The Military Wants a Way to Track Drones Flying Over Cities
 

"Says DARPA:
To achieve the technically difficult goal of mapping small UAS in urban terrain, DARPA today announced its Aerial Dragnet program. The program seeks innovative technologies to provide persistent, wide-area surveillance of all UAS operating below 1,000 feet in a large city. While Aerial Dragnet’s focus is on protecting military troops operating in urban settings overseas, the system could ultimately find civilian application to help protect U.S. metropolitan areas from UAS-enabled terrorist threats."

ADS-B for drones? Have at it. But remember, this is the military, not the FAA.

Sounds like a classic Request For Proposal, nothing set in stone. But it is reasonable to expect this "sort" (and I use the term broadly) of project on the horizon. An FPV or autopilot GPS enabled RC aircraft could be used for malicious purposes here and abroad, it's a given at this point. The easier and cheaper multirotor crafts come, the more inexperienced, ill-prepared, or just plain stupid people will get their hands on them.

But realistically, we've faced this in the RC hobby many times before. I drive gas powered 1/5 scale trucks and buggies, and yes it could kill someone. RC boats can launch off and impale. A 1/4 scale Turbine RC jet could set a city block on fire.

With every innovation, in any field, appears a wide array of "possibles" and "probables". The trick with risk management (using a business term for what the defense industry is implying) Is finding out which of the "possibles" are "probable" in a given scenario. This way they can direct the minimal amount of resources to offset that. That's how government and quasi governmental entities weigh cost vs benefit of a program.

And now I'm thoroughly convinced that I don't even remember what this thread was about :)

I think it's a great idea! There are so many ways to misuse these things.........
I think every Wildland fire agency and Law Enf. agency should have the ability to swiftly bring down any offending "Drones" for evidence/charges. Radio Jammer? Who knows?
Any of you guys have any ideas?

Being from California, especially growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area Coastal Range, Fire safety is ingrained in me. One of my youngest memories is the of the Oakland Berkeley Firestorm of 1991 - I clearly remember (even though I was like 4) a giant smoke cloud extinguishing the sun from my parents house. Dozens were killed and thousands of homes destroyed.

That fire was started accidentally according to most reports. An RC aircraft over an urban or forested area can easily cause a devastating fire if the conditions are right.

We all have to be careful with our hobbies and remember that human life, property safety, and ecosystem safety come first.