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Comment by ralfd | Hacker News Reader

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2ORSlPJ10

I guess this was inevitable as quadcopters and drones got cheap/mainstream, but still unsettling to see the high quality video recordings. And how does one defend against that? Suicide bombings of marketplaces or a shooting spree are bad enough, but at least the terrorists have themselves a deadly cost. Cheap 3D-printed drones dropping explosives from above are something else.

> "The bombs have hand-painted numbers on them, and some of the components show a honeycomb structure which could mean they were 3D printed. If so, then insurgents may be able to share their designs over the internet and newcomers can print their own guided bomb without any experience."

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I'm honestly surprised that it took this long. It's something that has been a worry in circles for a while.

One of the bigger worries was using IEDs and drones to deliver payloads to semi-secure locations, like data center power and cooling infrastructure. I know that exfiltration of information via drone was another worry, that came to light.

I don't think we will see 3D printing of drones and terrorists collaborating over the Internet on CAD files, as these platforms are manufactured cheaply, en masse in China.

I've always thought drone defense would be a massive industry. I don't think radio jamming will be a viable option to prevent an attack. Perhaps, GPS spoofing, but that has other side effects. You can't use projectiles safely, because of the potential for collateral damage.

I think we should I'll begin microwave and laser based weaponry for this. One of the most intriguing weapons is an Electrolaser: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser. I believe that every US airport will need drone defense in ~10 years -- but alas, I've been saying that for the past few years.

Of course, it's an edited version of the video with no audio. I wish there was somewhere that kept these online, every time there's a new one released I have to go hunt it down, usually off some gore site filled with weird shit.

EDIT: Full video is 38 minutes, found it here https://videos.files.wordpress.com/TneJgWZZ/isis-ninawa_hd.m...

Drone stuff seems to be towards the end.

The description says that it just has the typical islamic acapella as background music.

Wow, that video was so disturbing. They show all these teenagers talking and then show them in drone footage driving bomb laden cars into tanks and exploding them. Then they show you photos of their dead bodies, I guess to prove it's real. So messed up.

These have been coming out regularly for years now. The worst ones are the ones with kids executing prisoners, one was a toddler.

I heard the British PM call them a "death cult" and I can't think of a better name for it.

As a kid I always found it weird going into any Catholic church (it was mandatory in my school) and always front and center you see a very life like statue of a person being crucified, always with added red blood paint. Taken out of context normal every things in human culture can be very weird. I'm happy that at least modern mainstream society has grown up away from ideas of religious martyrdom.

Aussie PM. Tony Abbott. Caught hell for saying it but I agree, it was accurate.

Also David Cameron: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34897919

And Prince Charles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35073768

In fact I am surprised it hasn't already been used by terrorists on western soil. I don't see how one can protect a VIP against a drone loaded with explosives flying quickly.

radar, and shotgun. i.e. miniature phalanx. if they can blow a seaborne missile out of the air i think a drone shouldn't be that difficult.

also see: shotspotter.

remember metal storm?

https://youtu.be/wKlnMwuCZso

No one will be allowed to deploy automated anti-drone guns in populated civilian areas of Western countries. They would be tremendously expensive to install and maintain, would present their own security risks, and would endanger people if they ever fired at a wrong target or missed. Those systems will only ever be used to guard military facilities and maybe select sites in Washington DC.

the secret service will.

> how does one defend against that

With one's own drones, programmed to crash into the attacking drones kamakaze style, or maybe armed with mini gattling guns or other weapons to shoot down enemy drones in flight. Might also have the assistance of other drones flying higher in surveillance mode, like AWACS. All kinds of possibilities.

Directed energy weapons

Except they aren't that narrow of a beam. If that drone was hovering 20ft over that tank and you aimed an EMP blast at it, you will likely disable some of the tank's systems too.

Chemical Laser is probably a better option than an EMP.

Or you know a shotgun. Been killing birds real good for over a hundred years. All the links pretty much worked out.

shotguns have terrible range

Compared to the blast radius of something you can fit on a drone?

Actually, I think a variation on this makes the most sense: Go cheap. Kamikaze drones, cheap as possible - then it becomes a question of logistics, and AFAIK I'd bet on the US military's logistics over just about anyone else's.

Or blimps with nets, kinda like London during WWII?

> And how does one defend against that?

If the army can't figure out how to defend against a quadcopter, it would be an enormous opportunity for any RC hobbyist who happens to know or could learn a little machine learning.

I thought less about the army, the army will be fine, but civilian terror targets. Imagine how you would secure an open air concert at night against such a drone attack?

Easy enough to defend against one cheap quadcopter. How do you stop 100? Set off an EMP weapon?

Jam the transmission signals?

It doesn't need a transmitter

What transmission signals? Inertial guidance, image recognition, and cheap ML will take that defense off the table.

A garden hose

A fishing net

Machine gun

A big fan

Camoflauge that fucks with their guidance

Fake GPS signals

bombing the facility arming them

a flock of birds

a foam gun

a flame thrower

...

Whatever happens to be handy.

Small scale CWIS, or high-power near IR lasers will mitigate it a bit, but only on expensive equipment. General awareness of things in the sky (mesh nets of radar/optical?) should help individuals without expensive countermeasures.

if blowing up a bunch of people is the only goal there are already much easier ways.

I think the martyrdom aspect is as important as the actual terrorism.

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