Lethal Micro-Drones being developed by the USAF

[RenaissanceLady]

Gee, what's the worst that could happen?

Micro-drones will “hide in plain sight”

"Lethal" and "unobtrusive" micro-drones are being developed by the Air force to mimic the behavior of bugs.

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf Tuesday highlighted a “terrifying” prospect on the military technology horizon. The U.S. Air Force are building micro-drones that are “unobtrusive, pervasive, and lethal” weapons.

According to a feature in the National Geographic looking at the progression of drone technologies, “the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has challenged researchers to build drones that mimic the size and behavior of bugs and birds.” The “bugbots” are supposed to “hide in plain sight.” Micro-drones already developed by the Air Force have been built to “resemble winged, multi-legged bugs.” In an Air Force simulation video shown to the National Geographic and posted below, “the drones swarm through alleys, crawl across windowsills, and perch on power lines. One of them sneaks up on a scowling man holding a gun and shoots him in the head.”

Friedersdorf expresses concern that such technology could fall into the hands of America’s enemies. “Sure, we have a technological advantage right now, but micro-drones sure seem like a disruptive technology that will eventually help rather than hinder attempts at asymmetric warfare,” he wrote. Meanwhile, privacy and human rights advocates will likely have their worries piqued by the existence of “unobtrusive” and “pervasive” drones in U.S. hands alone.

Micro-drones will “hide in plain sight” - Salon.com
Also read: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic

I foresee "lethal", "unobtrusive" and "pervasive" drones being used as:

1. An easy way to spy on Americans without the need of a warrant.
2. A silent threat against activists or critics of America's/Corporate America's policies.
3. An effective means to silence and control the masses, possibly including other branches of government.
4. Something that could be captured by our enemies and used against us.
5. Something which could go berserk due to a programming glitch - or cause the creation of "killer micro-drones" which could attack and reprogram other micro-drones.
6. An eventual way to deliver WMDs.
7. A precursor to nana-drones.
8. All of the above.

(The correct answer is "All of the above.")

This is what happens when too much power is given to too few organizations and people. I guess we're all supposed to assume we can trust those who create and utilize such devices.

 

[5tomidnite]

This is what happens when too much power is given to too few organizations and people. I guess we're all supposed to assume we can trust those who create and utilize such devices.

Yep I'm scared too. And yeah dammit we have no choice really. People are inventing things the general public isn't aware of more often than I care for. Asimo was 15 years in development by Honda before it was revealed to the public. Who knows what's being developed right now.

 

[exo_doc]

Coming to a bedroom near you!!!!!!!

Just bend over....things will GO much more smoothly.

 

[RenaissanceLady]

What keeps playing out in my mind is that if the USAF is willing to admit they're working on this, what the hell is too top secret for them to be admitting they're researching?

 

[5tomidnite]

What keeps playing out in my mind is that if the USAF is willing to admit they're working on this, what the hell is too top secret for them to be admitting they're researching?

Injectable nano neural manipulators being inserted in everyone as we speak or "prisons without walls" as I like to call them.

 

[exo_doc]

Injectable nano neural manipulators being inserted in everyone as we speak or "prisons without walls" as I like to call them.

I wonder if a Van de Graff generator or something similar could disable or destroy said Nano's?

Or maybe..............................

 

[5tomidnite]

I wonder if a Van de Graff generator or something similar could disable or destroy said Nano's?

Or maybe..............................

Since part of the electricity passes through your body it would be theoretically possible. I couldn't hazard a guess as to what tolerances these nano devices could have.

 

[boomerang]

The second half of this Ted Talk I find a bit creepy.

 

[5tomidnite]

The second half of this Ted Talk I find a bit creepy.

Ummm....HOLY CRAP!!! They can play music! Poorly but music none the less. As a former computer programmer I am impressed.

 

[starise]

I'm gonna need a larger fly swatter....

 

[RenaissanceLady]

Speaking of drones, this is making me a bit twitchy:

Damn the regulations! Drones plying US skies without waiting for FAA rules.

