back to article HMS Queen Lizzie impugned by cheeky Scot's drone landing

An amateur photographer has reportedly landed his £475 drone aboard the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy – without permission and completely unchallenged. The unnamed photographer gave an interview to local paper the Inverness Courier, detailing how he landed his drone aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in spite of “ …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Assuming it was armed...

    What would they shoot it down with, exactly? The 20mm vulcan cannon? The 30mm autocannon? The gatling gun? Some poor matelot with the ship's SA80?

    1. SkippyBing

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      Well one of the first three, the last one seems a tad optimistic...

    2. macjules

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      The only offensive method we have left is a sternly-worded rebuke. Sometimes it comes on HM Admiralty notepaper.

    3. Haku

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      Guns vs racing drones at a shooting range - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0oCM37oZA

      It's funny watching the law enforcement guys bragging at the beginning about being so sure they're going to shoot down a drone, then they see how small & fast they are...

      Best quote of the video is at the briefing from an FPV pilot: "I hope he's clear they have to shoot the drone not the pilot, that would be the easiest way to bring the drone down"

    4. John 98

      jw@resthaven.org.uk

      SA80? I imagine there is a development contract for a heavily modified brown bess musket, which is due to be ready in 2033 at a cost of 1 billion pounds. It will be then be found that the forged titanium ram rod is incompatible ...

      1. N2

        Re: jw@resthaven.org.uk

        At least the fekking magazine wont drop off when you run with it

    5. Stuart Halliday

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      It wouldn't show up on Radar...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Assuming it was armed...

        We have an "air freshener" spray at home. I weighed the active bit at about 100gm. A face-full is not much fun. It could be equipped with pepper spray with very little effort.

        I don't know how big a drone needs to be to carry a 100g payload, but not very big, anyway. A bunch of drones so equipped could take out the deck watch pretty quick, prior to a boarding party.

        If the next James Bond film uses this plot, I want a percentage!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Assuming it was armed...

          That'd just really piss off the guys on the top deck.

    6. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      What would they shoot it down with, exactly?

      The US army is using Stinger missiles against UAVs. Good job they've got the budget because the cost is ~38k$ per shot.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Assuming it was armed...

        The US army is using Stinger missiles against UAVs. Good job they've got the budget because the cost is ~38k$ per shot.

        Cost aside, would Stinger or other MADPADs even be effective against a small drone? They are typically equipped with an IR or IR/UV seeker head; is the heat emission of a battery-powered motor or even a small internal-combustion engine really hign enough to get a lock?

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: Assuming it was armed...

          A mahoosive fly swat?

          1. Danny 14

            Re: Assuming it was armed...

            GPMG would be used I assume. They would be quite effective and use tracer to enable leading.

          2. Wensleydale Cheese

            Re: Assuming it was armed...

            "A mahoosive fly swat?"

            Pictures Wile E. Coyote unpacking an Acme branded one...

            It's just occurred to me that it's ages since I did any clay pigeon shooting.

            A 12 bore shotgun would surely do the trick, but only at an uncomfortably short range if the drone is indeed armed.

          3. Stoneshop

            Re: Assuming it was armed...

            A mahoosive fly swat?

            Well, as it was a Parrot you could lure it with a nice piece of cuttlefish, then you put four million volts through it.

        2. Stoneshop

          Re: Assuming it was armed...

          is the heat emission of a battery-powered motor or even a small internal-combustion engine really hign enough to get a lock?

          I don't know what a Stinger's fitted with and what its detection algorithm is, but IR cameras can easily discern a human body against cooler backgrounds. Electrical motors, never mind combustion engines, will be noticeably warmer.

        3. TheElder

          get a lock?

          At supersonic velocity the minimum turning radius is hundreds of metres or more.

    7. Adam 52 Silver badge

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      The MP7 carried by the Police mentioned in the article. If they'd been bothered which they clearly weren't.

    8. PNGuinn
      Joke

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      Nah - Tried 'n tested Maritime methods.

      Cat O' Pult. Gives you 9 tries. Or so I'm told.

      Thanks - I'm here all week.

    9. JaitcH

      Re: Assuming it was armed...

      with operators like this one > https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=36CTDiJjQ8I < who needs drone defences?

  2. Spider

    next up

    The ineffectiveness of the RN's response aside, next up FPV RC owners complaining of draconian knee jerk registrations laws and over bearing restrictions on use.

