In February of 2014 we warned of the impending urban drone wars:
Criminals will soon realize a single flying gadget won’t help them so much and will be drawn into a drone arms race requiring each side to ramp up their drone numbers in order to win any encounter.
Moreover, once criminals discover the drone is a near-perfect murder weapon, they will start to invest in these devices and subsequently pull off murders without getting caught. Once again, police will have to counter with more drones which are constantly surveilling the air.
Finally, many of the drone-based murders will likely take place as night as these devices have night-vision and humans do not.
Gang and mob warfare will be taken to the next level as drone hits on one group will be retaliated with counter drone attacks and we’ll potentially see drone wars in the streets between sparring groups.
This future which may seem far-fetched – is not, as it is possible to develop drones with virtually all of these capabilities today. As battery and drone technology gets better, I am 100% certain virtually all of these scenarios will take place around the world.
More than three years later the prediction has come true:
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Congress on Wednesday that terrorist groups are looking to use drones to wage attacks in the U.S.
“I think we do know that terrorist organizations have an interest in using drones,” Wray testified in a hearing for the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
“We’ve seen that overseas already with growing frequency. I think the expectation is that it’s coming here imminently. I think they are relatively easy to acquire, relatively easy to operate, and quite difficult to disrupt and monitor,” Wray added.
Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center echoed Wray’s concerns.
It’s been shown that lasers can take drones out – by shooting them down. The challenge will be in urban areas. As drone prices continue to plummet, drone swarms will be sent to ensure whatever task at hand gets completed. Even if a laser can take out a single drone, how can it do so safely in an urban setting? If it can, will it be able to take out all the drones before they reach their target. Moreover, how will law enforcement be able to tell good from bad drones?
The only answer seems to be law-enforcement-based drone swarms which seek out and destroy drones unauthorized to fly in certain secure areas.
If you’ve seen Star Wars, you understand where things are going. The world will become a much scarier place.
