"Switchblade" backpack drone

[Monkeyleg]

I've never seen this little weapon before. Pretty cool. I wonder if it's really being used?

http://tu.tv/videos/switchblade-pelicula

[KD5NRH]

I've never seen this little weapon before. Pretty cool. I wonder if it's really being used?

http://tu.tv/videos/switchblade-pelicula

Would've been a lot cheaper and easier to just give the cameramen pistols.

[Monkeyleg]

Would've been a lot cheaper and easier to just give the cameramen pistols.

:D :D

[bedlamite]

I still think they look like a SPAD.

[AJ Dual]

I've never seen this little weapon before. Pretty cool. I wonder if it's really being used?

http://tu.tv/videos/switchblade-pelicula

I wonder what the countermeasures would be for a political rally, where such a thing has been waiting on the side of a building for a month or so, looking like a pipe or a piece of a cell tower antenna...

[MicroBalrog]

http://defense-update.com/products/l/switchblade_31122010.html

[Perd Hapley]

I wonder what the countermeasures would be for a political rally, where such a thing has been waiting on the side of a building for a month or so, looking like a pipe or a piece of a cell tower antenna...

Wouldn't it be easier to just keep them on the roof? Much better for installation and maintenance, not to mention concealment.

[Boomhauer]

Wouldn't it be easier to just keep them on the roof? Much better for installation and maintenance, not to mention concealment.

You're missing AJ's message...

[AJ Dual]

Wouldn't it be easier to just keep them on the roof? Much better for installation and maintenance, not to mention concealment.

Could be. Although in this scenario, those putting it into position aren't going to want to repeatedly come back and keep checking on it. And the actual day-of, there might be a bunch of .gov alphabet soup agency snipers up there. Although, with it's NLOS and vertical launch capabilities, yes, it would be just one more pipe and/or box amongst the HVAC gear, lightning rods, and whatever else decorates the top of your average commercial building.

You're going to have to put the VIP in some sort of armored polycarbonate-laminate box, or have CWIS of some sort in the podium. Probably both.

Or, public appearances like that just become a thing of the past for anyone important, or controversial enough.

Problem with CWIS then is a head-height low angle of attack puts the innocent audience right in the line of fire of any countermeasures, kinetic or directed energy.  Save for the explosives, I don't see why a group or dedicated individual with some EE and CE skills couldn't create such a system right now with COTS hobby items, and a PLC and GPS receiver.

[MicroBalrog]

If you know where the podium is, why not just use a mortar?

[PTK]

Could be. Although in this scenario, those putting it into position aren't going to want to repeatedly come back and keep checking on it. And the actual day-of, there might be a bunch of .gov alphabet soup agency snipers up there. Although, with it's NLOS and vertical launch capabilities, yes, it would be just one more pipe and/or box amongst the HVAC gear, lightning rods, and whatever else decorates the top of your average commercial building.

You're going to have to put the VIP in some sort of armored polycarbonate-laminate box, or have CWIS of some sort in the podium. Probably both.

Or, public appearances like that just become a thing of the past for anyone important, or controversial enough.

Problem with CWIS then is a head-height low angle of attack puts the innocent audience right in the line of fire of any countermeasures, kinetic or directed energy.  Save for the explosives, I don't see why a group or dedicated individual with some EE and CE skills couldn't create such a system right now with COTS hobby items, and a PLC and GPS receiver.

That's.... a disturbing thought, and all too plausible. It still amazes me that no one has made a simple pulse jet cruise missile and lobbed it at an important figure, too. Here's hoping neither of these technologies are ever used in such a heinous way.

If you know where the podium is, why not just use a mortar?

Aim, line of sight, firing position, etc. Come on, you know better than that. 

[AJ Dual]

If you know where the podium is, why not just use a mortar?

- Because a mortar is rarely 100% on target it's first round. Nor will you get a second shot. This is made more difficult by vertical narrow spaces between buildings in urban terrain.

- Because people futzing with a mortar will look conspicuous.

- Both the firing and the landing of the mortar are noisy. The drone is quiet on launch.

- Because Hobby Lobby, and Hobby Town USA don't sell mortar kits and parts.

- For all the other tactical and strategic reasons the IDF and the US .mil don't use a mortar, even when they also know where the target is.

- Because a small RC or completely independent drone zipping up to the VIP and blowing his/her head off is much more psychologically devastating.

- Because unattended mortars have been tried by the IRA and others, and they never did much damage, or hit what they were aiming at.

[Regolith]

- For all the other tactical and strategic reasons the IDF and the US .mil don't use a mortar, even when they also know where the target is.

Wait...they don't? So what are these guys doing? 

That's.... a disturbing thought, and all too plausible. It still amazes me that no one has made a simple pulse jet cruise missile and lobbed it at an important figure, too.

It's a lot easier to build a pulse jet than it is to make one go where you want it to. Probably not worth the effort.