    At least they know one of those to blame

  3. MrT

    Weaponised drones...

    ... looks like we do have something to fly from HMS DC QE after all. A swarm of grenade-toting drones or one F35B??

    1. PerspexAvenger

      Re: Weaponised drones...

      I dunno about anyone else, but a quarter-of-a-million drones coming in in swarm would certainly put the shits up me...

      The Perdix test swarm was only 103 drones, and the final "orbit" demonstration becomes even more disconcerting if you consider them either armed or programmable for kinetic strike...

      https://youtu.be/OixSNQp0S_k

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Unhappy

        Re: Weaponised drones...

        > I dunno about anyone else, but a quarter-of-a-million drones coming in in swarm would certainly put the shits up me...

        A quarter-million wasp-sized drones, linked to each other with software that knows how to swarm and armed with a 'sting' comprising a syringe of poison/sedative depending upon how nasty/nice you want to be, seems to me to be an inevitable future development in weaponry.

        1. macjules

          Re: Weaponised drones...

          I thought a 'weaponised drone' was just about any Tank Regiment type droning on for hours about his blasted Challenger 2 and how it can withstand xx blasts from an RPG.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Weaponised drones...

            No, that's an Armour Veteran (Large Bore).

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Weaponised drones...

            >any Tank Regiment type

            Ex-Regimentals are even less interesting.

        2. Simon Harris

          Re: Weaponised drones...

          Swarm of wasp sized drones...

          Did you borrow that idea from Black Mirror?

          1. Dave559 Silver badge

            Re: Weaponised drones...

            I think Dune was there first with the assassin wasp drone idea? It's genuinely quite terrifying to see something like that proceed from a fantastical science fiction idea to practically a reality in my own lifetime…

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Weaponised drones...

              I think Dune was there first with the assassin wasp drone idea?

              Try The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem. Originally published in 1964, it contains the idea of microscopic fighting machines controlled by a distributed AI and working in concert to defeat much more capable and nominally more intelligent opponents.

              It still reads pretty well despite it age ...

        3. PNGuinn
          Go

          Re: Weaponised drones...

          T'internet of stings.

          Be careful out there.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Weaponised drones...

          See Michael Crichton's novel "Prey" (2006)...

        5. Tikimon

          Re: Weaponised drones - 1950 or earlier

          Wasps as weapons (but no central control) is found in Ray Bradbury's story "Ylla" published in 1950. It was one of the Martian Chronicles collection. A Martian woman in a loveless marriage daydreams about the humans coming to explore Mars. When they arrive, her jealous husband kills them with a gun that fires wasps.

      2. Sir Runcible Spoon

        Re: Weaponised drones...

        "The Perdix test swarm was only 103 drones,"

        Have these people never seen Screamers ffs?!

    2. TheElder

      Re: Weaponised drones...

      Chemicals would be most likely or maybe a 3 iodide.

    3. phuzz Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Weaponised drones...

      The biggest question about weaponised drones isn't how well they may or may not work, it's whether a defence contractor can make an obscene profit off them or not.

  4. Steve Evans

    A threat?

    "ISIS have a proven track record in Syria of weaponizing DJI's Phantom [drone] and its professional platform the Matrice 100 to drop grenades on troops, so a drone flying over the aircraft carrier without permission, as opposed to alongside, should be considered a potential threat,"

    I apologise to Douglas Adams for this, but it has to be said/paraphrased...

    Mr Dent, do you know how much damage the Aircraft carrier would suffer if you dropped a grenade on it?...

    For the uninitiated, or those that suffered the more recent movie...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A threat?

      Mr Dent, do you know how much damage the Aircraft carrier would suffer if you dropped a grenade on it?...

      A fair bit, if this is a hafnium nuclear-isomer hand grenade. Of course, those are even more imaginary than the F-35Bs QE is supposed to eventually host ...

      1. Danny 14

        Re: A threat?

        Just drop a load of sand taken from St Bees beach near sellafield. Probably be enough to cause an NBC incident....

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A threat?

        Or one of Jay Score's pocket A-bombs... ("Men, Martians and machines", Eric Frank Russell).

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

          Re: A threat?

          "Men, Martians and machines", Eric Frank Russell

          Also "Wasp" by said gentleman - the idea that a large and complex war can be derailed by one person in the right place at the right time.

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: A threat?

