The Drone News and Discussion Thread

So apparently some asshole(s) have caused flights to and from an airport in the UK, Gatwick airport, to be halted by flying drones in the area.

Here's a link for . The current theory is that it was an environmental protest.

Under UK, if the perpetrators are caught they could get a maximum of 5 years in prison.

Should make it 10 years. If a done hits and aircraft, or worse, gets sucked into a jet intake, something real bad could have happened.

They’ll get five years for just running the drone around the airport, I’m sure they can tack on extra charges for improper usage of a drone, using a drone without a licence (assuming they don’t have one) and possibly something terrorism related if they can find a way to make it stick.

Frankly they would deserve as what they were doing would possibly kill people.

A drone was used to study an active volcano from a safe distance.

Apparently someone in Italy flew a drone high enough that it almost crashed into an aircraft, and now has to answer for endangering air travel.

Is there an english translation or version?

Bumping this up again to discuss the Bayraktar TB 2 (sp?) drone of Turkish production that Ukraine has used to some effect in its war against Russia, and if memory serves were a bit of a flashpoint before the war.

Hitherto my impression was that such drones were expected to be easy pickings for any halfway useful antiair, but apparently they are tougher than expected. Or at least against Russian anti-air which allegedly has problems with slow low altitude objects such as drones.

On the flipside, Russia has used the Orlan-10 drone which apparently is a difficult target because its small size makes it hard to detect.

The Russians AA capability has been suspect at best since Syria when the various AA systems failed miserably aginst a massed cruise missile and air strike raid. They also repeatedly failed against regular incursions from the Irsraeli's. Then there was that attack by ad-hoc drones put together by local insurgents which got surprisingly deep into Russian territory before they were brought down.

From what I've heard in Saudi Arabia, American AA also has problems against drones.

Also, if this is to be believed improvised armed drones [allegedly commercial drones with a bomb or grenade attached] are a thing in Ukraine, but they are also used for reconnaissance jobs.

The small drones are hard to hit. It is why the US is interested in small low power lasers for burning them down.

Radio Free Europe video on how the drones are making a huge impact in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Here's a lengthier article about the Bayraktar TB2, I am guessing we'll see a frantic effort to buy/copy/steal 'em and also to develop effective countermeasures.

The TB 2 isn't fundamentally different from a lot of other types of armed drones out there. It's classified as a MALE UAV, a category that includes the MQ-1 Predator, which it's broadly similar to. It's totally possible to defend against these effectively with current technology.

The main way the TB 2 differs from similar systems is that it's very robust and very cheap. Countries can buy a bunch of them for a fairly reasonable price, and then operate them from basically anywhere.

Turkish Drone Industry Banks on Ukrainian Battlefield Successes, since Turkish drones rely on Ukrainian components. And I suspect that they are counting on the propaganda value?

The TB 2's advertised success in Central Asia and in Libya before Ukraine. Turkey is now confident that they can market it further.

Edited by Ominae on Aug 23rd 2022 at 10:05:37 AM

Another thing that's come out from this conflict is the improvised drones. Such as the OK-ish thing that is the Russian Orlan-10 drone and things like Ukrainians dropping grenades from commercial drones. Granted, I kind of wonder if this primarily tells us about the poor electronic warfare capabilites on display so far.

And the rise of drones - including improvised ones- breathed new life to US and NATO Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD). While swatting a $30-300 drone with a missile that costs six figures is the only way now, lasers are going to come into their own.

Here's a link to the US Army's laser SHORAD program.

While the US is trying to move laser-based AAA, expect China, Israel and others to follow suit.

A captured Orlan-10 is stripped down of parts and its components. I kid you not when they showed a Canon camera.

I know that some components are supposed to be "off the shelf" to reduce costs, but this is ridiculous.

It isn't as ridiculous as you think. Commercial equipment has come a long way. The US used a lightly modified cell phone camera to create an electro-optical image guided missile.

I mean, using a cellphone camera as a part of a component is a thing.

Assembling a drone by strapping in a handheld camera held up with glue, duck tape and water bottles is something you'd expect from college students or drone hobbies.

Not something you'd expect on being in a military drone.

To be fair, 110000 $300 drones cost no more than 33 $1000000 drones. A grenade dropped from a drone may only kill 1/100 trucks or tanks, but if the truck or tank is 200 times costlier than the drone+grenade combo...

And if memory serves, these Orlan-10 drones have a pretty respectable range.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Apr 13th 2022 at 10:39:25 AM

https://twitter.com/DanLamothe/status/1514022570957365251

Ukrainian diplomats met with reps from General Atomics, makers of the Reaper drone.