Drones have now become quite sophisticated in every single sector of the industry. With everything from grocery deliveries to explosive “suicide” drones, these small multrotor aircraft have become incredibly effective for a variety of applications. Because of their incredible speed, small size, and the complete lack of any human involvement in the miles within their location, small drones are fast becoming a problem for the military. They may have a gun at the bottom of the craft, allow quick kills, or send a target loaded with explosives into their trunks.
While the average quadcopter can hit speeds of up to 112 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour), racing models can achieve much more than that – trying to shoot them or ground them in other ways is not an easy task. However, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DRPA) can solve the problem of killer drones in the most fantastic way: just shoot at them. That’s right – stock up on birthday streamers because they’re truly the weapon of the future. In a somewhat ridiculous video posted on the Darpa YouTube channel, the government agency unveiled a new anti-drone resistance that explodes drones out of the sky with colorful pops.
Employed by a moving vehicle, the single-rotor aircraft is deployed to travel in front of a moving enemy drone and fires “powerful, steamer streamers” that engulf its pilots, rendering them useless and sending them crashing to the ground. While streamers may seem miserable, the new system is cheap, effective and can be used in civilian areas. It requires much less precision than the alternative method, with more streamers more likely to be attached than single bullets or other weapons.
The streamer system is completely autonomous for identifying threats and deploying defenses to protect vehicles in trajectory. “The technology demonstrator successfully neutralizes strategically-relevant drones using a newly-developed X-band radar that automatically detects and identifies threats to inhumane aircraft systems. The radar then connects the target to the specific interceptor via an automated decision engine built into the command and control system, launches and guides the rotary and fixed wing interceptors with two types of drone countermeasures on the go and without operator intervention. “DARPA wrote in their press release.
