his point was, and I can see why including some video from the show is helpful since thats whats being referenced. However, it just takes too long for video to convey the info. Just not the right format to keep my attention. EDIT: And no, adding more "excitement" to the video is not going to help
- lozenge 8y agoYouTube pays more for longer videos, hence the format of making a point repeatedly and only adding new information as rarely as possible during the video.
- nonbel 8y agoThis is very relevant, thanks.
- peterlk 8y agoWhat would the right format be? There's a lot of information in there, and I think one of the things that the video does well is expanding out soundbites
- nonbel 8y agoBasically the format of a scholarly article with summary, intro/background, evidence (+ methods), interpretation, authors conclusion. The videos under discussion here would be part of "evidence". I need to be able to skip around to see if there is something there to pique my interest. Having to wait through the video to even find out what exactly this will be about is just too slow so I closed it.