Anti-Drone Tactics

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I was considering the recent success of drones in the war on terror and was wondering what if those weapons were turned on us at some point in the future. So I started brainstorming and came up with a slew of tactics and ideas that should work in theory. Feel free to add to the list or to criticize and discuss:

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Electromagnetic Radiation warfare techniques:
-Laser saturation of optics/CCD sensors
-Laser burning critical components
-Microwave disabling critical electronics
-GPS jamming
-Decoy emmiters of microwave and IR radiation
-Jamming of drone communication systems
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Kinetic energy systems
-Small arms weapons
-Small-Medium SAM systems
-Hunter killer drones...???
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Confusion, logistical and information warfare techniques
-High flying Party balloons with aluminum foil reflectors
-Spoofing fake radio signals to take over control of drone
-Intercepting radio feed of video and replacing it with Justin Bieber videos
-Using own drones to fly to enemy base operations to conduct surveillance and warfare
-Finding out information on drone operators and expanding operations to personell
-Attacking drone energy supply, fuel supply, battery supply route lines
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Why bother with all that expensive hardware when it would appear their software is the easiest way to influence them. It wont be long until Chinese hackers figure them out. It looks like they have been tampering with them already:

www.forbes.com...

Not saying you dont have the technical no-how but chances are there are few people who would be on the front line that will be able to disrupt or completely take over command of video audio signals froma drone, the encryption is too great for somthing to be done quickly (unless you were out and out focused on the job all day every day, say a terminator type enviroment)

best plan would be an EMP which you could create yourself, downside is an EMP doesnt care if its your tech or there getting it so you would have to sacrafice your modern tech to allow for the disabling/disarmorment of theres.

I've heard using a drone is similar to "looking through a straw". Even though it's up fairly high, the camera field of view differs depending on the drone. The resolution of the RADAR system is higher the lower it flies (think Predator), but it means that the camera is only able to see a very small part of the overall picture below it.

Once the RADAR shows some activity the camera operator is then able to swing the lens onto the hit to see what it is. From memory, the RADAR used on Predator is capable of approximately 30cm resolution, so it can find quite small things pretty easily.

Systems such as Global Hawk have much lower resolution, but a greatly improved field of view.

When thinking about how to defeat such systems, you probably have to assume you are not going to even see the drones of the Global Hawk variety as they will be up too high - unless you have some kind of RADAR for yourself.

Tactics have been used in Afghanistan that have allowed insurgents to counter drones fairly effectively when they are used in conjunction with ground troops - mainly involves watching where the drone is an learning from experience where the troops will be in relation to the drone (usually following it's progress as it "sweeps" a village/area), but counter-tactics are also in place now.

You've thrown out a long list of things that could definitely be explored for their effectiveness. I think you also need to consider there's people actively fighting against forces using drones, and you can probably dig up some anecdotal accounts of how they are dealing with them on the Internet. If this thread hasn't thrown a "flag" against your name, then searching for that kind of information probably will .

The biggest flaw with the drone system was un-encrypted data streams. If you have the right gear, you then should be able to see what the people operating the drone can see. I don't believe they have been able to fix this flaw as yet, but I could be wrong. Maybe it would even be possible to "take over" the drone itself and just fly it into the ground with the right knowledge?

Interesting topic.

Well the thing is if you spot a drone overhead in nyc for instance and it is targeting the protestors someone could build a high powered laser to fry the CCD sensor. A drone is a large object and can certainly be seen in the sky if it flies at 30,000 feet, if it is 50,000 feet then that is a more difficult object to track unless you are doing passive tracking using cameras and no radar which is a whole another can of worms. I am just out looking for protection of the US citizen against increasingly unconstitutional techniques.

Perhaps there is a way to physically block the remote-control sensory equipment on the drone itself, like how flak guns are designed to clog up engines.

the microwave one is the best.take ten microwave ovens.take the cover off and sauder copper tubing over the microwave transmitters and sauder together all the tubes into one.leave one end open with a flexible metal tube on end.point it straight up or whatever area you are nervous about.this works as a frequency scrambler.no signal can penetrate it.plus if the craft is not sealed metal,the microwave will cook the components.this can also be used as a dome shield.power equals wattage of combined ovens .more power,bigger sheild.possible to go to horizon if you use a dish reflector.

I'm fairly certain you would need counter-drones. Drone to drone combat.
Perhaps one of those balls that can fly from the Japanese with a weapon attached.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


You think entirely to big. Too expensive and to narrow. You'd be a great fit for a government contarctor.

Decoys would be the best and least expensive counter measure. A bit of plywood cut just right with a heat signature would do the trick. Hell, mankind has been using that tactic for centuries.

Also you must remember that most drone fly at altitude and are not readily heard. Look at all the drone footage of the taking out people. It's a rare video that those being targeted even know they are being targeted.

