Well it would seem that drones or the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) has met its nemesis; laser weapons ala star wars.
From the BBC
A laser weapons system that can shoot down two drones at a distance of over a mile has been demonstrated by Rheinmetall Defence.The German defence firm used the high-energy laser equipment to shoot fast-moving drones at a distance.The system, which uses two laser weapons, was also used to cut through a steel girder a kilometre away.The company plans to make the laser weapons system mobile and to integrate automatic cannon.The 50kW laser weapons system used radar and optical systems to detect and track two incoming drones, the company said. The nose-diving drones were flying at 50 metres per second, and were shot down when they reached a programmed fire sector.
Drones have commonly been used to conduct not only surveillance but also foreign policies in terms of assassination and or bombing missions. Drone warfare has only stoked up anti-American sentiment in the Middle East that has incited more unrest.
Drone warfare has also been reportedly used to strike at suspected terrorists in the Philippines as part of the ‘war on terror’ campaign which allegedly resulted to losses of civilians
Last month, a crashed drone was fished off floating near the Masbate Islands where the US authorities denied that the discovered UAV wreckage had been used for spying or for armed military missions. The increasing reports of incidences of drones could likely be manifestations of the surreptitious deal to re-establish a US base in the Philippines or that the Philippines becomes a launchpad for militarization of Southeast Asia.
In the US, drones have been designated as the next airborne police surveillance where an estimated 30,000 drones have been slated to patrol US airspace at the end of the decade. Unfortunately for the tyrants, many states in the US have balked or expressed opposition to this. For instance, Florida voted to ban drones as an instrument for spying on the citizenry.
Well of course, drones and other forms robotic war machines may not entirely be the domain of the government, as other groups (including outlaws) may access such technology.
The important point is that innovative developments in technology reveal that the drone warfare won’t likely be as dominant as feared. There will be less need to hack on drones to countercheck on them.
The emergence of laser warfare technology, which is expected to become mobile in the future, will surely contain the advances of drones. The above technology seems reminiscent or the modern day counterpart of the shoulder fired anti-aircraft surface to air missile (SAM), the FIM-92 stinger, which played a prominent role in the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