[AJ Dual]

- For all the other tactical and strategic reasons the IDF and the US .mil don't use a mortar, even when they also know where the target is.

Wait...they don't? So what are these guys doing?  

My initial statement is not exclusive of ever using a mortar. I simply stated the truth that there are plenty of times they do not use a mortar.

Otherwise we would not have artillery, cruise missiles, rifles, handguns, shoulder launched missiles, CAS from aircraft, or armed drones in theater as well.

[Perd Hapley]

Could be. Although in this scenario, those putting it into position aren't going to want to repeatedly come back and keep checking on it.

Oh, I thought you meant that a govt would be using them. Unless they're close to street level,   emplacing them on walls gets tricky, and less than discrete.

[AJ Dual]

Oh, I thought you meant that a govt would be using them. Unless they're close to street level,   emplacing them on walls gets tricky, and less than discrete.

Well, a .gov may well be using them too, not just non-state actors. While an explosive drone is probably now within the reach of a talented hobbyist, or a team of gifted college students pursuing an EE degree, the first users of such tech will probably be state run militaries and clandestine/intelligence services, on their own soil, or not...

There might have already been one such attack in Russia (Warning NSFW), but luckily the intent seems to have been just disruption, and not assassination, and the UAV was struck down by a lucky member of the security detail.

[Boomhauer]

will probably be state run militaries and clandestine/intelligence services, on their own soil, or not.

That's what scares me a bit.

Every new piece of tech like this that comes out (mini UAVs with offensive potential, various crowd control measures, etc) I worry if they will be used by a .gov against it's citizens (particuarly our gov't and us), whether it's to slap down legit rally or to spark an incident...

[birdman]

Regarding a mortar, I think this:
http://www.baesystems.com/ProductsServices/bae_prod_eis_pgmm.html
Is more of a concern than a small UAV.  Draw a 7km radius around a point high value target, can you ensure there isn't a van with a small hole in the roof in that radius?  And it's short time on target, and fire-and-forget.  As the technology flows down into 81mm and even 60mm class mortars...then what.

Also, you can be DAMN accurate with a conventional mortar, and the mass on target per unit deployed equipment weight of modern mortars is something to behold.

[seeker_two]

Wait...they don't? So what are these guys doing? 

Showing the Canadians how to make combat coffee?.....

It's a lot easier to build a pulse jet than it is to make one go where you want it to. Probably not worth the effort.

Nazi Germany didn't think so....

[AJ Dual]

Regarding a mortar, I think this:
http://www.baesystems.com/ProductsServices/bae_prod_eis_pgmm.html
Is more of a concern than a small UAV.  Draw a 7km radius around a point high value target, can you ensure there isn't a van with a small hole in the roof in that radius?  And it's short time on target, and fire-and-forget.  As the technology flows down into 81mm and even 60mm class mortars...then what.

Also, you can be DAMN accurate with a conventional mortar, and the mass on target per unit deployed equipment weight of modern mortars is something to behold.

The guy or device that needs to be within LOS to be illuminating the target I mean... Theoretical VIP with the laser designator is going to have some trouble I think.

But something produced by an entire division of BAE is not what I'm talking about here. That's not really tech that's well within the realm of a small group of non-state actors engaged in asymmetrical warfare.

These small startup UAV companies, and college teams of talented undergrads making UAV's using OTS hobby parts that can fly right at a wall and then flip 180 and perch there like a bird/bat, or drop through a window, are a lot closer...

[KD5NRH]

The guy or device that needs to be within LOS to be illuminating the target I mean... Theoretical VIP with the laser designator is going to have some trouble I think.

Depends on the tracking capabilities; if it just needs a second or so of an IR laser, and locks onto that point with GPS guidance, then a designator disguised as a camera might go completely unnoticed.

[birdman]

Depends on the tracking capabilities; if it just needs a second or so of an IR laser, and locks onto that point with GPS guidance, then a designator disguised as a camera might go completely unnoticed.

Or someone nearby with a properly tuned emitter on a suicide mission, I mean, the lethal radius of a 120mm mortar is pretty big.  (or a fixed emitter, doesn't have to be that big)

[Monkeyleg]

Sorry for the modifications on the two posts, but I'm just not comfortable with the use of the "P" word, no matter how hypothetical.

[Physics]

These small startup UAV companies, and college teams of talented undergrads making UAV's using OTS hobby parts that can fly right at a wall and then flip 180 and perch there like a bird/bat, or drop through a window, are a lot closer...

 

My team of undergrads who did underwater robotics last year are doing autonomous aerial vehicles this year.  The technology is pretty good, even at the over the counter level, as youtube will readily show.

[seeker_two]

Or someone nearby with a properly tuned emitter on a suicide mission, I mean, the lethal radius of a 120mm mortar is pretty big.  (or a fixed emitter, doesn't have to be that big)

Maybe slip a cell phone or microtransmitter in someone's bag/purse unknowingly before they attend a certain event....lots of possibilities....