Anti-drone weapons in U.S. testing

[Acroduster]

British drone-freezing ray gets US airports trial - BBC News

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

This thing looks like an RF CIWS! They don't spell out exactly what frequency ranges it will jam, but they do say it has quad band antennas with an option for 5ghz as well, and it includes GPS jamming. Based on that vague information and the looks of those antennas, I'd say this thing jams 1.3ghz (including GPS), 2.4hz, 5.8ghz, 900mhz, and maybe even 433mhz. This is unlike the piece shit handheld thing that just does GPS and 2.4ghz. So as far as jamming devices go, this thing is probably the most effective of anything I've ever seen.

But the usual caveats that they never mention in the advertising or media still apply. How a UAV responds to the loss of GPS or loss of control link is a huge variable that cannot be controlled. The operators of this thing, or any other jamming device, must understand the potential consequences. They cannot know what the UAV will do once it's jammed. It could immediately land on whatever happens to arbitrarily be under it. It could cease navigation, hold altitude, and drift away with the wind. It could continue under power out of control and crash into whatever happens to be nearby. If the GPS doesn't get jammed, it could attempt to return home, or it could continue with an automated mission.

In my mind, those options are often worse than just letting it be and looking for the owner. It's safer in the sky under control than it is randomly crashing into whatever may be in the vicinity. And if it's being used for an actual attack with a bomb or CBR device, randomly crashing into something below it could be way worse than it's intended target.

 

[LAK-USA]

This thing looks like an RF CIWS! They don't spell out exactly what frequency ranges it will jam, but they do say it has quad band antennas with an option for 5ghz as well, and it includes GPS jamming. Based on that vague information and the looks of those antennas, I'd say this thing jams 1.3ghz (including GPS), 2.4hz, 5.8ghz, 900mhz, and maybe even 433mhz. This is unlike the piece shit handheld thing that just does GPS and 2.4ghz. So as far as jamming devices go, this thing is probably the most effective of anything I've ever seen.

But the usual caveats that they never mention in the advertising or media still apply. How a UAV responds to the loss of GPS or loss of control link is a huge variable that cannot be controlled. The operators of this thing, or any other jamming device, must understand the potential consequences. They cannot know what the UAV will do once it's jammed. It could immediately land on whatever happens to arbitrarily be under it. It could cease navigation, hold altitude, and drift away with the wind. It could continue under power out of control and crash into whatever happens to be nearby. If the GPS doesn't get jammed, it could attempt to return home, or it could continue with an automated mission.

In my mind, those options are often worse than just letting it be and looking for the owner. It's safer in the sky under control than it is randomly crashing into whatever may be in the vicinity. And if it's being used for an actual attack with a bomb or CBR device, randomly crashing into something below it could be way worse than it's intended target.

All salient points P2P, but we still need to explore the capabilities of these (and other) devices. Like it or not the testing will continue.