‘Citizen Drone Warfare’: Hobbyist explores a frightening scenario

Less than a month ago, rumors that celebrity news and gossip website TMZ was interested in obtaining a paparazzi drone prompted privacy concerns and public debate about the appropriate personal and commercial uses of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Now, a new online video poses a more troubling question: What if civilian drones are equipped to shoot more than just pictures?

Titled “Citizen Drone Warfare” and posted to YouTube last week by an anonymous man calling himself “Milo Danger,” the video shows a hobbyist drone equipped with a custom-mounted paintball pistol flying over a grassy field and peppering human-shaped shooting-range targets with pellets.

Following an attack pass by the drone, one of the targets sports three large red blotches on its head and neck area.

“I wanted to show an inevitability of what I think will happen with these drones,” said “Milo,” who lives on the West Coast and spoke to The Washington Times on condition of anonymity. “I’m not advocating bad activities. But I wanted to raise some of the ethical issues we need to think about with this new technology.

Though Federal Aviation Administration regulations do not explicitly mention the use of firearms on drones, they do prohibit any type of recreational flying or dropping objects from aircraft that endanger life or property.

DIYDrones.com, a drone hobbyist website and online community that counts defense and aerospace engineers among its 32,000 members and averages more than 1.5 million page views a month, discourages using or modifying drones for any uses that are “potentially illegal or intended to do harm.”

“We’ve banned the weaponized use of drones,” said Chris Anderson, the site’s founder. “So in our community, the reaction to this video is dismay.

Not all drones are feather light. Jet models use a gas turbine that would go though an airliner turbofan like a cannonball!

http://www.jetcatusa.com/p80.html

Note that birds as small as a kestrel have crashed a 747: (link from my website at the link at my tagline):

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/kalitta-revises-rto-training-after-747s-disastrous-post-v1-abort-329530/

Impressive. This was an RC quadrotor demonstrating both remote assassination and kamikazi strike with blast payload killing capability.

Yet another reason why FAA issues NOTAM flight restrictions anywhere near VIPs that extend to all model airframes.

Here was the NOTAM for the recent VIP visit to Sandy Hook

http://www.modelaircraft.org/membership/clubs/notamarchive.aspx

“Posted 12/15/12

“NOTAM/TFR has been issued for the area surrounding Windsor Locks and Newtown, CT for Sunday, 12/16 from 3:00p until 9:30p EST. The TFR is issued for security purposes to cover VIP movement in this area. Outdoor radio control model aircraft operations are prohibited within the 30nm circles for the specific times listed below. Control Line and Free Flight modelers should use discretion when operating within the TFR. Please note that TFRs are subject to change with very short notice. Check back often for the most current NOTAM/TFR information. Timely alerts are also available on the web or on your cell phone at: Twitter.com/amagov.”

I might add that this quadrotor could kill with kinetic force as well.

Imagine this unit with autonomous GPS waypoint navigation far removed from RC line-of-sight limitations able to operate in pitch black dead of night or foul weather and with infrared targeting.

I advocate public education as to what suspicious activities to report TO police as being far more urgent than activities OF police, although that is of concern, too.

Defensive measures around sensitive VIP locations and airports must anticipate terrorist, assassination and scorned lover attacks using mini-drones like this.

On the other hand the video at the link you provided could be fake, since only the barrel of an M4 without the receiver is supposed to be “firing” from the quadcopter...

See video down in the comments at this link:

http://aeroquad.com/showthread.php?5245-Prototype-of-Battle-Quad&s=747ada583bf6e2402c4dcb2c3ec98caf

Another thing that should have struck me immediately is that the payload of these minicopters is very low...too low to lift a semi-automatic rifle, IIRC.

The use of a quadcopter drone, perhaps with more modest firepower, is certainly well-presented as a thought experiment, for good or ill.

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