And so it begins...

[Acroduster]

This is something I realized was a possibility some time ago. This is probably one of those "when, not if" situations:

Will ISIS Launch a Mass Drone Attack on a Stadium?

 

[SteveReno]

I'm Guessing that the US, has several contingencies for this type of attack.
The question is, will they know when/where? I'm also guessing @ the white House, there a "Kill switch" that will stop any piloted or GPS'ed flights near it.

 

[Steve K]

I take exception to one part of this article. The San Bernadino attackers were not Lobos. The premise of the article is good though.
The terrorists had better well remember to defeat the RTH/RTL function of their GPS assisted drones for obvious reasons though. The ability of our govt's to trigger RTH/RTL could be a coup in our favor.
I think the govt will soon have the ability and legal authority to take control of these drones en masse. We all know freedom of expression does not apply over the airwaves.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

"A consumer hobbyist drone can carry the equivalent of a pipe bomb, with the equivalent of five to ten kilograms of TNT"

5-10 kg payload? From what I can tell, the vast majority of "consumer hobbyist drones" are lucky if they can carry even just 1 additional kilogram.

Solo uses one of the more powerful engines and it can only lift about a half kilogram (420g) right?

DJI P3Pro can only lift about 300 grams of additional payload.

Not to dismiss concerns about anyone using drones in a terrorist attack, but the hyperbole on some of these 'reports' doesn't help in having a reasonable conversation about drone safety.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

OK, it took some searching, but I found at least one "consumer hobbyist drone" (TurboAce Infinity 9Pro Octocopter) that can carry a 5-10 kg payload... but at nearly $15k that's hardly your typical consumer hobbyist drone.

 

[Cosber]

Didn't you watch tv show Scorpion last Monday? All we need is a homemade electronic gun and we can shoot them down with no problem.

 

[Acroduster]

Note that it says equivalent. The explosives used today are much more powerful than TNT, but many times the newsies will convert it to a TNT equivalent to get an apples-to-apples comparison with other explosive devices. For instance, you'll see fissile devices quoting as having an equivalent TNT power, even though they don't use any TNT. The payload is likely to be in the range of 1/2 to 3 pounds.

 

[Acroduster]

Also, for stadium use, only a small part of that weight need be explosive. The rest could be shot - it would inflict much tissue damage over a wider area.