Fact is overtaking fiction but perhaps not yet in the way indicated by the title of this subject. I wondered just how long it would be before some group with a political, cultural or religeous ‘axe to grind’ married together a large model aircraft with a radio transmitter and a few ounces of a suitable explosive capable of being remotely detonated – after all, we in the West are using battlefield drones with considerable success.
Lo and behold, my newspaper to-day tells me that Amazon are developing a drone delivery system called Prime Air. These drones will be able to deliver a package weighing up to five pounds from any Amazon distribution center to the GPS co-ordinates of the delivery address.
Parcels weighing up to five pounds form around 80 percent of Amazon business. So, it looks as though they could be onto something here.
The point that arises from the first paragraph is how exactly do we put in place security measures of a kind that are accurate and comprehensive enough to deal with this potential and somewhat realistic threat ?
By: John Green - 5th December 2013 at 14:33
Is this the ultimate ‘doomsday’ threat ? In terms of the lack of an effective defence this appears to be the equivalent of an unstoppable undersea launched missile/s. All, for the cost of a bag of peanuts.
By: Paul F - 5th December 2013 at 13:36
And forget the potential damage caused by say 3 – 4 Kg of explosive – why not replace the payload with spores/living culture of some unpleasant, communicable, disease, and then fly back and forth over a major connurbation letting the disease dribble out slowly to be further dispersed over the area by the wind…..
By the time the symptoms/effects are identifiable as being down to a common source, and/or due to deliberate ‘contamination’, the drone and operator could be long gone……
And beign small, and flown at low altitudes, they would probably be hard to track by radar etc.
So, a few “independent” GPS controlled drones with an “unpleasent” cargo, no obvious means of jamming them given lack of a remote control signal, and probably largely unnoticed too if they were flown at night. Hard to spot, hard to track, hard to stop.
Thats a pretty scary thought….
Paul F
By: John Green - 4th December 2013 at 20:25
Skyskooter
Excellent reply. Knowledgeable and comprehensive. You filled in the gaps.
By: charliehunt - 4th December 2013 at 11:53
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?127771-Amazon-quot-Octocopter-quot-delivery-drones
By: skyskooter - 3rd December 2013 at 22:19
As a lifelong ardent modeller I have wondered the same thing for years now. There was once an episode of The Man from Uncle where a radio controlled model aircraft was used as a weapon. Fanciful perhaps but technically possible. When was that?
Consider this. Modern radio control is absolutely reliable. It works on 2.4 Ghz. transmitting randomly on any two frequencies out of a possible eighty which gives a potential 6,400 combinations. If it detects interference it automatically changes to another two frequencies. The receiver is bound to the transmitter and always picks up the signalled frequency no matter how it changes as long as it stays in range. Range is difficult to quantify but is generally reckoned to be the limit of sight. A new development is called First Person View. Here the model carries a tiny camera capable of transmitting a video image to a headset worn by the pilot. Other systems are able to relay telemetry data on airspeed, altitude and GPS data back to the pilot’s transmitter which his assistant can read from a screen although artificial voice prompts are now coming in.
Model stability can be assured by a variety of in flight systems. There are gyro, infra-red and inertial guidance systems available. The plane is literally fly-by-wire and is capable of holding all three axes barring inputs from the pilot.
The motor of choice is now the electric brushless out-runner powered by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery. It sounds like a Dyson in the air but quietens down with distance and altitude.
Today’s model aircraft is a far cry from yesteryear’s stick and tissue plane with a noisy diesel engine up front and a touchy hard valve radio. In the wrong hands it could be a formidable weapon. Beware.
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December 3, 2013 at 8:27 pm