Tag: drones

Ukraine’s Acoustic Drone Detection Network Eyed By U.S. As Low-Cost Air Defense Option

The U.S. should integrate a low-cost acoustic network to detect aerial threats developed by Ukraine into its own air defense systems, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said Wednesday morning. Consisting of thousands of acoustic sensors across Ukraine, this system helps detect and track incoming Russian kamikaze drones, alert traditional air defenses in advance, and also dispatch ad hoc drone hunting teams to shoot them down.

“Their use of acoustic sensors has proliferated across the country to the point now where they’re almost positively identifying drones in the distance because of this acoustic and the fireteams attached to that acoustic, low-cost capability that they’ve developed and proliferated,” Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Gainey said during a discussion at the Hudson Institute. As a result, Ukraine has a “low-cost defeat” system. The U.S., he added, should “find a way” of integrating “that type of low-cost capability into our system. We should be able to find ways to work together and augment some of our capability with some of that lower-cost capability.”

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Discovery of Drone Surveillance by Trump’s Shooter Reveals Additional Security Lapses

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter who tried to kill Donald Trump at the rally in Pennsylvania, managed to fly a drone for aerial footage of the site, a few hours before the assassination attempt, the WSJ reports, citing law-enforcement officials familiar with the matter.

Crooks had flown the drone on a programmed flight path several times earlier in the day on July 13, to scour the Butler Farm Show grounds ahead of the event, the officials said. The discovery has raised more serious concerns over the reliability of the security services, the outlet notes.

What else has been revealed?

The use of the drone was just one way in which authorities said Crooks had planned his attack.

The perpetrator came to Trump’s rally with a pair of homemade bombs designed for detonation with remote control.

The authorities also found primitive explosives and a vest with three 30-round magazines in Crooks’ car. This suggests that he probably “wanted to cause greater carnage”, according to the article.

Crooks had also ordered several packages labeled “hazardous materials” to be shipped to his home in the past month. He also conducted online searches for Trump rally dates, and information on Biden and the Democratic National Convention.

On Saturday, a 20-year-old man tried to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in the state of Pennsylvania, but the bullet from the gunman’s AR assault rifle grazed Trump’s right ear. US Secret Service agents killed the gunman moments after he was able to fire several rounds toward the stage, killing one spectator and critically injuring two others.

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Northrop Grumman XRQ-73 SHEPARD Demonstrator Breaks Cover

The SHEPARD vehicle, recently designated the XRQ-73, represents a significant step forward in the evolution of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), leveraging hybrid electric propulsion technologies to enhance performance and operational capabilities.

On Jul. 10, 2024, Northrop Grumman unveiled the design and construction of the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion Aircraft Demonstration (SHEPARD) vehicle. This uncrewed air system, developed for DARPA, has been officially designated as the XRQ-73 X-plane.

The aircraft in the image released by Northrop Grumman features a sleek, stealthy flying wing design. It has a low-profile fuselage with sharp, angular edges to enhance aerodynamic efficiency and stealth capabilities. The wings are broad and tapered with clipped wingtips, and there are two prominent air inlets located on the upper surface of the fuselage. Between these inlets is a fairing, likely housing critical systems or payloads.

The overall design suggests a focus on minimizing radar and visual signatures, emphasizing its role as an advanced, unmanned aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

In fact, the XRQ-73 SHEPARD, built in collaboration with Scaled Composites (a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman), is part of DARPA’s “X-prime” program. It utilizes hybrid electric architecture and advanced component technologies to rapidly develop a new mission-specific aircraft design with unique propulsion architecture and power capabilities for the Department of Defense.

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Top Hezbollah commander assassinated by Israeli drone in south Lebanon

An Israeli drone strike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit on 3 July, Mohammed Naame Nasser, marking the second high-profile assassination of a resistance commander in as many months.

The Aziz Unit reportedly operates in the eastern sector of the Lebanese–Israeli border region.

Israel’s latest provocation inside Lebanese soil comes as border tensions threaten to boil over, with western officials set to meet in the French capital on Wednesday to discuss ways to “defuse” the crisis.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, stressed that the only path to a de-escalation on Israel’s northern border is a full ceasefire in Gaza.

