June 2019 AST Magazine June 2019 AST Magazine | Page 67

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June 2019 - Edition 34
Russian defense contractor, Kalashnikov Concern, is now offering the KUB-BLA drone, effectively
a ‘suicide drone’ capable of slipping below the radar of traditional air-defense systems, carrying
a small explosive charge which can dive onto a target, effectively blowing up the drone and the
intended target.
For one thing, there’s a big concern about
collateral damage, including the danger
posed by a disabled drone falling from the
sky onto a crowd below.
Even jamming the radio frequency of an
intruder could cause it to fall onto peo-
ple below. And for the serious criminal,
drones can be flown without using radio
frequencies.
And interrupting radio frequencies could
have unintended consequences, per-
haps interfering with other communica-
tion systems, including medical devices
such as pacemakers for the heart or insulin
pumps.
Of the available mitigation technolo-
gies for non-military use, none could
intercept a drone like that marketed
and sold by Kalashnikov as a weapon.
Nor should we sleep comfortably thinking
that such a drone is a product anomaly or
will remain absent from our markets.
Drone manufacturers will continue to
deliver longer range, better payload
capacity, and improved battery perfor-
mance for their retail markets, while hob-
byists ride component price reductions to
build ever more capable homemade
drones.
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