NEW YORK -- They hover over Hollywood film sets and professional sports events. They track wildfires in Colorado, survey Kansas farm crops and vineyards in California. They inspect miles of industrial pipeline and monitor wildlife, river temperatures and volcanic activity.
They also locate marijuana fields, reconstruct crime scenes and spot illegal immigrants breaching U.S. borders.
Armed with streaming video, swivel cameras and infrared sensors, a new breed of high-tech domestic drones is beginning to change the way Americans see the world -- and one another.Tens of thousands of domestic drones are zipping through U.S. skies, often flouting tight federal restrictions on drone use that require even the police and the military to get special permits.
Powered by the latest microtechnology and driven by billions in defense industry and commercial research dollars, domestic drones are poised for widespread expansion into U.S. airspace once regulation catches up with reality.
That is scheduled to begin in late 2015, when the U.S. government starts issuing commercial drone permits.
Veteran aerial photographer Mark Bateson, a consultant to the film and television industry and some police departments, said one reality show producer asked him last year whether his custom-made drone could hover over a desert and use its thermal imaging sensors to spot ghosts for a ghost-hunter reality series.
Bateson rejected that request. "But I heard they eventually found someone to do it," he said.
"Commercially, the culture already exists," said Ben Miller, a Mesa County, Colorado, sheriff's deputy who has been flying drones with special authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration since 2009.
"Turn on your TV and pay close attention to major sports events. You'll see that in many cases they are getting aerial shots using a UAS (unmanned aerial system). I would venture to say that if you've seen an action movie in the last five years, chances are that a UAS was used."

For full story, please read: Damn the regulations! Drones plying US skies without waiting for FAA rules - Open Channel

 

[Randall]

Speaking of drones, this is making me a bit twitchy:

Bug Bomb - Lexx​

​

 

[Konrad Hartmann]

So, if some people are making drones that resemble flying bugs, is anyone else making drones that resemble spiders and bats that eat flying bugs?

 

[Burnt State]

The idea of privacy as a human expectation is something that soon only the upper class will able to afford as a luxury experience. Just as Charles Fort said, "We are someone else's property," we will come to understand that our own experiences inside the state do not belong to us but in fact are commodities of the state; hence reality TV is just a few steps away from Deathwatch, where our private, intimate experiences will be consumable. In the way that our email content is scanned and we get it's content sent back to us in the form of ads on our mail pages and our Fakebook content is sold as ads in other countries, our own lives are already becoming purchasable. Privacy is a fantasy we play out in our bedrooms and backyards. Our kids live their lives (and deaths) online right now. It's where Technolgy has led us.

 

[Konrad Hartmann]

Gee, what's the worst that could happen?

Micro-drones will “hide in plain sight” - Salon.com
Also read: Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic

I foresee "lethal", "unobtrusive" and "pervasive" drones being used as:

1. An easy way to spy on Americans without the need of a warrant.
2. A silent threat against activists or critics of America's/Corporate America's policies.
3. An effective means to silence and control the masses, possibly including other branches of government.
4. Something that could be captured by our enemies and used against us.
5. Something which could go berserk due to a programming glitch - or cause the creation of "killer micro-drones" which could attack and reprogram other micro-drones.
6. An eventual way to deliver WMDs.
7. A precursor to nana-drones.
8. All of the above.

(The correct answer is "All of the above.")

This is what happens when too much power is given to too few organizations and people. I guess we're all supposed to assume we can trust those who create and utilize such devices.

A technologically-competent person could make money through the following means:

Drone-Hunters: devices made to locate and neutralize hostile drones that are on or above your property or personal space. Why would these be needed? Well because hostile drones could be used for the following:
-Voyeurs could use camera drones to observe people of interest, in their most intimate and private settings.
-Advertisers/marketers could use these devices to observe consumers and increase their ability to custom advertise.
-Employers could use them to observe prospective or current employees.
-The potential for industrial espionage is manifold.
-Burglars or robbers could scope out a target before making an attempt.
-Spouses/paramours could observe their partners.
-The potential for blackmail is vast.
-Commercial agriculture sabotage through the delivery of fungi/diseases to plants, possibly necessitating the growers to buy the new and improved agricultural chemicals. Not that any company would ever do such a thing.
-Organized crime could use drones for any of the above purposes.

