Kind of like shooting a musket ball out of the air with a slingshot.
“Kind of like shooting a musket ball out of the air with a slingshot.”
See below analysis from which could apply to GPS targeting of large jet engine on the runway or on a predictable ILS landing approach:
If any two engines on a large multi-engine jet can be disabled in the RKZ by a terrorist attack, the aircraft will not be able to gain enough altitude to return to the airport and will almost certainly crash. The availability of inexpensive, GPS-guided autonomous model aircraft and helicopters (drones and UAVs) that are capable of precisely targeting the runway path of each jet engine in the RKZ makes terrorist attacks increasingly probable.
How big a target for terrorists is the intake turbofan of a Boeing 747 jet engine coming down the runway in the RKZ?
The intake fan diameter of the GE CF6-80C2 turbofan used on Air Force One or a 747-400 is 93 inches (2.36 m) or nearly 8 feet wide (7 ft 9 in).
Are the GPS autopilot systems available for model aircraft and helicopters accurate enough in latitude, longitude and altitude to hit an 8 foot wide target, such as a 747 engine coming down a runway?
The latest drone, UAV, model aircraft and model helicopter GPS autopilot systems are designed to enable autonomous flight and incorporate location accuracy enhancement technologies called DGPS and WAAS. These GPS enhancements enable a location accuracy radius within the radius of a 747 engine intake ( 1/2 of 2.36 meter diameter = 1.18 meters, or 1/2 of 93 inch diameter = 3 ft 8.5 inches).
DGPS location accuracy according to Wikipedia:
“Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to Global Positioning System that provides improved location accuracy, from the 15-meter nominal GPS accuracy to about 10 cm in case of the best implementations.”
WAAS location accuracy according to Wikipedia:
“Actual performance measurements of the system at specific locations have shown it typically provides better than 1.0 metre (3 ft 3 in) laterally and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) vertically throughout most of the contiguous United States and large parts of Canada and Alaska.”
What happens if GPS autopilot systems are jammed or the link to a base station gets dropped during a drone attack in the RKZ?
Inertial navigation systems (INS) can take over from the last confirmed GPS coordinates. INS compoments are now available for model aircraft autopilot systems either incorporated into the autopilot system or interfaced to the autopilot system.