As Attack Drones Multiply, Israeli Firms Develop Defenses
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A host of Israeli companies have developed defense systems they say can detect or destroy incoming drones. But obstacles remain, particularly when operating in crowded urban airspaces.
"Fighting these systems is really hard ... not just because you need to detect them, but you also need to detect them everywhere and all the time," said Ulrike Franke, a policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations.
[...]Israel has long been a dominant player in the military drone export business, developing small attack aircraft as well as long-range spy planes. Now, Israeli firms are at the forefront of a global industry developing means to protect against the drone threat.
"There is a lot of knowledge that was adapted from the area of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is something that the military had to deal with for a long, long time," said Ben Nassi, a researcher at Israel's Ben Gurion University specializing in drone threats.
[...]Over a dozen Israeli firms presented cutting-edge anti-drone technologies at London's DSEI exhibition this month, from defense heavyweights Elbit Systems, Raphael and Israel Aerospace Industries, to smaller start-ups like Vorpal. They are part of a booming global industry with competitors from the U.S., Europe, Singapore, and China.
Anti-drone defenses fall into several categories. Detection systems usually rely on either radio or optical technology to spot incoming drones.
Other systems can stop the aircraft with jammers that down aircraft by scrambling communications, kinetic systems that try to knock the craft out of the sky or systems that allow authorities to seize control of an aircraft.
But for now, none of these systems can provide full protection.
"It's a nasty target. It's a problem," said Turniansky. "It's going to be cat and mouse for a while."
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