5 ms·

Why are they not being shot down at the very least?

by ents 2y ago

op00to 2y ago
Nothing these drones are doing are illegal.
dartos 2y ago
Gravity
soared 2y ago
I don’t think anyone has the tools to go to an area after a spotting and capture/destroy them quick enough.
- hoppyhoppy2 2y ago
  Not to mention that it's illegal to shoot down aircraft
  - OhNoNotAgain_99 2y ago
    [dead]
runjake 2y ago
Shooting large, apparently car-sized, stuff down over populated areas isn't a good idea. As an aside, I presume at this point, the military and FBI are stationing their SIGINT aircraft over the area and probably have a good idea what's going on but aren't saying publicly. These things are emitting electromagnetic energy in more ways that one, eg. radios and electric motor RF signatures. RIP the SkyCircles accounts on Twitter.
KK7NIL 2y ago
The FAA looks down on people shooting at flying objects they can barely recognize, as this guy learned the hard way: https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-drone-165145541.html?guccounter=1 https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-dro...
- mindslight 2y ago
  > DroneUp Delivery was working on mock deliveries for Walmart and had set up a delivery point outside of Mr Winn’s ... home > The defendant stated he had past experience with drones and believed they were surveilling him The question I'm left with after reading that article - was this test delivery point for a single trial run, or did this company choose one random location and then repeatedly send tests there over and over? If it's the latter, that seems like it should also warrant criminal charges.
  - binary132 2y ago
    Companies should not be sending UAVs to anyone’s property without permission, period. This stuff needs to get sorted out in law and these bozos need to back off.
bell-cot 2y ago
"Shot down" with what? Surface-to-air missiles? Duck hunters with shotguns? Attack helicopters with miniguns? Whatever you spray into the sky (to knock a drone out of it) will also fall back to earth, plausibly generating civilian casualties on the ground. (And if you use lasers - high power laser beams have plenty of safety issues, too.)
- potato3732842 2y ago
  If Ukraine is any indication you shoot them down with other drones.
  - gowld 2y ago
    No one in Ukraine is in the habit of shooting down commercial airliners and helicopters, though.
    - wood_spirit 2y ago
      No they used Buk missiles instead.
      - bananapub 2y ago
        where they = the Russian military or Russian-military aligned terrorist groups.
  - bell-cot 2y ago
    Ukraine's capabilities in that domain are plausibly far more advanced that America's. Also - costs, casualties, & collateral damage may be far more acceptable in an active war zone, and against drones which are busy killing people & destroying valuables whenever they are not shot down.
    - TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
      Ukraine's capabilities mostly consist of ramming a cheap drone into an expensive one. This is one of those times when the US has a Maginot Military - massively overpowered against traditional threats, inexperienced when dealing with something like this. This is not a trivial problem. A cheap drone with a relatively small explosive payload flown into an air intake can take down a military aircraft and cause serious problems for an airliner or private jet. An airfield is the ideal place to do that, because aircraft are most vulnerable during takeoff and landing. A few people and a hundred drones launched from a few km away can significantly delay incoming and outgoing flights. Equip the drones with weapons - or larger explosives - and it's potentially Pearl Harbour.
OutOfHere 2y ago
It's always wrong (in every possible way) to be the first one to engage hostilities. To be morally in the clear, you should always wait for the other side to engage first. If we didn't follow this doctrine, we would've already had a nuclear holocaust. Warmongers and civilization don't mix. We don't know anything about their capabilities as individual drones or as a cluster of drones. For all you know, when you shoot one, the other ten take that as declaration of war.
- ponector 2y ago
  According to this logic we should wait untill Iran creates a nuke and only then destroy their nuclear facilities, right?
  - OutOfHere 2y ago
    We should follow the drones to see where they land, and continue the investigation from there. There is no evidence that the drones carry WMDs, or that they're dangerous like Iran. If we had reason to believe that the drones are associated with WMDs, then it would be okay to neutralize them, but we don't. Because of false assertions about WMDs, we've already had one unnecessary war in Iraq. How many more do you want?
  - binary132 2y ago
    Why should we attack Iran if they develop a nuclear weapon? That seems pretty unprovoked.
bagels 2y ago
Some of these photos are of passenger planes. I think most agree that shooting down passenger planes is bad.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  Also rather hard to accidentally do if you have equipment capable of shooting down aircraft.
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
Why? Just follow them and see where they land / head to (they can't fly forever) and ask some questions to the owners.
- alchemist1e9 2y ago
  supposedly they originate and return to somewhere out in ocean. presumably boats or submarines.
  - op00to 2y ago
    Unsubstantiated rumors. I say they come from mole people underground. The same reliable source as your information i’m sure.
    - alchemist1e9 2y ago
      Not confirmed but not unsubstantiated. A coast guard ship filed reports of them both arriving from out at sea and returning to sea. Also several local sheriffs have observed the same. The War Zone is always a reliable source for national security related reporting - https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-by-unidentified-aircraft-iran-drone-mothership-claim-shot-down-by-dod https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-b... I feel this story from them would have been a better post for HN audiences.
s5300 2y ago
[dead]