      The W54 used in the M-388 "Davy Crockett" weighed in at 23 kg. And that was 1950ies technology (W54s were manufactured from 1961 until early 1962, around 400 of them).

      Just sayin'.

  5. wyatt

    Not a lot they can do to defend against this unless they have some sort of method of knocking them out of the sky. Maybe there will be a whole new job created to throw galley pies at drones?

    1. lglethal Silver badge
      Go

      There are a few devices out there that can knock drones out of the sky, but most are in the experimental phase or just coming to commercialisation (my firm is one of those releasing a product). Still a long time before they become ubiquitous though as they are not exactly cheap units at the moment.

      1. Mark 110

        "There are a few devices out there that can knock drones out of the sky"

        Shotgun? Assuming its low enough . . Works for ducks

      2. Captain DaFt

        There are a few devices out there that can knock drones out of the sky, but most are in the experimental phase or just coming to commercialisation (my firm is one of those releasing a product). Still a long time before they become ubiquitous though as they are not exactly cheap units at the moment.

        Only a lack of personnel on deck saved the drone.

        I find it hard to believe that the vessel was unequipped with this type of anti-drone weapon. ☺

        1. Not That Andrew

          Well the title says it all. It's Argentinian, I doubt they'll sell or licence their tech to us.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "I find it hard to believe that the vessel was unequipped with this type of anti-drone weapon"

          I'm sure BAe will soon be quoting for a hardened version in carbon fibre and Kevlar.

    2. Rich 11

      I expect they're due to be fitted with something a tad more powerful than cream pies.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goalkeeper_CIWS

    3. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

      "to defend against this"

      let's see:

      12 bore shotgun (as already stated by others)

      largish fly swatter

      trained eagle

      or if you just INSIST on something techy: directional RF jammer and/or MASER

      1. Mike Banahan

        Re: "to defend against this"

        I see your 12 bore shotgun and raise you the 4 bore. They weren't uncommon when I was a lad and though you need to be a big chap to handle the recoil they do significantly more damage at greater range with a suitable load.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HssPND1gVOw

        1. BebopWeBop

          Re: "to defend against this"

          I see your 12 bore shotgun and raise you the 4 bore

          And I'll raise you a "punt gun" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2NUCJOYRE8 -2 or even 1 bore monsters - 50+ ducks in a go.

      2. Wensleydale Cheese

        Re: "to defend against this"

        "or if you just INSIST on something techy: directional RF jammer and/or MASER"

        What frequencies do these things work on?

        This appeals to the latent BOFH in me.

        1. xehpuk

          Re: "to defend against this"

          They can be preprogrammed to run a route using GPS. But if you also yam the GPS they will probably get lost.

          Best high tech solution is lasers ofcourse.

          1. Stoneshop
            Headmaster

            Re: "to defend against this"

            But if you also yam the GPS they will probably get lost.

            Would that be the Dioscorea rotundata, the Dioscorea cayenensis, the Dioscorea alata, the Dioscorea polystachya, the bulbifera, esculenta, dumetorum or the trifida? And would other tubers (like the common potato, radish, rutabaga or turnip) work as well?

        2. JaitcH
          Unhappy

          Re: "to defend against this"

          Most of these jammers transmit a 30° cone pattern to jam the control and GPS navigation frequencies. The control frequencies are all commercial drone licensed telemetry bands.

          Obviously, using alternative frequencies will defeat these latest military toys. Sad!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "to defend against this"

        something that fires a big net? skywall, etc ...?

      4. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: "to defend against this"

        >trained eagle ?

        It's an aircraft carrier, perhaps the military need to start training seagulls...

        1. Stoneshop

          Re: "to defend against this"

          It's an aircraft carrier, perhaps the military need to start training seagulls...

          Albatrosses (Albatri?).

          (they're bloody seabird flavour)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "to defend against this"

            Albatroi, I think.

            1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

              Re: "to defend against this"

              Albatroi, I think

              But only if you are Greek. To we English speakers, the plural of albatross is albatross..

          2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

            Re: "to defend against this"

            Albatrosses

            With the extra fringe benefit that anyone who kills it will be condemned to wander the seas forever.

        2. eldakka

          Re: "to defend against this"

          It's an aircraft carrier, perhaps the military need to start training seagulls...

          Sea Eagles.

          1. Sir Runcible Spoon
            Coat

            Re: "to defend against this"

            Is it "Sea Eagles all the way up" ?

