Drones Are the New Drug Mules

submitted by Drewski from (vice.com)

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[–]binaryblob 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It surprised me it took this long; you would expect the drugs trade (because of its highly commercial nature) to be ahead of Ukraine by a decade or so in drone technology. Ukraine has drones that go 1000km. Surely, the economics would work out for a drone with drugs.

Where are the jet powered drones from the cartels? Some jet powered designs are prohibited for commercial aviation, but criminals don't need to care about that, of course.

[–]GuyWhite 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I’m not sure about the cost/benefit of using a drone compared to more conventional methods of smuggling. More up front investment and greater cost if intercepted. Operating cost?

Could be that the success percentages of drones make the increased cost worth it.

🤔

[–]Drewski[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Would you say an air rifle would be best to catch a drone, or a harpoon?

[–]binaryblob 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Other drones or lasers would be best.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Lasers sound more fun, but could perhaps damage the payload?

[–]binaryblob 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Oh, I wasn't even thinking of that "application". No, you would just destroy its mechanism of propulsion and the targeting for lasers is of course better than for bullets.

I can totally see a rival gang buying laser equipment to do this. I wonder when this will be used as a plot in a movie.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Let us begin with a documentary. Our movie will follow once we accumulate enough proceeds 🙏

[–]binaryblob 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If I had a cartel, I would have setup a research division for this stuff 20 years ago. Lasers are modular devices and only become more powerful with time, which was a trend back then also. All you need to do is the research and once the research is done wait for the components to be powerful enough and it's "plug and play". If one has the resources of a cartel, just stealing the lasers (or bribing employees) from some car welding factory would also be an option.

Targeting "radars" can be setup for a few tens of thousands of dollars, I think, considering that consumer radar technology is a commodity right now. The quality of COTS optical sensors is also ridiculous, so I think one could build a weapon from removing parts from consumer and industrial technology these days.

For an operational deployment, it probably would have to be mounted on a Toyota for mobility with an anti-infrared system after its successful use.

[–]Drewski[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'd go with a net gun.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Are they a thing? Awesome