Furthermore, imagine if drones were used as a drug-delivery system, especially with nano-drugs. The customer would place an order to the dealer, who would deliver the dose via drone.

But I don't imagine any company would be so unethical as to sell both the hostile drones and the counter-drones. That would be like a software company creating viruses to create a market for their security programs, or a land mine manufacturer selling mine detection equipment.

 

[exo_doc]

A technologically-competent person could make money through the following means:

Drone-Hunters: devices made to locate and neutralize hostile drones that are on or above your property or personal space. Why would these be needed? Well because hostile drones could be used for the following:
-Voyeurs could use camera drones to observe people of interest, in their most intimate and private settings.
-Advertisers/marketers could use these devices to observe consumers and increase their ability to custom advertise.
-Employers could use them to observe prospective or current employees.
-The potential for industrial espionage is manifold.
-Burglars or robbers could scope out a target before making an attempt.
-Spouses/paramours could observe their partners.
-The potential for blackmail is vast.
-Commercial agriculture sabotage through the delivery of fungi/diseases to plants, possibly necessitating the growers to buy the new and improved agricultural chemicals. Not that any company would ever do such a thing.
-Organized crime could use drones for any of the above purposes.

Furthermore, imagine if drones were used as a drug-delivery system, especially with nano-drugs. The customer would place an order to the dealer, who would deliver the dose via drone.

But I don't imagine any company would be so unethical as to sell both the hostile drones and the counter-drones. That would be like a software company creating viruses to create a market for their security programs, or a land mine manufacturer selling mine detection equipment.

I already have several. They're called "Mossberg 500D 12 guage shotguns".
Like shooting fish in a barrel, skeet on the fly, or two meter womp rats from my landspeeder.

 

[Konrad Hartmann]

I already have several. They're called "Mossberg 500D 12 guage shotguns".
Like shooting fish in a barrel, skeet on the fly, or two meter womp rats from my landspeeder.

What do you figure, no. 8 shot?

 

[exo_doc]

What do you figure, no. 8 shot?

I'm actually partial to #4 shot. Buckshots good for bigger game, but #4 has many small holes vs 5 or 8 for buckshot.

 

[Randall]

I already have several. They're called "Mossberg 500D 12 guage shotguns".
Like shooting fish in a barrel, skeet on the fly, or two meter womp rats from my landspeeder.

Love the visuals there ... the only problem with projectiles is that in a city they could end up embedded in some neighbor or their property ... which would be very bad. A laser would be less dangerous because there would be no chance of a projectile hitting something ( or someone ) downrange. Better still, a jamming / hijacking device would minimize the danger from falling debris because the drone would probably go into autopilot and fly away or you might get lucky enough to take it over. I love the last option because it's the one that would get you ( the victim ) in the least amount of trouble and cause the least risk to other people. It would also get you material evidence to use in a legal case, and if you turned it into the police, you probably wouldn't even get in any trouble. In contrast there are some pretty clear rules about shooting guns in the city ( and for good reason ).

 

[exo_doc]

Love the visuals there ... the only problem with projectiles is that in a city they could end up embedded in some neighbor or their property ... which would be very bad. A laser would be less dangerous because there would be no chance of a projectile hitting something ( or someone ) downrange. Better still, a jamming / hijacking device would minimize the danger from falling debris because the drone would probably go into autopilot and fly away or you might get lucky enough to take it over. I love the last option because it's the one that would get you ( the victim ) in the least amount of trouble and cause the least risk to other people. It would also get you material evidence to use in a legal case, and if you turned it into the police, you probably wouldn't even get in any trouble. In contrast there are some pretty clear rules about shooting guns in the city ( and for good reason ).

How about a plasma rifle?
Fry the circuits good and crispy.