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German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

arstechnica.com

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Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#11

Post by bsullivan01 »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #7

lol @ the countermeasures being high tech lasers. Spray them with water or vegetable oil. Water is easiest - just use a high pressure hose to knock them out of the sky / potentially break flight-critical components. Oil requires some special equipment but would presumably ruin the propellers/rotors.

>> Spray them with water or vegetable oil.

And what happens when the Prez, PM or Pope is at a rally and 10+ UAVs at the size of small birds start buzzing around? Remember, they are people around, even the sniper has to worry about what his bullet will hit next.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#12

Post by bsullivan01 »

stephengillie wrote: post #6
narfquat wrote: post #3

If Battlefield 3 has taught me anything, someone is going to strap a brick of C4 to one soon enough.

I know quadcopters are very sensitive to weight, and a 10oz (285g) quadcopter could probably not carry more than a 1oz (28g) payload. How destructive is 1oz (28g) of C4? I want to see the destructive potential of a quantity of C4 graphed against its weight.

Kinetic energy might be enough to do some serious harm. Or imagine putting a knife in front and via!

But they'll probably buy larger drones, take out some parts /weight and replace it with c4.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#13

Post by aspensmonster »

bsullivan01 wrote: post #11
plaguuuuuu wrote: post #7

lol @ the countermeasures being high tech lasers. Spray them with water or vegetable oil. Water is easiest - just use a high pressure hose to knock them out of the sky / potentially break flight-critical components. Oil requires some special equipment but would presumably ruin the propellers/rotors.

>> Spray them with water or vegetable oil. And what happens when the Prez, PM or Pope is at a rally and 10+ UAVs at the size of small birds start buzzing around? Remember, they are people around, even the sniper has to worry about what his bullet will hit next.

It's water. I think the people will be fine.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#15

Post by kirubakaran »

stephengillie wrote: post #6
narfquat wrote: post #3

If Battlefield 3 has taught me anything, someone is going to strap a brick of C4 to one soon enough.

I know quadcopters are very sensitive to weight, and a 10oz (285g) quadcopter could probably not carry more than a 1oz (28g) payload. How destructive is 1oz (28g) of C4? I want to see the destructive potential of a quantity of C4 graphed against its weight.

It could be carried by an African quadcopter.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#16

Post by cinquemb »

stephengillie wrote: post #9
HarryHirsch wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone (T.E. Lawrence?) said that beginners overestimate the amount of explosives needed to accomplish any given task. That said, a standard-issue hand grenade weighs something like 450 g, of which 150 g is explosives. The shrapnel travels out to 15 m. I think the verdict is that with 30 g of payload an assassin needs to aim really well.

So most of the destructive power of grenades comes from the shrapnel? (I'm remembering a photo of a grenade cut in half.) What would that 150g of explosives do without the shrapnel shell? How much shrapnel would a 285g quadcopter generate? What would be the effect of an external explosion on the lithium battery?

>What would that 150g of explosives do without the shrapnel shell?

Most likely lower the kill zone [0] http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-Ceramic-Diff-Balls-Si3N4-5-32...

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#17

Post by rurounijones »

aspensmonster wrote: post #13
bsullivan01 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Spray them with water or vegetable oil. And what happens when the Prez, PM or Pope is at a rally and 10+ UAVs at the size of small birds start buzzing around? Remember, they are people around, even the sniper has to worry about what his bullet will hit next.

It's water. I think the people will be fine.

Not trying to be purposefully antagonistic but water can cause some serious harm when fired out of a high-pressure hose (e.g. the types used in riot "control" situations).

Fly the drone low enough and you have people in the "firing" line.

EDIT - (although, I hope they would realise they do not need the same level of pressure to knock a drone out of the sky. On the other hand, they have the cannons anyway so they might just use those to save having to have a smaller "anti-drone" one.)

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#18

Post by richardw »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #7

lol @ the countermeasures being high tech lasers. Spray them with water or vegetable oil. Water is easiest - just use a high pressure hose to knock them out of the sky / potentially break flight-critical components. Oil requires some special equipment but would presumably ruin the propellers/rotors.

If I knew there were 100 veggie-oil cannons on a stadium ready to protect the populace, I'd join a kickstarter campaign to attack that stadium just to see what 100k people covered in oil looks like. I'm equally enthused by the idea of a fire engine following the Prez' car around, or by the Secret Service agents carrying two guns: an Uzi and a water pistol. I do suggest colouring the oil in red, white and blue just for a bit of extra pizzazz.

The future just got brighter!

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#19

Post by stephengillie »

bsullivan01 wrote: post #12
stephengillie wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know quadcopters are very sensitive to weight, and a 10oz (285g) quadcopter could probably not carry more than a 1oz (28g) payload. How destructive is 1oz (28g) of C4? I want to see the destructive potential of a quantity of C4 graphed against its weight.

Kinetic energy might be enough to do some serious harm. Or imagine putting a knife in front and via! But they'll probably buy larger drones, take out some parts /weight and replace it with c4.

I'd never thought of stabbing someone with a drone. How much pressure does it take to puncture the average human's skin? How fast can a quadcopter fly? How much does a steak knife weigh? We can build the future weapons of war...

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#20

Post by eigenvector »

> The drone was harmless, aside from potential political collateral damage to Merkel's Christian Democratic Party, and the pilot of the drone was released after being briefly held by police.

Can you imagine where this guy would be right now if he had attempted this near President Obama?

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