“If there is a ceasefire in Gaza, we will stop without any discussion,” the Lebanese resistance leader told AP.

“Israel can decide what it wants: limited war, total war, partial war,” Qassem said. “But it should expect that our response and our resistance will not be within a ceiling and rules of engagement set by Israel … If Israel wages the war, it means it doesn’t control its extent or who enters into it.”

Nearly nine months into Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza, authorities have recently intensified threats to expand the war against Lebanon in a last-ditch effort to regain control of the northern occupied territories.

Nevertheless, the lack of a clear strategy to disengage from Gaza, on top of a critical manpower and munitions crisis, has deepened rifts between the military and political leaders in Israel. Earlier this week, top security officials told the New York Times (NYT) that they are pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, even if it means “keeping Hamas in power for now.”

On Tuesday, the NYT report received a swift response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Russia Threatens US Drones in Black Sea Aiding Attacks on Crimea

In response to Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean Peninsula, tensions between the US and Russia have significantly escalated, with Moscow threatening US drones operating over the Black Sea. The Kremlin says the drones are part of the Ukrainian operations in the region. 

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said there had been an uptick in American drone operations in the Black Sea “carrying out reconnaissance” of the Crimean Peninsula. The statement explained that the Russian military was instructed to prepare an “operational response” to the flights. 

The remarks followed a Ukrainian attack using US cluster munitions that caused the death of four civilians and wounded hundreds of others. Moscow argues that Washington’s support for Kiev makes the US effectively a party to the conflict. “This demonstrates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kiev regime,” the Defense Ministry said. 

As Ukrainian forces have continued to lose territory to Russia on the battlefield, its Western backers have significantly stepped up support for Kiev. The US has allowed Ukraine to use its munitions to strike Russia, signed off on the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine, and sent Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, all actions the White House previously warned could risk provoking World War Three. 

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US DRONE SHOT DOWN OVER BLACK SEA! UAV from Sicilian USAF-CIA Station

The news of the shooting down of a US drone was reported by two Russian Telegram channels – “Military Informant” and “Fighterbomber” – reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, according to which, in the past, these two channels have rarely written less than informed things.

The American UAV Shoot Down by Russia aviation

«By the newspaper’s own admission it is, in the first case, one of the most informed Russian telegram channels on what is happening in Russian airspace and aviation. The article quotes what the channel reports as follows: “A Russian MiG-31 fighter shot down a US Air Force reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. Presumably it is a high-altitude RQ-4B Global Hawk reconnaissance drone.” Shortly after, the channel publishes an update: “Yes, the incident has now been confirmed.”

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Will Congress’ Chinese Derangement Syndrome Ground Drones?

Those who hoped that our leaders have recovered from China Derangement Syndrome (CDS) may soon be disappointed. This is because Congress is considering including legislation targeting Chinese drone manufacturer DJI to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

DJI is the world’s largest drone manufacturer and is estimated to control between 65% and 90% of the world’s drone market. DJI’s drones are user-friendly and can safely be operated even by novice drone users.

One reason for DJI’s popularity is it protects their users’ privacy. DJI does not store user data within its system unless the user opts to. DJI also uses a “Local Data Mode” assuring that user data is locally controlled and kept off the internet. Universities, filmmakers, hobbyists, farmers, and first responders are amongst those who use DJI drones. Many businesses have found DJI an invaluable tool to increase efficiency. Individuals and businesses use DJI drones to take photographs, record videos, and even do deliveries.

You soon may have your pizza flown to you thanks to a DJI drone. More importantly, a DJI drone operated by a first responder could someday save your life and/or the life of a loved one—unless Congress gets in the way.   

CDS has led many in Congress to conclude that because DJI is a Chinese company, it is controlled by the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—even though no representative of the Chinese government or the CCP sits on DJI’s board—has influence over the companies’ policies and operations.

These facts have not stopped Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) from introducing two bills to “protect” the American-people from DJI. One, the Countering CCP Drones Act, adds DJI products to the official list of items constituting a “national security risk” that are banned in the USA. The bill would do more than just prevent future purchases of DJI products; it could lead to the Federal Communications Commission revoking existing authorizations for DJI drones.