Why are they not being shot down at the very least?

by ents 2y ago

Why are they not being shot down at the very least?

op00to 2y ago

Nothing these drones are doing are illegal.

dartos 2y ago

Gravity

soared 2y ago

I don’t think anyone has the tools to go to an area after a spotting and capture/destroy them quick enough.

hoppyhoppy2 2y ago
Not to mention that it's illegal to shoot down aircraft
- OhNoNotAgain_99 2y ago
  [dead]

runjake 2y ago

Shooting large, apparently car-sized, stuff down over populated areas isn't a good idea. As an aside, I presume at this point, the military and FBI are stationing their SIGINT aircraft over the area and probably have a good idea what's going on but aren't saying publicly. These things are emitting electromagnetic energy in more ways that one, eg. radios and electric motor RF signatures. RIP the SkyCircles accounts on Twitter.

KK7NIL 2y ago

The FAA looks down on people shooting at flying objects they can barely recognize, as this guy learned the hard way: https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-drone-165145541.html?guccounter=1 https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-dro...

mindslight 2y ago
> DroneUp Delivery was working on mock deliveries for Walmart and had set up a delivery point outside of Mr Winn’s ... home > The defendant stated he had past experience with drones and believed they were surveilling him The question I'm left with after reading that article - was this test delivery point for a single trial run, or did this company choose one random location and then repeatedly send tests there over and over? If it's the latter, that seems like it should also warrant criminal charges.
- binary132 2y ago
  Companies should not be sending UAVs to anyone’s property without permission, period. This stuff needs to get sorted out in law and these bozos need to back off.

bell-cot 2y ago

"Shot down" with what? Surface-to-air missiles? Duck hunters with shotguns? Attack helicopters with miniguns? Whatever you spray into the sky (to knock a drone out of it) will also fall back to earth, plausibly generating civilian casualties on the ground. (And if you use lasers - high power laser beams have plenty of safety issues, too.)

potato3732842 2y ago
If Ukraine is any indication you shoot them down with other drones.
- gowld 2y ago
  No one in Ukraine is in the habit of shooting down commercial airliners and helicopters, though.
  - wood_spirit 2y ago
    No they used Buk missiles instead.
    - bananapub 2y ago
      where they = the Russian military or Russian-military aligned terrorist groups.
- bell-cot 2y ago
  Ukraine's capabilities in that domain are plausibly far more advanced that America's. Also - costs, casualties, & collateral damage may be far more acceptable in an active war zone, and against drones which are busy killing people & destroying valuables whenever they are not shot down.
  - TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
    Ukraine's capabilities mostly consist of ramming a cheap drone into an expensive one. This is one of those times when the US has a Maginot Military - massively overpowered against traditional threats, inexperienced when dealing with something like this. This is not a trivial problem. A cheap drone with a relatively small explosive payload flown into an air intake can take down a military aircraft and cause serious problems for an airliner or private jet. An airfield is the ideal place to do that, because aircraft are most vulnerable during takeoff and landing. A few people and a hundred drones launched from a few km away can significantly delay incoming and outgoing flights. Equip the drones with weapons - or larger explosives - and it's potentially Pearl Harbour.

OutOfHere 2y ago

It's always wrong (in every possible way) to be the first one to engage hostilities. To be morally in the clear, you should always wait for the other side to engage first. If we didn't follow this doctrine, we would've already had a nuclear holocaust. Warmongers and civilization don't mix. We don't know anything about their capabilities as individual drones or as a cluster of drones. For all you know, when you shoot one, the other ten take that as declaration of war.

ponector 2y ago
According to this logic we should wait untill Iran creates a nuke and only then destroy their nuclear facilities, right?
- OutOfHere 2y ago
  We should follow the drones to see where they land, and continue the investigation from there. There is no evidence that the drones carry WMDs, or that they're dangerous like Iran. If we had reason to believe that the drones are associated with WMDs, then it would be okay to neutralize them, but we don't. Because of false assertions about WMDs, we've already had one unnecessary war in Iraq. How many more do you want?
- binary132 2y ago
  Why should we attack Iran if they develop a nuclear weapon? That seems pretty unprovoked.

bagels 2y ago

Some of these photos are of passenger planes. I think most agree that shooting down passenger planes is bad.

Aeolun 2y ago
Also rather hard to accidentally do if you have equipment capable of shooting down aircraft.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago

Why? Just follow them and see where they land / head to (they can't fly forever) and ask some questions to the owners.

alchemist1e9 2y ago
supposedly they originate and return to somewhere out in ocean. presumably boats or submarines.
- op00to 2y ago
  Unsubstantiated rumors. I say they come from mole people underground. The same reliable source as your information i’m sure.
  - alchemist1e9 2y ago
    Not confirmed but not unsubstantiated. A coast guard ship filed reports of them both arriving from out at sea and returning to sea. Also several local sheriffs have observed the same. The War Zone is always a reliable source for national security related reporting - https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-by-unidentified-aircraft-iran-drone-mothership-claim-shot-down-by-dod https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-b... I feel this story from them would have been a better post for HN audiences.

s5300 2y ago

[dead]