The US Is Defenseless to a Drone Attack- Wall Street Journal Article today

[Dale D]

This Saturday's Section C article is of great interest to me and I thought I would pass it along to those who do not subscribe.

The U.S. Is Defenseless Against a Drone Terror Attack

The Hamas attack in Israel showed the power and danger of drones, but

wallstreetjournal-ny.newsmemory.com

Dale

 

[shb]

Sounds like more of a political problem then a technological problem. Of course, our government is so dumb that makes it harder to fix.

 

[EssenYVR]

This Saturday's Section C article is of great interest to me and I thought I would pass it along to those who do not subscribe.

The U.S. Is Defenseless Against a Drone Terror Attack

The Hamas attack in Israel showed the power and danger of drones, but

wallstreetjournal-ny.newsmemory.com

Thanks for the link. Of course the reason the politicians aren't acting is because any action would raise the ire of groups like this one who would immediately start complaining that their flying rights are in jeopardy. You pretty much need that "Pearl Harbor" event to galvanize public opinion in order to make such changes palatable. And even that's questionable given how horrific acts like mass shootings don't seem to be moving the needle much in terms of political action.

 

[SmilingOgre]

I'm sorry to hear the General is loosing sleep over this, but I imagine it is not the only thing. There's a lot of fluff and selling subscriptions in that text. Not to say the General shouldn't be thinking about this but I don't know that the WSJ is helping anything. In regard to politicians, they seem to have one answer: ban, ban, ban. They are starting on Autel now along with DJI both based on origin of manufacture. Push the problem off on border patrol and add yet another contraband item to the list? Given all of the delivery systems terrorists have to choose from I wonder how many we can monitor effectively?

 

[JimSteadman]

The article conflates my mini with a weapon of war. This is too broad a brush, but as Smiling Ogre has already pointed out, the WSJ sells more advertising space by putting out this stuff and getting every Karen in the country worked up.

 

[Dale D]

The article conflates my mini with a weapon of war. This is too broad a brush, but as Smiling Ogre has already pointed out, the WSJ sells more advertising space by putting out this stuff and getting every Karen in the country worked up.

My sole reason to post this article it to bring our forum members the increasingly bad news and prognosis of our beloved hobby. With drones now becoming a favored instrument of terrorists (see Hamas) and war (See Ukraine-Russia), the public's awareness that this thing flying around them may not be so friendly , is heightened. It bodes very bad news for me and that is why, when I saw the Wall Street Journal ( a recognized international newspaper) article on my breakfast table,I nearly choked.

I recently had my drone confiscated at the Nairobi (Kenya) airport, since it is well known that Kenya has faced terrorists attacks, and drones are used to find ivory e.g.: elephants) and rhino horns.

Dale
Miami

 

[SmilingOgre]

My sole reason to post this article it to bring our forum members the increasingly bad news and prognosis of our beloved hobby. With drones now becoming a favored instrument of terrorists (see Hamas) and war (See Ukraine-Russia), the public's awareness that this thing flying around them may not be so friendly , is heightened. It bodes very bad news for me and that is why, when I saw the Wall Street Journal ( a recognized international newspaper) article on my breakfast table,I nearly choked.

I recently had my drone confiscated at the Nairobi (Kenya) airport, since it is well known that Kenya has faced terrorists attacks, and drones are used to find ivory e.g.: elephants) and rhino horns.

Dale
Miami

I do truly appreciate knowing about articles like this one. It is a good forecast of the direction of political winds to come as well as the formulation of public opinion. The great debate of whether this is news reporting or social engineering rages on. Regardless, it is out there and is an influence.

 

[JimSteadman]

My sole reason to post this article it to bring our forum members the increasingly bad news and prognosis of our beloved hobby. With drones now becoming a favored instrument of terrorists (see Hamas) and war (See Ukraine-Russia), the public's awareness that this thing flying around them may not be so friendly , is heightened. It bodes very bad news for me and that is why, when I saw the Wall Street Journal ( a recognized international newspaper) article on my breakfast table,I nearly choked.

I recently had my drone confiscated at the Nairobi (Kenya) airport, since it is well known that Kenya has faced terrorists attacks, and drones are used to find ivory e.g.: elephants) and rhino horns.

Dale
Miami

I thank you posting it and letting us all know. What, if anything, can we do to combat this type of reporting? Articles or opinion pieces which equate all drones stoke fear among those who know little about our hobby or the types of drones we fly. Given the source, it might have been applauded by domestic manufacturers who are trying their best to eliminate the Chinese competition, which would enable domestic manufacturers to charge the government much higher costs and fund the campaigns of the politicians who assured them of a highly profitable market.

 

[MS Coast]

"Drone" is a too broad catch-all term. Conflating a DJI Mavic 3 with a military drone is like saying that a canoe is a threat because battleships can kill people.

We need a better word to describe what we fly and distinguish them from the likes of Reapers, Coyotes, Switchblades, and Predators.

 

[Dusty DJI]

This Saturday's Section C article is of great interest to me and I thought I would pass it along to those who do not subscribe.

The U.S. Is Defenseless Against a Drone Terror Attack

The Hamas attack in Israel showed the power and danger of drones, but

wallstreetjournal-ny.newsmemory.com

Dale

Good way for the media to inform our enemies of our possible weaknesses....
And also a good way to ruin a hobby of flying drones

 

[MS Coast]

Good way for the media to inform our enemies of our possible weaknesses....
And also a good way to ruin a hobby of flying drones

Suggesting that the Wall Street Journal released secret, sensitive, heretofore unknown information on national defense in that article is just silly. If the information is so sensitive, how did some junior reporter get hold of it?

Anyone just now discovering that drones have military, criminal, and terrorist uses from a newspaper article is certainly not a threat to our national security.

There's no cause to criticize America's free press here.

 

[shb]

I think we've known for a long time that small drones can be weaponized. I think they're doing that in Ukraine right now. As long as it doesn't happen in other countries by terrorists or psychopaths we should be ok.

 

[Dale D]

I totally agree. The word "drone" now has a bad connotation to many people. Just saying the word now raises eyebrows and hackles.

I propose the following;
example:
Customs inspector: "What is that in your camera bag?"
Me: "It's a flying camera , officer."

other options...
"It's my aerial inspection instrument"
"It's my air platting tool." etc.


Dale
Miami

 

[ericole]

"Drone" is a too broad catch-all term. Conflating a DJI Mavic 3 with a military drone is like saying that a canoe is a threat because battleships can kill people.

We need a better word to describe what we fly and distinguish them from the likes of Reapers, Coyotes, Switchblades, and Predators.

I agree with this, and always say quad copter, but his others have pointed out in the past. The term “drone” is already in the common vernacular, and there’s no way we can change it.

 

[ericole]

I think we've known for a long time that small drones can be weaponized. I think they're doing that in Ukraine right now. As long as it doesn't happen in other countries by terrorists or psychopaths we should be ok.

To be honest, I’m surprised somebody just inside our country Hasn’t used one already to do something crazy along these lines, . Since we know that full-size airplanes can be used as weapons these would be a cakewalk to turn into a weapon though not on such a large scale.

 

[Dale D]

I agree with this, and always say quad copter, but his others have pointed out in the past. The term “drone” is already in the common vernacular, and there’s no way we can change it.

I will repeat..."It's a flying camera, officer."