Despite the many regulations in place, currently drones are relatively affordable such that successive misuse is becoming the new standard. A horrible method for dealing with an unsafe drone is to stick its radios to prompt it to auto land, or using a much bigger drone to trap it inside a monster net. All in all, you still risk having the drone go ballistic, which is eventually significantly more hazardous.
An alternative to all this crude method can be training birds to bring down drones for you as done by the Dutch National Police.
Like all other law enforcement out there, The Dutch police realize that drones will become a greater issue in the future than currently. Therefore, they’ve been looking for methods to deal with one in case of a crisis like a drone hindering the landing of an air rescue vehicle. Police have been looking into electronic arrangements, in addition to use of both nets and trained birds.
In conjunction with the Guard From Above, a raptor training company in The Hague, the police have tried to find out if hawks could be used as a counter for drone weapon frameworks. In turn, the falcons are unbiased in their training to differentiate and catch drones. Though considering how most birds of prey respond to drones, I doubt a lot of training is required. On grabbing the drone out of the sky, naturally the birds locate a secluded protected zone to land and attempt to nibble their captured mechanical prey before their handlers replace it with something less ‘plastic-y’. The advantage with this method is that one does not need to worry about the drone falling on individuals or taking off wildly because the birds are perfect at mid-air captures in addition to getting the drone to the ground safely.
Although the hawks are out rightly extremely good at taking out something the size of a DJI Phantom, for larger drones the safety and health of the bird becomes a concern: in my opinion the expansive carbon fiber materials can harm the bird’s claws, which in the United States, would be a major issue as falcons and many other birds are ensured species. However, I am skeptical that using attack falcons as drone interceptors will ever end up as a useful arrangement in many spots despite being absolutely justified as a method.
According to the Dutch Police, after a few more months of testing, they’ll determine whether using falcons for this purpose is a proper method for putting a stop to undesirable use of drones. This will act as a method for protecting against future drone-related crimes or terrorism-related instances. The raptors are exceptionally skilled for the occupation, having had years of experience snatching moving things from the sky. Their scaled claws are amazingly strong and authorities claim that claws cannot get harmed by the propellers.
They, however, ought to be referring to the little propellers on small drones and not the large whirling cutting edges found on a full-sized plane.
The Guard From Above with their slogan ‘A Low Tech Solution for a High Tech Problem’. The bird versus drone alternative is still in the research and development stage, and Dutch police will have an official decision determining if they’ll begin using birds in the near future.
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