And I agree with a previous poster...hacking is the key. Probably the cheapest tool in the box.

There may be some value to the micro wave dome for fixed installations as in regards to any incomming missiles or other susceptable intrusions....
I think wed be talking HAARP type wattages, and its not altogether clear those under the dome would be adversely affected either.
The focussable laser may be useful too.
But how big how high tech?
I would expect that a shoulder fired anti aircraft missile would be sufficient to get some.
Perhaps stealth may be the best ground option?
as well as deception etc...
Perhaps issue space blankets to troops big enough to hide under?
Could be one side cammo.....
Infra red sensors could definately be fooled into thinking they spot a target of opportunity, and maybe some kind of target overloading could be accomplished
(Like lighting successive candles in jars under decoys and hiding under yer blankey.....?)
If blanketting works well bigger ones for trucks or cars etc maybe?
The drones presently do not attack with air to ground type weapons like mini guns or unguided rockets etc
Their primary weapon is the hellfire....some kind of chink maybe possible in its armour too?
Radio Jamming of a special type may be the answer too, what if one used a powerful radio pulse that would over power the circuits or transistors in the guidance servos?
the pulse could be on the whole spectrum of the frequencies available to use.....
It would be so strong that the recievers would cook vital components ???
any thoughts about that?

reply to post by stirling


Well it would be pointless to defend against a hellfire once it has been released, but you dont want to find out after the fact that the weapon is released. Hellfire guidance could be messed with using microwave weapons and lasers but you dont want to risk it. The best bet would be to attack the platform. Only military systems can defeat incoming hellfire systems with weapons such as tor-m2 and pantisir; for the common man there is no defense against hellfire missiles.

The best way to combat these things would be to occupy high ground look out positions , and arm those look out stations with a microwave cannon to cook the internal workings of the drone. Drones , however are NOT particularly large,especially considering that a regular aircraft looks pretty damned small when at thirty thousand feet and will not appear large when compared with any other other airborne vehicles, and will be hard to track with the naked eye, so an uninterupted feild of veiw, coupled with sound sensors tuned to the specific engine noises associated with every make and model of drone would be a must. Slaving any anti drone weapons platform to such a sensor, would be an idea .

Another way to knock em out, would be to deploy some sort of projectile which splits into hundreds of shards in the general direction of the drone, but with enough force to bring it down at range. There are rounds currently in use which use lazer range finders in the gun, to count the number of spins to target before detonating inside that target. With frag modifications to the payload they deliver, and the re calibration of the computer that counts the spins to target, a round of this type could be made to detonate say ten feet previous to impact with the drone, shredding it with fragmentation.

scroll down upto the drone, then let your fingers do the walking and see what comes up.

china-pla.blogspot.com...

reply to post by cerebralassassins


I don't understand, it looks like the US UCAV-45 if memory serves me right. Are you saying that the chinese have pretty sophisticated drones?

One anti-drone tactic, is not to assemble large groups of jihadist's in an isolated area.

But.... quite a few major U.S. military personnel think that the U.S. Drone program will eventually prove to be a failure, such as in the war theater of Afghanistan.

The major achilles heel of the drones, is civilian collateral damage. Whereas... constant collateral damage will enrage the civilian population to a point where more people will sign-up for jihad, than the people who are getting killed off by the drone attacks.

reply to post by Erno86

One anti-drone tactic, is not to assemble large groups of jihadist's in an isolated area

Do you know what a jihadist is? Are you calling civilians who die jihadists? These weapons will be turned on US in the future at some point, all military technology eventually comes to civilian police forces and we know how the police uses it.

Just use a laser pointer.

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
reply to post by Erno86

 

One anti-drone tactic, is not to assemble large groups of jihadist's in an isolated area

Do you know what a jihadist is? Are you calling civilians who die jihadists? These weapons will be turned on US in the future at some point, all military technology eventually comes to civilian police forces and we know how the police uses it.

No... I'm not calling civilans - jihadist's. I'am talking about the current war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan, against the jihadist's, including colateral damage to civilians both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Comprende?

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
reply to post by cerebralassassins

 

I don't understand, it looks like the US UCAV-45 if memory serves me right. Are you saying that the chinese have pretty sophisticated drones?

You seem shocked, don't tell me you still view the chinese as rise fields and eating out of bowls in the middle of the street. Then again, the media has done everything to keep news of that caliber away from the public eye. Not that it can hide it, but it simply isn't given the due attention. Here is some light reading to keep things in perspective.

online.wsj.com...

reply to post by cerebralassassins


Wow that certainly does raise some eyebrows; they can mass produce these drones on the cheap and have the manpower and the resources; interesting, they certainly are catching up. The future wars will be drone wars; this is the beginning of skynet; but back to square one, how does the common man defend against such weapons...I have been hearing multiple people saying microwave weapons. It certainly does sound feasible with an old satellite dish and a microwave..