After listening to a conversation on government spying and the use of drones for all sorts of dodgy stuff, my six-year-old offered up this simple solution: the sling shot. Best part? It is a moving target we can shoot at! READ THE REST
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I think they are popular with the Palestinian Intifada and other… how do you say it without trolling? People who need to make war on a tight budget.
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I think an improvised long range net gun would be better in urban areas so if you miss the target drone you’re less likely to shoot out windows/property across the street and/or injure people. And, yes, I’ve thought this out. After capture, you zap the drone’s firmware, strap another net gun to it and use it to capture other drones. Repeat this until you have your own drone army.
Are you getting all of this, NSA?
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Far more ingenious than the 6-year-old but also far more expensive.
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Drones are being used by civilians to document government excesses, too. One was being used that way in Turkey to video police dispersing a large protest gathering, before it was allegedly shot down. Since they don’t generally carry IFF transponders, be sure you know what you’re shooting at. Also, flinging rocks or ball bearings high into the air in populated areas is, as one other poster has noted, not generally considered smart.
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They got a lot of catching up to do with the Germans:
we must not allow a sling shot gap!
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Fun post, but unrealistic.
Hitting a human size target at 20 yards with a slingshot is surprisingly difficult for most kids. Hitting a 3 ft moving target that can readily increase altitude is difficult even for an expert sling-shotter .
And in the meantime, the authorities have video of your kid being a “terrorist.” Sounds pretty darn ineffective to me.
If you want to neutralize a drone, I suggest you study how the Iranians claim they brought down an RQ-170. Not only is signal jamming more likely to work, it’s also less likely to get the attacker caught. Even better, if you open source your arduino-based design, you’ll probably score a cameo in Cory’s next book 8)
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I don’t disagree that it would be cathartic, but please remember that rocks and bearings and such do have a parabolic trajectory and do eventually come down somewhere (near someone). So I guess…don’t miss?
Also, thanks for the nostalgia, I totally had a slingshot exactly like that one as a kid and LOVED it.
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The projectile should be a light weight streamer designed for entanglement, maximizing integrated cross section. More research on imparting spin to some spooled stringy material is required.
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And in the meantime, the authorities have video of your kid being a "terrorist."
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The exit wound on that watermelon is absolutely devastating.
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Very true. Therefore, we should raise money to get these into the hands of all American 6 years olds. I do fear a lot of dog and cat friendly-fire civilian captures, but I think it’s worth that collateral damage as long as the animals are released unharmed.
Are surveillance drones typically RF/microwave shielded? If not, a HERF or HEMF gun might do the trick if it can be properly directionalized. And heck, even if they are shielded, if you pump enough microwave into the drone, something’s bound to start melting.
Trained hawks, with frickin’ Laser Beams attached to their heads. Drones wouldn’t stand a chance. Just saying…
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Or a variation of that. I was thinking the same lines of intercepting raptors.
I love Jorge, he is splendid.
Dogs & cats? Hell, no. Siblings.
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The only way to stop a bad guy with a drone is with a good guy with a drone.
/sarcasm
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When I was a kid, I took an inner tube from an automobile tire - yes, they still had them back then - and cut it into a long rubber strip. After I stretched it between two trees about ten feet apart, I was able to launch fair-sized rocks (three inches or so) astonishing distances into the woods behind our house.
Responsible? Not very. The fun ended when my dad saw me playing with it. The engineer in him appreciated the efficiency of the design, but he still took it away - and it’s probably a very good thing that he did, too.
But holy moley, I still remember the acceleration and loft that thing delivered… it was breathtaking.
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