Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

El Paso TFR

The article title "Staggering Incompetence" suits this perfectly. One incident can be a fluke, two indicates a trend. As Raf Sierra said on AVBrief, when different departments of our government start shooting down each other's drones, we have a serious problem.
 
MRC01 said:
The article title "Staggering Incompetence" suits this perfectly. One incident can be a fluke, two indicates a trend. As Raf Sierra said on AVBrief, when different departments of our government start shooting down each other's drones, we have a serious problem.
Click to expand...
Better that they shoot down another agency's drone than GA aircraft.
 
MRC01 said:
The article title "Staggering Incompetence" suits this perfectly. One incident can be a fluke, two indicates a trend. As Raf Sierra said on AVBrief, when different departments of our government start shooting down each other's drones, we have a serious problem.
Click to expand...
Checks and balances...
 
A little more info:


avweb.com

Military Downs Customs and Border Protection Drone

Second military high-energy laser incident against a drone in Texas this month prompts renewed scrutiny from lawmakers.
avweb.com avweb.com


And the spin:

“The bottom line is the Trump Administration is doing more to secure the border and crack down on cartels than any administration in history,”
 
Last edited:
Back in the 20th century, when I was in the WWIII combat mission planning business, we spent a lot of time and effort making sure the Army wouldn't shoot down the Air Force's planes in the FEBA. Seems like all that has been forgotten. It's like internecine warfare between DHS and DoD, and the place where those two chains of command meet is the White House. Somebody in that building need to fix this tout de suite.
 
It's kind of expected when you fire everyone who knows how to do stuff.
 
Competence knows neither race nor gender. Neither does incompetence. But as for the events under discussion, to quote Strother Martin's character in Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." And that failure is at the highest level of our government's Executive Branch, currently occupied by a bunch of white men.
 
Last edited:
Agreed.
 
There were posts deleted from this thread today but they were not the result of moderation. Instead, two of us voluntarily decided to remove several of our posts.
 

Senator Raises Safety Concerns Over Anti-Drone Laser System​

avweb.com

Senator Raises Safety Concerns Over Anti-Drone Laser System

Recent incidents near Texas prompt questions about coordination between federal agencies and aviation safety.
avweb.com avweb.com

www.yahoo.com

US must address issues with anti-drone laser system, senator says

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee said on Thursday that recent incidents involving the government use of a laser-based anti-drone system in Texas put
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

And meanwhile, and other laser news...

www.famouscampaigns.com

Corona introduces laser-etched limes to perfect bottle ritual

Corona has launched ‘Lime Guides’, a global campaign developed by Grey London that uses laser-etched limes to help drinkers slice the perfect wedge for the brand’s signature bottle ritual. Timed to launch on International Lime Day (yes this exists), the idea addresses a familiar frustration for...
www.famouscampaigns.com www.famouscampaigns.com
 
I'll drink to that! (The laser lime part).

Fun fact- the first time I ever got "paid" for a variety arts act (that turned into a part-time career for a dozen years), my payment was a shot of tequila and a lime wedge. Even funner fact was that I wasn't of drinking age, but was served anyway. I guess it would have been a bad look to bring the bartender onstage to card me.
 
Since drones have become such a potent weapon, guys in power want to deploy lasers to protect themselves.

This article is probably paywalled, but I'll add some text to give the gist of it:


Pentagon Weighs Using Anti-Drone Lasers in Washington Airspace​

Sightings of drones around Fort McNair, the Army base where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio live, have prompted consideration of deploying the new technology.
 
I think lasers are the only practical anti-drone weapon in and around populated areas unless explosive anti-drone armaments can be made to fracture into very small pieces, and to explode even if they miss. Even then, debris from the attacked drones raining down could be a hazard. The only other thing that might be acceptable would be a short-range shotgun-like device that would fire small pellets that would have a low terminal velocity.

Roy
 
Group W said:
I think lasers are the only practical anti-drone weapon in and around populated areas unless explosive anti-drone armaments can be made to fracture into very small pieces, and to explode even if they miss. Even then, debris from the attacked drones raining down could be a hazard. The only other thing that might be acceptable would be a short-range shotgun-like device that would fire small pellets that would have a low terminal velocity.

Roy
Click to expand...
How about microwaves?
www.zmescience.com

US Military Just Tested a Microwave Weapon That Instantly Zapped an Entire Swarm of Drones Out of the Sky

The U.S. military tests a powerful new defense against drone swarms.
www.zmescience.com www.zmescience.com

US Military Just Tested a Microwave Weapon That Instantly Zapped an Entire Swarm of Drones Out of the Sky​


The U.S. military tests a powerful new defense against drone swarms.
Click to expand...
 
JohnH said:
How about microwaves?
www.zmescience.com

US Military Just Tested a Microwave Weapon That Instantly Zapped an Entire Swarm of Drones Out of the Sky

The U.S. military tests a powerful new defense against drone swarms.
www.zmescience.com www.zmescience.com
Click to expand...
Very interesting, thanks for posting. It sounds like it might be a very good solution for today's drones (if you don't worry about collateral damage from the falling armed drones). But maybe not so much for a next generation.

There's a whole discipline (EMC, Electro-Magnetic Compatibility) devoted to making electronic circuitry more immune to impinging fields (and preventing circuits from radiating unintentionally and/or excessively). And this will almost certainly be applied to drone design. To attack military installations, the drones would already have to be designed to tolerate communications, perhaps some radar, and other strong fields but I'm sure no effort has been made to tolerate the level of field these weapons emit. It's possible to design them to be much more immune than they are now, but that will require time and some weight and expense. But I see an arms race developing, where drones will become more immune, causing the anti-drone weapons to become more powerful or otherwise more effective despite the increased immunity, causing the drones to be redesigned to be more immune yet, and so on. That's a pretty normal wartime activity.

The Iranian type drones were presumably designed for battlefield use which would probably be a "quieter" electromagnetic environment than military installations. If I had wanted to plan an attack on a military installation, even without the threat of the high intensity microwave weapon, the first thing I'd do is try to measure the types and strengths of various fields around it so I could modify my drones if necessary to tolerate the fields that are normally present. One way to do that would be send some drones to hover over an installation for some time, recording everything. . . hm. . .

Roy
 
Aeromot said:
Since drones have become such a potent weapon, guys in power want to deploy lasers to protect themselves.

This article is probably paywalled, but I'll add some text to give the gist of it:


Pentagon Weighs Using Anti-Drone Lasers in Washington Airspace​

Sightings of drones around Fort McNair, the Army base where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio live, have prompted consideration of deploying the new technology.
Click to expand...
What could go wrong...Rwy 4 departures often fly over Fort McMair, Helicopter Route 1 runs along the west and southern boundaries of the base, and Marine 1 is based just to the south. Considering they mistakenly shot down a CBP drone with the system, one has to wonder.
 
Microwave drone killer ... impressive technology. With up to a 60 degree swath one wonders about using such tech in a congested airspace environment. The microwaves don't simply stop, they continue past the target(s), potentially affecting innocent aircraft and other electronics (think cell towers). If 60 degrees is the maximum swath, I wonder what is the minimum swath.

Not saying I'm against it, but a it does not have the specificity of a laser defense. However, an integrated defense with both microwave and laser systems working together, each when appropriate, holds much promise.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom