Mumble mumble Gatwick airport mumble mumble drones mumble mumble bleedin' obvious solution. Mumble mumble even the French have worked it out mumble mumble.-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018 Eagle vs drone https://www.youtube...watch?v=Hr-xBtVU4lg [not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018] Bofors! https://www.youtube...watch?v=6vNZf-sAWd8 [xenzag, Dec 23 2018] Bushmaster cannon with programmable airburst rounds demo https://www.youtube...watch?v=fenyEBfOursI think this is a Bushmaster II; they're up to IV by now [notexactly, Dec 30 2018] Falcons and eagles are day hunters. Drones with IR FPV control can fly at night. Drones using 3G control datalinks are - unlike their predecessors, which used ISM/802.11 - immune to all existing jamming/countermeasures as they use WCDMA. And they can be controlled from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Owls might help ...
But hey, the government's only had six years warning, how can they be expected to do anything about a problem at such short notice ?-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 Truesay. Even the French have worked it out for themselves...
Is it not time for re-purposing of the homing pigeon with a powerful (radio controlled) magnet on the head - I know the URL of company with many E-W magnets.-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018 More a requirement for the classic anti-pigeon technology; the 12-bore shotgun.
Many airports, and public spaces like railway stations, already deploy trained raptors to keep flying vermin like pigeons out of the area.
But it's all too late; the precedent has been set. Anyone with a basic drone gathering dust on top of their wardrobe now knows that they can close a major airport at any time.
Practical solutions are welcome, and saleable, but you might want to start with something a bit less challenging, like working out how to cram that gigantic mushroom cloud back into a nice shiny little Plutonium sphere ...-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 //cram that gigantic mushroom cloud back into a nice shiny little Plutonium sphere ...
I bought some of those mushroom cloud -> Plutonium sphere tweezers off the Ferengi ebay site...
But it's easier to run time backwards, saves on the gloves and all that faffing about.-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018 Surely what’s needed is a Jurassic Park style pterodactyl breeding programme?-- hippo, Dec 23 2018 Drones can be shot down almost the instant they appear using exploding proximity rounds. Doing this sends out the message that it's pointless trying to shut down an airport by using a drone, as it won't remain in the sky for any longer than it takes to track it and shoot it down. It can then be retrieved for forensic examination. What was done at Gatwick by the authorities was an abject failure of monumental proportions as it invites copy-cat repititions. It's hardly a surprise in the UK where hopeless numpties are in now in control of just about everything.-- xenzag, Dec 23 2018 Buy a size bigger underpants [IT], that way the tinfoil won't shred. Much less chafing, much more comfortable.
Chaff only works for centimetric/millimetric wavelengths, and it's frequency-specific. If the idea is to block control signals, forget it. But mostly, blowing clouds of lightweight airborne metallic debris around on airfields, where there are gas turbine engines with very close tolerances constantly coming and going, falls into the category of Making Things Worse, Not Better.
// the Ferengi ebay site //
They have some good bargains, but it's mostly overpriced tat. However, the earwax treatments they sell are absolutely top notch.
// But it's easier to run time backwards //
.oot ,taht dnuof ev'ew ,seY
// almost the instant they appear using exploding proximity rounds //
No, they can't. They fly too low, and there's too little metal in them for the fuze to trigger.
Something like that might be OK for military airfields, but not for an airport.
The smallest AAA round that can mount a prox fuse is a 75mm. Low-level air defense uses small-arms calibres (7.62 and 12.7mm) and autocannon firing point-detonating rounds. Trying to hit a target the size of a dinner plate that's less than 200' AGL means massive collateral damage both inside and outside the perimiter. Systems to control automatic weapons with that degree of accuracy are still in their infancy (changing the nappies is a constant chore). So the solution is still to spray lumps of lead at the target in vast numbers.
// it won't remain in the sky for any longer than it takes to track it and shoot it down. //
It doesn't have to. It only has to be detected to cause vast Embuggerance.
