China has a flamethrower drone, and a surprisingly good use for it

In the exciting world of remotely controlled multi-rotor flying machines — known popularly as “drones” — an increasing number of businesses are waking up to the idea that the technology could prove useful in their own line of work.

Already, movie production outfits big and small are making full use of camera-equipped drones, while other industries such as entertainment, agriculture, and real estate are also looking to incorporate the unmanned aerial vehicles into their operations.

Of course, regulatory hurdles still play a major part in the extent to which the technology can be used by commercial bodies, a matter that continues to present Amazon with huge challenges as it seeks to launch a drone-based delivery service.

Unless your device is very powerful and very directional,

That defines the operational parameters I was thinking of.

A large 1 farad capacitor coupled to a very concentrated/directional array would but a large EM field on target. There's only so much shielding that can be arrayed against such an attack. Money, of course, is an obstacle to creating such a device. Specs on the target would be a very nice piece of info to have. But...

...what price freedom?

If the thing is remote-controlled by a human (which virtually all the dangerous ones will be, at least for another decade or so), you could use a magnetron from a microwave, and a suitable DIY waveguide, to make a directional jammer. Making it portable will require some serious battery power and an inverter with sufficient ooomp to power the step-up transformer for the magnetron. They require high voltage and >1 kW.

The problem with any active defense is simply one of numbers. If there are too many of the things coming at you, one of them will get you. In terms of your home, for example, you’ll need to take measures which hopefully prevent intrusion, or at least slow them down and channel them into a kill zone. These measures will upgrade your security for all types of intruders, flesh or machine. Such as:

1. An outer perimeter which will require some effort and time to breach, such as an 8 foot wall. You’ll need some kind of sensing to alert you that a breach or attempted breach is in progress. That could be security cameras with motion detecting, PIR detectors, vibration detectors, etc. The main idea is to buy some time so you can either prepare to defend the home and/or get others into a highly fortified safe room.

2. An inner perimeter which is stronger that it may look. Such as having a very strong steel door (does not have to be solid, could be made from steel bars) behind your ordinary front door. Because the quickest way into most homes is to simply kick down the front door. When they kick down your front door, they’ve FOR SURE alerted you that it’s on, but because of the secondary steel door they are still not in control of your interior, for at least a while.

3. Windows can be hardened with thick plexiglass in a steel frame, on the inside. From the outside nothing appears unusual, but if the window is broken, entry is still impossible until the inner barrier is somehow breached. Again, the idea is to deter if possible, or at least buy time. Obviously the steel frame needs to be hinged so it can be opened from the inside, for emergency egress or just opening the window.

What you DO NOT WANT is to have your family in a home which can be breached in seconds by anything short of explosives or a bulldozer. If the first hint you have that anything is wrong, is armed men or machines inside your living space, you’ve blown it.

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