Category: Drones

The Pentagon revealed a video on Wednesday depicting the final seconds before ten innocent Afghans, including seven children, were murdered in an erroneous drone attack during the US pullout’s final days. After the New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the material, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in Afghanistan, provided videos from the two drones. The drone attack occurred three days after an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 US military personnel and over 180 Afghans near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. 

Source: https://nypost.com/2022/01/19/declassified-drone-footage-shows-botched-strike-that-killed-10-afghans/ 

Smart Shooter just launched SMASH Dragon, an armed drone system that can strike both stationary and moving targets while hovering. The SMASH Dragon is an advanced robotic armament cargo that can be installed on different drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles. It integrates the firm’s combat-proven SMASH technology, which assures accurate shooting of hostile objects and people. While it has not yet been put into service, it has passed live-fire testing and is in the final phases of development. Smart Shooter offers a variety of devices, including the SMASH 2000, which provides troops with precision anti-drone technology built into their weapon. 

Source: https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech/article-692073 

According to a recent news release , Israeli police may soon have unmanned drones that go to sites where gunfire is heard. The California-based firm already has a contentious device that utilizes sound technology to sense gunshots and inform the police, and it’s now collaborating with Airobotics to develop drones that react to disruptions. The idea isn’t without its detractors. Axios just revealed that Denver cops are employing ShotSpotter, but they can’t show it cuts gun crime. According to new data, ShotSpotter alerts in Denver climbed by over 25% in 2021 compared to the previous year, while arrests only increased by 2%. The technology has been installed in over 100 cities across the world, and Denver isn’t the only one to have issues with it. 

Source: https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-drones-gunshots 

ShotSpotter, a US-based business, claims that autonomous drones that fly to sites where gunshots are detected will soon be available to Israeli police personnel. ShotSpotter collaborated with Airobotics to develop the aforementioned drone. It’s difficult to believe that placing this technology on a drone will solve problems like slow response and high arrest rates, especially if it’s in the hands of Israeli cops, who have their own history of human rights violations. Law enforcement technology has the potential to save lives and make officers’ jobs safer, but only if it works in the first place. The situation becomes considerably worse if malfunctioning technology enters into the wrong hands. 

Source: https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-drones-gunshots 

Carson Miller, an Indiana college student with 80,000 YouTube subscribers, does not appear to be an unknowing instrument of Chinese espionage in his youtube videos of the latest drone designs. Hundreds of other Americans who buy drones from Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology Co., the global highest manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, are increasingly being recognized in this light by the US.

Miller, who purchased his first DJI model for $500 in 2016 and now owns six, demonstrates why the business controls more than half of the drone industry in the United States. Critics of DJI claim the company is sending torrents of sensitive data to Chinese intelligence agencies, ranging from essential infrastructures such as railroads and reservoirs to private information like pulse rate and face recognition. 

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-19/drone-wars-us-china-fight-over-big-data-shifts-from-tiktok-wechat-to-the-sky