// It can then be retrieved for forensic examination. //
1. Wear gloves.
// What was done at Gatwick by the authorities was an abject failure of monumental proportions as it invites copy-cat repititions. //
We disagree. It would have to have been much more coherent and considered to qualify as "abject".
// It's hardly a surprise in the UK where hopeless numpties are in now in control of just about everything. //
May we point out that you voted for this ?-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 It was actually brought down by an Israeli made system called Drone Dome, as a short search can reveal.-- xenzag, Dec 23 2018 ^ Yes, but what's the fun in that?
NB that using pigeons to guide missiles project...pigeons are pretty expendable, one them pecking away at a screen in a small plastic rocket could bring down a drone.-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018 Yes, we know, it's the baby brother of Iron Dome; they're much more up to speed, but it has serious limitations, and the countermeasures are laughably simple to implement.-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 .... in which case I still suggest the 40mm Bofors exploding round solution.... (see link)-- xenzag, Dec 23 2018 //May we point out that you voted for this ?// The only place where I ever vote for anything is here. I prefer shopping to voting. When you go shopping you get what you want. When you vote, you end up getting what everyone else wants, and I never want what everyone else wants, so why would I ever vote?-- xenzag, Dec 23 2018 // you end up getting what everyone else wants //
Due to the perversity of representative democracy, an obsolete and deeply flawed system, you actually end up getting what nobody wants. It's invariably an unsatisfactory fudge that pleases no-one, not even the majority.-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 fully baked goods are available at the discount kiosk in the lobby, please close the door behind you as you leave.-- Skewed, Dec 23 2018 //you actually end up getting what nobody wants// - maybe - I think in an ideal democracy you end up getting the thing which doesn’t completely disgust the largest proportion of the electorate. If Socrates were here today I’m sure that’s what he’d say.-- hippo, Dec 23 2018 He'd probably say a lot of other things first, like "Where am I ?". "Who are all you people ?", and "What, the Greek government STILL have a budget deficit ? HOW much ?"
// an ideal democracy //
Ah yes ... that goes along with physics teaching, with such helpful assumptions as "neglecting air resistance", "with a coefficient of restitution of exactly 1", and "where gravitational acceleration is 10 m/s^2 irrespective of depth or altitude".-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 Also, why is this idea confined to the provision of on-call falconers just for airports? Where we really need on-call falconers is to attack and destroy the umbrellas of people who walk down busy shopping streets with these ghastly things open and blinding/gouging every person passing by.-- hippo, Dec 23 2018 We suggest you purchase a pack of cigartettes, a Zippo lighter, and two squeezy cans of Zippo lighter fluid.
Umbrellas, even when damp, are delightfully flammable - if you apply a splash of volatile accelerant and then an ignition source. Once the canopy has burnt away, the umbrella is of no further use and will probably be discarded.
If you are challenged, the cigarettes are a decoy. Explain that you are a smoker, you use a Zippo lighter, and you have just purchased a fresh can of fuel. When you get home, refill the can you carry from the other one, so that it always seems full and "new", thus deflecting suspicion.-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018 The latest theory is that it was a cluster of pigeons who have learned how to fly in tight formation, thereby resembling a drone shape. Not to be outdone, a jumbo jet profiled murmuration is being worked on by a nearby flock of starlings.-- xenzag, Dec 24 2018 // The smallest AAA round that can mount a prox fuse is a 75mm. //
But you don't need one if you get the range from radar and use programmable airburst rounds [link] (which are actually pretty common now according to my few seconds of looking- up).-- notexactly, Dec 30 2018 It's a possibility, although scattering metallic FOD all over an airfield is less than popular.
Variants using an etched copper wire inside a thin-walled projectile, similar to a frag grenade, have been investigated, but no conclusions yet. Although they can knock down a drone, they can't be used anywhere near an aircraft, and current doctrine means that if a drone is spotted all aircraft in the vicinity shut down their main engines immediately and wait for a tow back to the stand.
There's a school of thought that points out that having always-live semi-autonomous radar-directed autocannon installations sprinkled around a civilian airport might be only slightly less dangerous than any putative drone incursion ...-- 8th of 7, Dec 30 2018 random, halfbakery