      5. TheElder

        trained eagle

        Eagle? How about crows? I have pics of crows doing fighter attacks on an eagle bomber.

      6. OldCrow

        Re: "to defend against this"

        How about the Trophy active-countermeasure system? The drone is likely to be slower than an RPG...

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_(countermeasure)

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Trigonoceps occipitalis

      There was a report (sadly probably apocryphal) of a member of The Expeditionary Forces' Institute hefting a NAAFI pork pie at an Argy jet over San Carlos Water.

  6. Jim-234

    Common sense to not take it very seriously

    When you have your huge armoured ship sitting in the shipyards still being built, it's probably best to just ignore hobbyists flying little drones around.

    Just about 0 chance of them causing any damage and it's not like the pictures they will take are of any real use (after all anybody that matters probably already hacked into the design servers & downloaded the blueprints a long time ago).

    That's not to say you couldn't use them as free test targets to improve EM jamming and hijacking techniques. Just oops your drone went into the sea... shame...

    In actual hostile environments your battleships and aircraft carriers are going to be way out of the reach of small drones, so anything big enough to get to them is probably big enough to be a threat and those would warrant getting dispatched quickly which is not hard to do if you are Tier 1 or 2 and your enemies are Tier 8 and 9

    What I could see being a lot more fun is the military using mini "fighter drones" doing drone combat duty for practice and a little sport. Nets, blocks, sticky stuff, ramming speed all fun and good. But probably just Hijack them or EM disrupt them. And of course.... Lasers....

    Now that the Armed forces in the USA have the green light to take out any drones they like... fun and games for everyone.

    1. Trollslayer

      Re: Common sense to not take it very seriously

      Spoilsport!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Common sense to not take it very seriously

      "...it's not like the pictures they will take are of any real use..."

      But the Russians! Won't somebody think of the Russians??

  7. Stoke the atom furnaces

    On a visit once to HMS Illustrious they had a training rocket on display with four holes punctured in it in a neat row by Phalanx or Goalkeeper. Princess Anne walked pass me as well.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Princess Anne

      She drove a Reliant Scimitar, you know?

      1. Jason Hindle

        Re: She drove a Reliant Scimitar, you know?

        One with London, Paris, New York, Peckham on the side?

        1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

          Re: She drove a Reliant Scimitar, you know?

          @Jason Hindle

          One with London, Paris, New York, Peckham on the side?

          That was on a Reliant Regal van...

          http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/tv/del-boys-tamworth-made-reliant-regal-398230

          which despite it's name, not really suitable for royalty.

          HRH with one her Scimitars...

          http://www.middlebridge-scimitar.co.uk/gallery_images.php?db_id=6&Middlebridge_id=5

          see also

          http://www.sporting-reliants.com/Middlebridge_20th.htm

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hilarious!

    Shame he'll probably end up with a rather heavy book thrown at him (for endangering sea gulls or something) - which would've also done for the drone.

    Happy friday ya'll

  9. Stuart Halliday

    Odd.

    You seem to go out of your way to not mention that these things can be bought on the High Street. Like Menkind or Maplin? Why is that?

  10. indigomm

    Can he now claim to have made the first flight from the deck of the aircraft carrier?

    1. SkippyBing

      No, no he can't. My friend can though.

      https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/merlin-makes-first-landing-aboard-new-uk-aircraft-ca-439039/

      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

        So, bragging rights for first UAV landing and takeoff, then?

        1. SkippyBing

          'So, bragging rights for first UAV landing and takeoff, then?'

          Apparently not even those, there was a video put out by the RN of some of the ship's weapons engineers playing with their own on the flight deck while they were waiting to get under the bridges at Rosyth.

  11. Lee D Silver badge

    Seriously - how hard would it be to put GSM control on these things? If they have a range in the distance of miles, you could plant them on top of roofs (a little solar panel should keep them topped up enough until they're needed), take off, all go to your destination under remote pilot, then do... whatever nasty you wanted.

    And then either dump them there, or tell them to drop themselves in a nearby ocean or into the path of a lorry.

    Just thinking from what I know of playing about with Ardunio and stuff, a GSM module and a GPS controller could push a drone to any destination you like on remote command, whenever you felt like it.

    Is it really that hard to imagine these things being used for lots more nefarious purposes, everything from bombs, but down to papparazzi sneaking a shot through someone's bedroom window while leaving the perpetrator pretty anonymous even if the device is recovered?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

    There's also no crew on the ship to be killed if it carried a grenade or plastic explosive.

