This Drone-Catching Drone Will Capture Unwelcome Aerial Visitors
It’s designed to help stop terrorists, spies, or your annoying next-door neighbor.
As the market for recreational and commercial drones keeps growing, so does the need for regulation and safety measures. We’ve previously reported on the Federal Aviation Administration's attempts to create a national registrar of “drone operators”, as well as legislation in Texas regarding drones invading the airspace of “critical infrastructures”, and now a private company called Airspace Systems is stepping up to the plate with a "drone-hunting drone."
According to Forbes, these drone-interceptors are being designed with a focus on identifying drones, analyzing their trajectories, and ultimately capturing them without a human operator involved. This can be extremely useful in case a commercial drone malfunctions, or for consumers who want to regulate the airspace of their private property. But perhaps most importantly, these drone-hunters could potentially be used in foiling a drone-centric terrorist attack.
After all, as Airspace Systems CEO Jaz Banga points out, ISIS has already used commercial drones in battle, fitting them with 40mm rifle grenades in Mosul this past January. Banga adds, “For a very little amount of money, they become a poor man’s cruise missile.” Take a look at one of these interceptors in action below, courtesy of Airspace Systems:
Institutions such as Citi Field and the New York Mets have developed a relationship with Jaz Banga and Airspace Systems, as the aforementioned fear of unwelcome drones threatening the safety of their customers seems more and more warranted as time goes on. Whether it's simply flying in an unsafe manner or actually carrying a dangerous paylod, Banga tells Forbes that “you have to treat every drone that comes in as possibly something that’s going to be very dangerous for that crowd of 30, 40, [or] 50,000 people.”
While these drone-capturing drones may appeal to the general public, the six-figure price-point is currently more geared towards corporations with the scratch to purchase them. Not exactly cheap, but for corporations who want to provide their consumers with a high level of safety in order to protect their business, it seems like a reasonable opportunity cost.