The news of India having about 6 lakh unregulated, rogue drones flying in the air came as a shock to many. Without beating around the bush, let me tell you that this imposes a grave threat to the nation’s security. As protection measures against this, our security agencies are now studying and analysing the modern anti-drone equipment and weapons like ‘sky fence’, ‘drone gun’, ‘skywall 100’, and a few more.
Drones, since a very long time, have been in the trends and continue to fascinate many. A drone, more appropriately known as ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’ is an aircraft without a human pilot. It is a component of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle system that comprises of a UAV, a ground based controller, and a communication system. The UAVs have circuit boards, chipset and software which are the brain of this aircraft.
It is said that the lighter the drones, the higher they fly. Thus, many drones today are made of light composite materials which reduce the weight of the drone. The key feature of a drone is that it has a camera. Not just this, but a drone is also incorporated with a different state of the art technology that includes cameras, GPS (global positioning system) and laser (consumer, commercial and military UAV).
Since drones are unmanned, they are controlled by the remote controls.
Now, we must realise, that where there is going to be technology, disruptive elements are going to make their presence felt by putting that technology to nefarious use. However, we must not forget that drones have made tackling various complicated and tense situations, simple.
The UAVs help governments across the world to gauge conditions of various regions during natural calamities such as floods, volcanoes, forest fires, etc. They help in the collection of important data like the cracks caused in a specific location, numbers of wires burnt, and other such defects. It also helps in forecasting weather. Believe it or not, but these little creations also help in healthcare and agriculture.
Reacting to India having 6 lakh unregulated drone in the air, the security agencies are closely looking at solutions to protect the nation from likely dangers. There are many anti-drone weapons that can be put to use for this purpose. A drone gun jams the radio, GPS and the signal between the drone and its pilot, forcing it to fall down to the ground. Another weapon is a sky fence system that jams the flight path by using several signal disruptors in order to prevent the drone from entering a particular area. ATHENA (Advanced Test High Energy Asset), another weapon, which is still under the analysis of the officials, fires a high energy laser beam on the drone, destroying it completely. This technology, however, is high in cost and is currently tested in the US. One more feasible weapon is the drone catcher. A drone catcher as mentioned in the Business Today works by swiftly approaching the enemy drone, grabs it and throws a net upon it, further trapping it from flying.
The senior security officials are said to be working on analysing and finalising on the weapon to put this issue to rest. If technology poses a threat to mankind, technology itself can be used to counter the threat.