    1. toxicdragon

      Re: If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

      Personally I take away from it that there was no crew so it was undefended, which seems a bit silly considering its the navys new toy.

      1. Steve Evans

        Re: If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

        It's not finished or commissioned yet, so no navy gunners to man the non fitted guns to defend the unavailable planes.

      2. Adam 52 Silver badge

        Re: If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

        It was defended, by MoD Police. As mentioned in the article.

        The Navy defends against attack from foreign countries, the Police from criminals. Because we are not a military dictatorship.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

          "....the Police from criminals."

          I thought the function of the MoD police was to keep passers-by from noticing the poor state of repair of military sites?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: If there's no crew on the ship to see the drone

        More exactly, it's the politicians' and the admirals' new toy.

        Any actual sailor - more especially anyone who runs any risk of having to sail in the bloody thing - will be very much aware that it's nothing but an immense floating target with "Sink Me!" written on it in big letters.

        Just as the Navy saw through John Fisher's demented schemes to bombard the North Prussian coast with "Courageous" and "Glorious" - immediately christened "Outrageous" and "Uproarious". And just as all the matelots must have realised that sailing on HMS "Hood" was not a safe thing to do.

  13. PhilipN Silver badge

    Blast! Chance missed.

    The Liaoning visited Hong Kong recently.

    Now tell me again how to drone-buzz a carrier without being traceable?

    Borrow one from somebody I don't like?

    On second thoughts, don't tell me. At least not publicly.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A good thing too

    It's quite lucky that the carrier wasn't yet armed. Just imagine - if it had been equipped with - or escorted by - a functioning Aegis system, they could have shot down several civilian airliners.

  15. Dave Foster

    Seeing someone has mentioned shotguns, how about using a few AA-12s?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchisson_Assault_Shotgun

  16. Banksy
    Trollface

    Pics or it didn't happen...

    Never has the phrase been more appropriate.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I say raise it to

    Rail guns. :-)

  18. Milton

    The distant buzz of the swarm

    Can you hear it? Drones are cheap, ever longer ranged, faster and capable of carrying ever more sophisticated electronics. They can be made extremely stealthy, assisted by their small size in the first place. The price of one ineffective POS like an F-35 will buy you thousands of drones—so many that individually they are expendable. The cost of a single ballistic missile sub (e.g. Trident) will get you tens of thousands of neutral-buoyancy surveillance drones capable of riding the currents for potentially years, listening and sending bursts of intel back to base—not to mention even nastier ones, sacrificial drones with active sonar and 50kg of PBX.

    My point being that for those who think they know what asymmetrical warfare is: you ain't seen nothing yet.

    Just as well our anon photog was an honest man, not a deep-cover GRU agent with a warehouse full of "Buster Crabbe"-class drones capable of dropping RF pickups, microphones, cameras and capsules of botulinus toxin down every vent, orifice and exhaust that HMS QE had to offer.

    IMHO there was been a grotesque failure of the imagination in respect of the potential of military/espionage drones, especially their nascent ability to operate as semi-autonomous swarms. (Do you know just how fast a point-defence weapons system like Phalanx runs out of ammo? It's designed for last-ditch defence against the last few vampires getting through layered air pickets to a Nato ship: not to shoot down hosts of gnats. And don't get me started on the difficulty of hiding boomers in the ocean when sea drones, silently riding through the thermocline, can bang out active sonar pulses with impunity, and quickly relay their findings back to base.)

    If you thought Windows for Warships was the gravest danger to our navy (well, after Her Majesty's ministers, and our insane defence procurement processes, that is), you were wrong: drone war is going to make some of our big steel investments into big steel targets.

    There is, in short, a desperately urgent need for a high level of intelliegence, imagination, competence and leadership in the Uk defence ministry.

    Unfortunately, the current incumbent is Michael Fallon (loose-lipped, arrogant luodmouth, no relevant experience or knowledge of defence), who was preceded by Philip Hammond (tight-lipped, moderately intelligent, no relevant experience or knowledge of defence), preceded by Liam Fox (astoundingly stupid, for a trained doctor, no relevant experience or knowledge of defence unless you count a stint as a Civilian Army MO), preceded by Bob Ainsworth, John Hutton, John Reid, Geoff "Buff" Hoon ...not a single one of whom had any knowledge or experience qualifying them to oversee the armed forces defence of the United Kingdom.

