Using drones: principles, tactics and results (amended title)

[davidbfpo]

From RUSI and on open access. Their aim was to:

...to provide an in-depth inventory of armed drones possessed by Middle Eastern states, assessing quantity, types and timeframes; and to explore where and how armed drones have been used so far, to assess whether and how countries' practices and ethical considerations around airpower and airstrikes are affected.

The two main research questions addressed in this paper are:

• What are the flows of UAV technology from and to the Middle East and their uses?
• Which norms, practices and methodologies are exported to and/or used by Middle Eastern powers in the deployment of UAV technology

The focus of the study is on UAVs that fall under the ‘Category 1’ and ‘Category 2’ definitions of the Missile Technology Control Regime. In the Middle East, the countries that operate or simply possess these drones are Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey.

Link:https://rusi.org/publication/occasio...d-norms-region

[AdamG]

Not the Drones you were expecting, but Drones all the same.

A drone attack at one of the UK's busiest airports has left tens of thousands of passengers facing major disruption. Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, when two devices were seen flying over the perimeter fence. The airport said a drone had been spotted "in the last hour" and the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so".

Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption. Dr Alan McKenna, from the University of Kent, said the drones appeared to be "of an industrial size" not "one you can buy from the shops".
What happened?
The shutdown started just after 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, when two drones were spotted flying "over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from".
The runway briefly reopened at 03:01 but was closed again about 45 minutes later amid "a further sighting of drones".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754

[davidbfpo]

A reasonable commentary:https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/1...tdown_reasons/

[davidbfpo]

A rather well informed article, complete with photos of the kit in situ. It starts with:

he Army used a cutting-edge Israeli anti-drone system to defeat the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that brought misery to hundreds of thousands of people at Gatwick airport. The British Army bought six 'Drone Dome' systems for £15.8 million in 2018 ....Police had been seen on Thursday with an off-the-shelf DJI system that tracks drones made by that manufacturer and shows officers where the operator is (DJI is the most popular commercial drone brand.)

Link:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...twick-UAV.html

I still prefer the PR disaster mitigation option of deploying Apache attack helicopters.

[davidbfpo]

An academic overview after the Gatwick incident, with multiple links and it ends with:

It’s not the first time Gatwick Airport has had to contend with an errant drone, but this occasion should be a wake-up call to the need for reliable and affordable counter-measures, and the need to think more creatively about the potential risks posed by (multiple) drones more widely.

Link:https://theconversation.com/gatwick-...o-life-109187?

[Compost]

An exemplar on several levels

For an outside assessment of the nature of UAV targeting recently employed against Saudi oil facilities see:
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wh...es-teaches-us/