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Police are Using Drones More and Spending More For Them

Police in Minnesota are buying and flying more drones than ever before, according to an annual report recently released by the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Minnesotan law enforcement flew their drones without a warrant 4,326 times in 2023, racking up a state-wide expense of over $1 million. This marks a large, 41 percent increase from 2022, when departments across the state used drones 3,076 times and spent $646,531.24 on using them. The data show that more was spent on drones last year than in the previous two years combined. Minneapolis Police Department, the state’s largest police department, implemented a new drone program at the end of 2022 and reported that its 63 warrantless flights in 2023 cost nearly $100,000.

Since 2020, the state of Minnesota has been obligated to put out a yearly report documenting every time and reason law enforcement agencies in the state — local, county, or state-wide — used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, without a warrant. This is partly because Minnesota law requires a warrant for law enforcement to use drones except for specific situations listed in the statute. The State Court Administrator is also required to provide a public report of the number of warrants issued for the use of UAVs, and the data gathered by them. These regular reports give us a glimpse into how police are actually using these devices and how often. As more and more police departments around the country use drones or experiment with drones as first responders, it offers an example of how transparency around drone adoption can be done.

You can read our blog about the 2021 Minnesota report here.

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CHEAP AND LETHAL: THE PENTAGON’S PLAN FOR THE NEXT DRONE WAR

WORRIED ABOUT a potential war with China, the Pentagon is turning to a new class of weapons to fight the numerically superior People’s Liberation Army: drones, lots and lots of drones.

In August 2023, the Defense Department unveiled Replicator, its initiative to field thousands of “all-domain, attritable autonomous (ADA2) systems”: Pentagon-speak for low-cost (and potentially AI-driven) machines — in the form of self-piloting ships, large robot aircraft, and swarms of smaller kamikaze drones — that they can use and lose en masse to overwhelm Chinese forces.

Earlier this month, two Pentagon offices leading this charge announced that four nontraditional weapons makers had been chosen for another drone program, with test flights planned for later this year. The companies building this “Enterprise Test Vehicle,” or ETV, will have to prove that their drone can fly over 500 miles and deliver a “kinetic payload,” with a focus on weapons that are low-cost, quick to build, and modular, according to a 2023 solicitation for proposals and a recent announcement from the Air Force Armament Directorate and the Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon’s off-the-shelf acceleration arm. Many analysts believe that the ETV initiative may be connected to the Replicator program. DIU did not return a request for clarification prior to publication.

The new robot planes will mark a shift from the Defense Department’s “legacy” drones which DIU says are “over-engineered” and “labor-intensive” to produce. The four contractors chosen for the program are Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics, and Zone 5 Technologies, which were selected from a field of more than 100 applicants.

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Colorado Will Replace Cops With Drones for Some 911 Calls

Instead of dispatching an officer each time, several Colorado police departments may soon dispatch a drone to respond to certain 911 calls. While the proposal has promise, it also raises uncomfortable questions about privacy.

As Shelly Bradbury reported this week in The Denver Post, “A handful of local law enforcement agencies are considering using drones as first responders—that is, sending them in response to 911 calls—as police departments across Colorado continue to widely embrace the use of the remote-controlled flying machines.”

Bradbury quotes Arapahoe County Sheriff Jeremiah Gates saying, “This really is the future of law enforcement at some point, whether we like it or not.” She notes that while there are currently no official plans in place, “Gates envisions a world where a drone is dispatched to a call about a broken traffic light or a suspicious vehicle instead of a sheriff’s deputy, allowing actual deputies to prioritize more pressing calls for help.”

The Denver Police Department—whose then-chief in 2013 called the use of drones by police “controversial” and said that “constitutionally there are a lot of unanswered questions about how they can be used”—is also starting a program, buying several drones over the next year that can eventually function as first responders.

In addition to Denver and Arapahoe County, Bradbury lists numerous Colorado law enforcement agencies that also have drone programs, including the Colorado State Patrol, which has 24 drones, and the Commerce City Police Department, which has eight drones and 12 pilots for a city of around 62,000 people and plans to begin using them for 911 response within a year.

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