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British soldiers tune radio waves to fry drone swarms for pennies

⁨409⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Tea@programming.dev⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-soldiers-take-down-drone-swarm-in-groundbreaking-use-of-radio-wave-weapon

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Comments

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  • andybytes@programming.dev ⁨28⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    Everyones got this… It was obvious

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  • Zacryon@lemmy.wtf ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    “invisible radio wave”

    Whed have radio waves not been invisible to the naked eye?

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    • ceiphas@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Light is also an electromagnetic wave, just like radio

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    • Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      In the beta test of Earth. Luckily they realised how much that fucks with us and reverted the change.

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      • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        this makes me nostalgic for r/outside.

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    • Cocopanda@futurology.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      What? You don’t have Doppler vision? Pffff.

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    • ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I think it was just emohasizing that it’s an invisible weapon, not quantifying.

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      • Lemminary@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Oh, yeah, definitely! Yep. I know some of those words.

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  • Naich@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Much better than those visible radio waves.

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    • Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Also known as “light”, as used in Lasers, which also works to knock down drones.

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      • piecat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Radio waves are a specific wavelength/band of the EM spectrum. Light is not radio waves, just as radiowaves aren’t light.

        They’re both electromagnetic waves.

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      • tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Look around the space you’re in and notice that you can’t “see” the light, only the things.

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      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Lasers are more useful in surveillance and navigation and guidance and precision work in production, for a weapon they are, most of the time, out of place. Both expensive, unreliable and weak.

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    • evilcultist@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Invisible weapons are all the rage these days.

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      • Deceptichum@quokk.au ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Have I got a box of invisible rocket launchers to sell you.

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      • PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Damn. We gotta close the missile gap eith the six-year-olds.

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    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You overestimate the education of the average person

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  • squid_slime@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    This is massive. Hope the detail leak so we can use this in the revolution.

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    • piecat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Step 1: take the magnetron out of a microwave oven

      Step 2: …

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    • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      UK tech is always invented by weirdo boffins in a shed so they also told everyone in the local how it works.

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  • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    So when can we start shipping them to Ukraine? Even from a selfish perspective its a perfect environment to field test this.

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    • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨23⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Warzone’s always the best environment to test new battlefield systems.

      Look at the difference in technology between the beginning of the first world war and the end. We started off with essentially standing in fields shooting each other over distances you could spit, and ended up with tanks. The second world war gave us nukes.

      Will probably have AGI battle droids by the end of this war.

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  • DrunkenPirate@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    It uses high frequency radio waves to disrupt or damage critical electronic components inside drones, causing them to crash or malfunction.

    At a range of 1km…

    That‘s useful not just for drones. I wonder if this works against helicopters, too.

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    • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today ⁨59⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Seriously this! People don’t understand that even hobby drones at a certain price point have robust rf shielding.

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    • Arcka@midwest.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      More like: That could be useful, just not for (perhaps many) drones.

      1km isn’t that far - the drones that were used for surveillance of Minneapolis protests in 2020 were around 6km up.

      If they needed to get close for some reason, would a 1km deterrent be countered enough by approaching from directly above and using gravity for the last km?

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      • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨21⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

        The drones used in Ukraine are basically just commercial drones with grenades strapped to them. And a 1 km distance they’re unlikely to be able to damage a target even if they detonated.

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    • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It sounds like it’s a directed microwave cooker. Works on people too, just not ones behind good cover.

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      • void_turtle@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        They are definitely not blasting gamma rays to bring down drones lol. “radio” is a specific range of frequencies so “high frequency radio” is just frequencies at the higher end of that specific range.

        Gamma rays are insanely dangerous. I’m too lazy to do calculations/research to back this up but I suspect that gamma rays intense enough to reliably drop a drone would also give cancer/radiation poisoning to anyone remotely downrange (and also the operators).

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      • Fluke@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        High frequency radio is still below the visible part of the spectrum, gamma is waaay above it.

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      • Arcka@midwest.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Tech Ingredients YT channel made a diy microwave directed energy device to disrupt consumer drones.

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  • arrakark@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Anybody know if it has a phased array antenna? a) those are cool b) they can aim much faster than an antenna that needs to physically pivot

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    • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Judging by the picture I’m sure it is

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  • GhostPain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Why does that title sound like it’s out of a 1940’s war reel?

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    • Rogue@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Possibly because it’s presented how news used to be - a simple statement of fact without embellishment or click bait.

      Would you rather:

      You won’t BELIEVE how this weapon built by British boffins can yeet hundreds of Russian drones from the sky in seconds

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      • eronth@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I wager the word “radio” also helps. Early 1900s would have had plenty of radio broadcasts being “the thing” going on, so that word probably helps prime the interpretation, even if not used in quite the same way.

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      • Jivebunny@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        UK slams dozens of drones with invisible radio waves

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      • con_fig@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Nice honkers

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    • Codandchips@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Image

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  • KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I wondered how long it would take for them to figure this out. Or simply take control of the drones.

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  • knightly@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    The UK made an invisible weapon?

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    • DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      They won the Battle of Britain with invisible military tech, so it’s not that surprising.

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      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        That be radar or the bombe’s?

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      • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        youtube.com/watch?v=4D5hEghLoyM

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  • Lucky_777@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Can we get the waves to produce “Hootie and the Blowfish: I only wanna be with you”? That would be quite epic.

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    • swab148@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      These can only do “Hold My Hand”

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  • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Now we need to figure out a handheld consumer version.

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    • Arcka@midwest.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Check the Tech Ingredients YT channel.

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  • ladfrombrad@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    The project supports more than 135 highly skilled jobs across the UK

    Is that 135 individual positions, or just some mumbo jumbo job titles they’re making up?

    The UK police can’t determine what is a legal 249gm drone or not as seen many times over with the auditors, so how on earth is this thing gonna work is beyond me?

    Just trash the airwaves I guess.

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  • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    How is knocking out drone swarms different from knocking out any other communications?

    I swear, such news are reminiscent of the notorious tech illiteracy in “Wraith Squadron” books from Star Wars EU. With that Bothan being, ya knaw, able to just check all of one planet’s communications from the orbit after arriving there. The author (not to insult him) didn’t even consider how preposterous it would be on our planet, which doesn’t know hyperspace travel and other SW-grade tech yet, to be able to process that amount of information, no “hacking” parts even being discussed.

    Which is even worse when pre-Wraith parts of the series are pretty sane and Corran as a character knows what he’s doing.

    Of course protocols used in such applications have DoS vulnerabilities that can be found and used. And a lot of existing equipment can be employed in that too. Just - why does the headline read so stupid.

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    • snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They’ve been using wire guided drones in Ukraine lately so directly damaging the drones is useful in cases where you’re not going to be jamming them

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    • Womble@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      As per the article:

      It uses high frequency radio waves to disrupt or damage critical electronic components inside drones, causing them to crash or malfunction.

      Its not jamming the comms, its inducing currents inside the electronics of the drone to fry them.

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      • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Basically, EMP but directed.

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      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Ah. OK. That’s nicer. Makes sense in the time of consumer hardware dominating frontlines.

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  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They’ll just use EMP tech to harden drones against this

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    • BussyCat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Which will raise weight, costs, and reduce functionality. It’s like a U lock for a bicycle it’s not impenetrable it just raises the bar

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      • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Wrap it in a bit of aluminum foil

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