Here’s a new piece of technology both the left and the right can begin a love/hate relationship with real soon – a nonviolent anti-drone gun that “shoots” unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) out of the sky without firing a single bullet.
The Battelle DroneDefender video posted on YouTube Oct. 14 by BattelleInnovations has been viewed more than half a million times in the three days since it was uploaded. The Truth About Guns quotes a recent BattelleInnovations video on the DroneDefender as “a lightweight easy-to-use non-kinetic solution to defend airspace against UAS without compromising safety or risking collateral damage.”
https://youtu.be/zX4XXLb_Vuw
While drones can be useful for any number of reasons, they can also be invasive, and with recent developments, drones are now capable of breaking the law in any number of ways, as well, from invading privacy, to “dropping contraband into a prison or flying into restricted airspace.” Rather than shooting them out of the sky, damaging property and potentially harming someone, the DroneDefender utilizes GPS and “common ISM bands” with a 30-degree diameter cone range to hijack the UAS right out of the sky without destroying it.
If made available to the public, the DroneDefender can help folks maintain their privacy, but on the flip-side, the government and law enforcement can also take over and confiscate citizens’ drones being used in any number of means, from personal enjoyment to a stealth tool employed by and for the people, such as checking out undesired facking rigs without trespassing, or some other use along similar means – you name it. There are all kinds of uses for drones.
Text along with the posted video on YouTube states, “Due to U.S. Federal regulations, this is a simulation of our DroneDefender. It has, though, been successfully tested in field trials.”
Before folks get excited about hijacking delivery drones for a free pepperoni pie or worry that the government is going to confiscate their own drones for flying in ambiguously undesired airspace, however, the DroneDefender is not currently for sale… yet. As of now, it has not been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but that may very well be only a matter of time.
The DroneDefender can be fired up and ready for use in less than a second, and can run continuously for up to five hours. All in all, it may prove to be a handy tool for citizens, activists, and government as the use of drones becomes more and more common.
Any bets on whether the DroneDefender will be approved strictly for government and law enforcement, though?
Time will tell.
Featured image by BattelleInnovations via YouTube screen capture, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