    That is, of course, the nature of cabinet government, and explains why it isn't just defence that these second-rate mouths-on-sticks manage to fuck up with such dreary predictability.

  19. JosephEngels

    AS she is sailing alongside the USS something or other, there is a NOTAM out banning flight, any flight, in the vicinity as she enters port ... not for the UK ship, but for the American vessel ... which may (in theory) launch it's aircraft at any time, hence the no fly zone. Check the NOTAMs for more details, there was one promulagted as she anchored off Portsmouth recently, I suspect there will be another as she heads south again.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is rather heartwarming, in a way, to know that The Register is one of the media which has been invited by the MoD to the carrier's arrival in Portsmouth. I don't know whether you should be pleased, or somewhat alarmed, that you are, as it were, on their radar. Hopefully it's just that they are aware you are fellow technology buffs, but I suspect they are watching you anyway (keep up the good work)...

  21. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    PCSO with a Taser

    Landlubbers get accosted now and then for lawfully taking photographs, usually by over-eager officers unfamiliar with the law. Some are also trigger happy with their tasers - A lethal combination to deploy against unwelcome drones! The MOD Police should recruit a few of them.

  22. raygdunn
    Thumb Up

    Assuming it was armed...

    This should bring down a drone. Accurate home made machine gun. Twenty million hits! No wait a minute...

    http://goo.gl/2b2UPg

    I'd plump for employing one of our world class clay pigeon shots. Short range but likely a bit less collateral damage than say the million shot a minute Metal Storm,

    https://youtu.be/wKlnMwuCZso

  23. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Flechettes!

    Massed flechette strike.

    See John Birmingham's book "Weapons of Choice (Axis of Time)" series.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birmingham#Axis_of_Time

    Highly recommended.

  24. housey

    Quick, to the PeterCopter

    Drones are really hard to shoot down, but they are really easy to take control over or bring down using technology if you know where to find it, which the military does.

    Also the QE has no defensive systems fitted at present so a big stick or battered Mars bar would do the trick.

  25. eldakka

    I bet now they're wishing they had sharks with frikin' lasers on their heads swimming around the ship to shoot down such as this.

  26. Citizen99

    A couple of years or so ago I read a report of a bloke in US who took out a 'peeping Tom' drone, that was above his garden, with a shotgun or rifle (Can't remember which).

  27. Tikimon
    Devil

    Citizen donates weapon to UK carrier, changes mind

    In a fit of untrammeled pity for the British Navy, a concerned citizen attempted to donate his UAV. Although unarmed, it would have at least given the carrier the start of an air wing, and provided some much-needed recon ability to detect possible threats to run away from.

    Then he realized, "Why am I giving a perfectly good drone to those wankers?" changed his mind, and flew it home again.

  28. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    These Wondrous 'Solutions' Often Depend on Radio Frequency Jamming, which is . . .

    kind of dumb as they all presuppose that 'rogue' drone manufacturers comply with international frequency plans! Sad!

    The company I work for manufactures equipment for the non-aligned military market and our devices are designed for land, sea and air.

    Recently we 'observed a demonstration of a Blighter, that allegedly can briefly inhibit a drone to the user appear it is malfunctioning or 'lock' the target drone until the batteries drain and it crashes. Their latest system uses a quad-band radio frequency (RF) inhibitor/jammer that disrupts all commercial drone licensed telemetry bands, and they claim effective against UAVs at up to 2 km and longer ranges.

    Our craft don't use "licensed telemetry bands" (nor do the military), in fact RF is only one methodology of control we employ.

    We attend as many of these demonstrations as possible so we can monitor the demonstration and take any adjustments needed to minimise interference. One aspect of these systems is the length of time they take to deploy, quite impracticable for military field use.

    One of our most popular manufactures is our version of the Spiro (see http://www.sphero.com/sprk-plus) only it doesn't glow, and is coloured to match the water it is usually deployed in but it sure makes an impressive bang when charged (by the customer) with C4! They are land (so they can be deployed in shallow water/beach conditions) and water mobile.

    Fixed-wing drones are also very effective at outrunning all these multi-million Shekel, Pound and Dollar systems and when the cameras are reduced in weight and size (we use SJCAM) our flight duration, along with the amount of terrain surveilled, can be considerable.

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