4 ms·

If they can't shut this down in ~2 hours, MOD/IC signals services should be fired. You can go for kinetic kills against the drone (shotgun if low, something mo

by rdl 8y ago

If they can't shut this down in ~2 hours, MOD/IC signals services should be fired. You can go for kinetic kills against the drone (shotgun if low, something more expensive if it's larger/higher), but should be able to find/fix/finish the transmitter fairly easily with equipment I'd hope national-level police would have, but certainly could get from the military (along with operators) in something of this severity. Plus the full range of commercial anti-drone companies, some of which are based in Europe (a couple in UK I think).

gambiting 8y ago
Unless, of course, the drone had a pre-programmed flight path. Then there is no signal to track. You'd need to find out where it landed, probably by scanning through every possible CCTV camera in the area(which no doubt the Police are doing).
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Exactly. I seriously doubt there is some guy standing at the airport fence with a handheld controller. This thing has GPS coordinates programmed in advance.
cstross 8y ago
Per other news reports, kinetic kills were ruled out because of unacceptable risk of bullets/shells hitting something they shouldn't — the whole of South-East England is populated at a density that Americans would call suburbia. (All of England is only one and a half times as large as Greater Los Angeles County: lots of small towns, villages, and homes in the vicinity of Gatwick.) I'm surprised they don't have specialist anti-drone transmitters, but as Police spending in England and Wales has been cut by over 30% since 2010, maybe it wasn't seen as a priority. Tracking down the operators should be possible, but this looks like a well-planned attempt to shut down the airport: whoever is behind it probably planned to move around in order to evade the Airport Police.
- deadbunny 8y ago
  > whoever is behind it probably planned to move around in order to evade the Airport Police. If it were me and I wasn't using a preprogrammed route I'd just set up a transceiver that either replays or relays controls. Hide it in a bush and be on the other side of the country while everything is going off.
  - swarnie_ 8y ago
    Welcome to MI5's watch list.
    - deadbunny 8y ago
      I hope they enjoy watching me commit atrocities in Rimworld.
      - rdl 8y ago
        Making hats is illegal in the UK?
  - 7952 8y ago
    Or use a cell phone radio and send data over the internet.
- tim333 8y ago
  There's a lot of clay pigeon shooting in England. I think the shot looses too much velocity to do much damage on the way back down. It could work ok if the drones were below say 300 ft.
  - rdl 8y ago
    I'd be fairly comfortable using #7 or so birdshot in a suburban environment in limited quantity if people were evacuated or indoors (risking property damage is much better than injury or death). It won't break skin at 100-150 yards. I assume you'd either shoot from the ground or, if it's out of that range, from a helicopter. Actually pretty curious about shotgun-vs-drone best practice, now. Most of the shotgun data I have is for horizontal ranges. This might be a good way to use up some cheap drones out in the desert next time. The other question is how much damage various kinds of shot with various levels of energy will do to different drones.

by rdl 8y ago

gambiting 8y ago

Unless, of course, the drone had a pre-programmed flight path. Then there is no signal to track. You'd need to find out where it landed, probably by scanning through every possible CCTV camera in the area(which no doubt the Police are doing).

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
Exactly. I seriously doubt there is some guy standing at the airport fence with a handheld controller. This thing has GPS coordinates programmed in advance.

cstross 8y ago

Per other news reports, kinetic kills were ruled out because of unacceptable risk of bullets/shells hitting something they shouldn't — the whole of South-East England is populated at a density that Americans would call suburbia. (All of England is only one and a half times as large as Greater Los Angeles County: lots of small towns, villages, and homes in the vicinity of Gatwick.) I'm surprised they don't have specialist anti-drone transmitters, but as Police spending in England and Wales has been cut by over 30% since 2010, maybe it wasn't seen as a priority. Tracking down the operators should be possible, but this looks like a well-planned attempt to shut down the airport: whoever is behind it probably planned to move around in order to evade the Airport Police.

deadbunny 8y ago
> whoever is behind it probably planned to move around in order to evade the Airport Police. If it were me and I wasn't using a preprogrammed route I'd just set up a transceiver that either replays or relays controls. Hide it in a bush and be on the other side of the country while everything is going off.
- swarnie_ 8y ago
  Welcome to MI5's watch list.
  - deadbunny 8y ago
    I hope they enjoy watching me commit atrocities in Rimworld.
    - rdl 8y ago
      Making hats is illegal in the UK?
- 7952 8y ago
  Or use a cell phone radio and send data over the internet.
tim333 8y ago
There's a lot of clay pigeon shooting in England. I think the shot looses too much velocity to do much damage on the way back down. It could work ok if the drones were below say 300 ft.
- rdl 8y ago
  I'd be fairly comfortable using #7 or so birdshot in a suburban environment in limited quantity if people were evacuated or indoors (risking property damage is much better than injury or death). It won't break skin at 100-150 yards. I assume you'd either shoot from the ground or, if it's out of that range, from a helicopter. Actually pretty curious about shotgun-vs-drone best practice, now. Most of the shotgun data I have is for horizontal ranges. This might be a good way to use up some cheap drones out in the desert next time. The other question is how much damage various kinds of shot with various levels of energy will do to different drones.