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Imagine terrorists using new technology to trick planes into crashing into buildings. It may sound like a Die Hard movie, but the premise, which involves “GPS spoofing,” troubles our nation’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Spoofing became a big deal when University of Texas professor Todd Humphreys accepted a challenge a few years ago from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use this method to commandeer one of the agency’s drones via a GPS device. Much to their astonishment, he was successful. “It’s easiest to understand GPS spoofing by comparing it with GPS jamming,” Humphreys told the Observer. “Jamming...

Breathtaking footage of Hong Kong as sunset approaches. Shot on 1-24-17. This technology just blows me away.

The media is raising concerns about a drone bombing at the 58th Presidential Inauguration on Friday. On Thursday's "Today" show, a report indicated that U.S. Secret Service has put in place several anti-drone efforts out of concern that an I-inspired "flying IED" will smash into the crowd, or worse. The report quoted an official from a drone countermeasure firm saying that the Inauguration "is not something I would feel safe at." Reports of violent protests and attacks has Washington on edge, though past threats have never come. But the "Today" show report, headlined "Drone Danger At Inauguration? Dealing with a...

Ref: Drone SWARM technology https://www.google.com/amp/compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2017/01/department-of-defense-successfully-tests-composite-drones/amp/

A drone smashed into a Boeing plane with 80 passengers and 6 crew on board, causing substantial damage to the aircraft as it prepared to land at an airport in Mozambique. The Boeing 737-700 belonging to airline Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) was operating a domestic flight when it was struck as it approached Tete airport, according to the Aviation Herald. The crew heard a loud bang but continued their approach, suspecting a bird had struck the plane. However, later examination revealed the damage was more substantial than initially thought and caused by an apparent drone collision. Photos shared online...

A drone with a video camera which crashed in a wooded area on Mount Hevron revealed a European Union (EU) espionage operation intended to spy on and gather intelligence about Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The footage from the drone was retrieved after it crashed in view of residents of the town of Ma'on in Judea, Channel 2 reported. The footage shows the drone flying low over residents before crashing next to a car. It was then retrieved by the residents.

Drones are being seriously considered for use in a number of important applications from military functions, like bomb disposal, to energy applications, like remote pipeline monitoring and inspection. But as the Federal government works to finalize rules on the use of drones in commercial applications, the drones are increasingly finding their way into more and more unusual settings – like the delivery of slurpees. Convenience store operator, 7-Eleven is an unlikely participant in drone delivery operating at the bleeding edge of the space. The company has partnered with drone delivery service Flirtey and in November, the two companies completed 77...

Oh, thank heaven for drones. 7-Eleven, one of the world's largest chains of convenience stores, has completed 77 delivers via drone to customers in Reno, Nevada. The deliveries were made in collaboration with Flirtey, a commercial drone startup that began working with the retail chain over the summer. In November, Flirty made regular deliveries from a 7-Eleven store in Reno to a dozen select customers who used a custom app to place orders, the company said in a release Tuesday. Popular items for drone delivery included hot foods, cold beverages and over-the-counter medicines, said the company. On average, orders were...

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has returned to the U.S. an unmanned underwater drone the Chinese Navy seized unlawfully last week in international waters, the Pentagon said. China's defense ministry said it handed the drone back after "friendly consultations." The Chinese Navy vessel that had seized the drone returned it near the location where it had been taken, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement issued late Monday. The incident occurred last Thursday near the Philippines. (more at the link)

"We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!"

"We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!" https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/810288321880555520

China said Saturday it will return the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) it seized in the South China Sea from the U.S., the Pentagon confirmed. "We have registered our objection to China's unlawful seizure of a U.S. unmanned underwater vehicle operating in international waters in the South China Sea," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement. "Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States," he said. China earlier had indicted it would return the unmanned device, while accusing the U.S. of having "hyped" the issue. "Upon...

The seizing of an unmanned US Navy drone by the Chinese is an “unpresidented [sic] act,” President-elect Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday. The USNS Bowditch, which has a civilian crew, was about to retrieve the underwater device Thursday when it was snapped up by a Chinese warship in the South China Sea. “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act,” Trump wrote on Twitter. He’s since deleted the misspelled tweet. The $150,000, 10-foot drone was part of a scientific mission collecting oceanographic data....

(CNN)A US oceanographic vessel Thursday had its underwater drone stolen by a Chinese warship literally right in front of the eyes of the American crew, a US defense official told CNN Friday. In the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, the USNS Bowditch was sailing about 100 miles off the port at Subic Bay when the incident occurred, according to the official. Bowditch had stopped in the water to pick up two underwater drones. At that point a Chinese naval ship that had been shadowing the Bowditch put a small boat into the water. That...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese Navy warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by an American oceanographic vessel in international waters in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest from the United States and a demand for its return, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Friday. The incident, the first of its kind in recent memory, took place on Dec. 15 northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve the unmanned, underwater vehicle (UUV), the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The UUV was...

US oceanographic vessel Thursday had its underwater drone stolen by a Chinese warship literally right in front of the eyes of the American crew, a US defense official told CNN Friday. In the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, the USNS Bowditch was sailing about 100 miles off the port at Subic Bay when the incident occurred, according to the official. Bowditch had stopped in the water to pick up two underwater drones. At that point a Chinese naval ship that had been shadowing the Bowditch put a small boat into the water. That small...

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had developed a “suicide drone” capable of delivering explosives to blow up targets at sea and on land. The new drone is primarily for maritime surveillance and “has not been designed to be armed with missiles,” the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported.

Police officers shot at a drone operated by activists during Sunday’s North Dakota pipeline protest after the aircraft flew near a police helicopter, leaving passengers “in fear of their lives.” The drone “flew at a helicopter in a threatening manner” above a protest at a Dakota Access pipeline construction site, prompting officers to fire “less-than-lethal” ammunition at the drone, which then was landed by its operator, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. “A sheriff on board the helicopter reported to law enforcement on the ground that the helicopter pilot and passengers were ‘in fear of their lives,’ and that...

Now conspiracy theorists are claiming the space rocket was “attacked”. The “reusable” rocket was destroyed after suffering a catastrophic explosion on launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US on Thursday. The huge blast, which caused no injuries, ripped through the rocket during a pre-launch check – sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air. Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion, which was caught on camera, is still unknown.