Posted on 11/23/2021 2:12:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
Commercially available quadcopter drones carrying small amounts of explosives are “the most concerning tactical development since the rise of the improvised explosive device in Iraq,” U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., senior U.S. commander for the Middle East, said last February. But now drones are political weapons as well, and it will get worse.
Two weeks ago three quadcopters flew into the heavily fortified ‘Green Zone’ in Baghdad to attack the home of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who won last month’s national election and is working to form a new coalition government.
Two of the drones were shot down, but the third dropped explosives that blew in Kadhimi’s front door, injured at least five guards, and wounded the prime minister’s wrist. If he had died, he would have been the first senior politician killed by a drone, but that honour will have to go to someone else. We probably won’t have to wait too long.
Long-range, million-dollar drones have been killing people remotely for a more than a decade, but those are big aircraft making big explosions and they usually avoid densely populated urban areas. They won the war for Azerbaijan against Armenia last year, which was their first decisive use in a ‘conventional’ war. But now we are seeing something quite different.
“I’m not just talking about large unmanned platforms, which are the size of a conventional fighter jet that we can see and deal with by normal air defence means,” explained Gen. MacKenzie. “I’m talking about ones you can go out and buy at Costco right now for $1,000.”
If you have some people who are good at making improvised explosive devices (a fairly widespread skill these days), then buy yourself a clutch of drones big enough to carry two or three kilos each and you can go into business.
You can shoot down quadcopters, of course, but they are small, fast-moving targets. They can be launched in large numbers, and can avoid detection until the last moment by staying low amid the urban clutter. If they are actively guided you can jam the signal, but if they are following a preprogrammed flight path using GPS there’s no signal to jam.
What caused the recent unpleasantness in Iraq was that Kadhimi’s party won the right to form the new government in the October election, while the pro-Iranian militias lost two-thirds of their seats in parliament. It was a surprisingly fair election, but the militias automatically claimed foul.
On Nov. 5 stone-throwing militia supporters marched on the Green Zone to protest. The police opened fire, dozens of people were injured, and at least one demonstrator, maybe two, died. The drone attack on Kadhimi’s house, ‘safe’ inside the Green Zone, came just two days later.
It’s inevitable that this technique will spread rapidly far beyond Iraq, and that politicians and other prominent public figures will be vulnerable to it in every country, even the well-run ones. They will need more security than before, perhaps much more, and even that will not guarantee their safety.
And there may be one more step in this dance. It’s not normally a good idea for a killer drone to be in direct radio contact with the person who launches it, but if that person has access to face-recognition software it might be possible to make remote attacks outdoors on individual people with relatively little ‘collateral damage.’ Is nothing safe?
Of course not. It never was, really. Kings needed food-tasters to avoid being poisoned; presidents and prime ministers just need different kinds of protection.
Gwynne Dyer’s new book is “The Shortest History of War.”
it might be possible to make remote attacks outdoors on individual people with relatively little ‘collateral damage.’
Straight out of the novel DUNE.
Is that why Maxine Waters had anti sensor devices installed in her wigs? Same tech as the stealth bombers. People’s cell phone conversations are shut down every time they go near her now.
mine has a reticle on the goggle display...
Don’t know that scene, what is it from?
I’m guessing that was to keep doctors from declaring her brain dead.
Real Genius with Val Kilmer.
At a school for super nerds, they work on making a laser.
It’s a fun 1980’s movie. Two studying montages...
Anybody want to put it past some Federal security agency to take out a political rival or a ‘domestic terrorist’ without leaving any fingerprints so-to-speak?
No joke. Anti drone technology is being developed as an absolute necessity for the military. The Armenians had over 2,000 casualties, their armor was decimated and they lost a war against the Azerbaijanis who were armed with an Israeli drone system. The world noticed.
Actually, I’m sure they’ve got the capability, and have contingency plans to use drones (including small, lethal drones) against anyone they deem to be a “terrorist”: people with MAGA hats or AR15s, PTA members, “vax” & climate change skeptics, independent journalists, tax & election reformers, Christians, and every other type of “white supremacist” imaginable...
“All technology is ultimately weaponized, either by original intent or convenience”
LOL
A fine line. She probably resents the little mirrors they hold up to her nose when she lies down. "Still alive, Dr.Medville. Technically."
2018 Caracas drone attack
On 4 August 2018, two drones detonated explosives near Avenida Bolívar, Caracas, where Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was addressing the Bolivarian National Guard in front of the Centro Simón Bolívar Towers and Palacio de
Justicia de Caracas. The Venezuelan government claims the event was a targeted attempt to assassinate Maduro, though the cause and intention of the explosions is debated. Others have suggested the incident was a false flag operation designed by the government to justify repression of opposition in Venezuela.
I guess I’d better start going back to the skeet range.
Have to catch it. Thanks.
The laws that prohibit you from shooting at a manned aircraft have also been used to prosecute people from shooting drones.
A Minion with a chubby...
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