Anti-drone shoulder rifle lets police take control of UAVs with radio pulses
By Kelly Hodgkins — October 14, 2015
While some homeowners are turning to shotguns to deal with unwanted drones, federal agencies and law enforcement lack the necessary technology to deal with this increasing menace. However, thanks to Battelle Innovations and its new DroneDefender, law enforcement now has an anti-drone system designed to disable a drone without blasting it out the sky.
The new DroneDefender uses radio pulses to disable a hostile drone within a 400-meter radius. These pulses interrupt the communications system of the drone, making it think it is out of range. The drone’s safety protocols then kick in, forcing it to either hover, return to its point of origin, or descend slowly as it prepares to land. Because the weapon jams communication with the nearby operator, the DroneDefender also can prevent detonation and other remote functions.
The radio jamming system is mounted to a gun chassis that makes the anti-drone weapon lightweight (10 lbs or less) and easy-to-use. It is designed to fire within 0.1 seconds of startup and can operate for five hours straight. Not only is this system efficient, this rifle-like design is also familiar to the DroneDefender’s targeted audience — government agencies and law enforcement. The weapon is billed as a “non-kinetic solution,” which is fancy jargon for saying that it will stop drones without firing a bullet, or using an explosion, or another projectile. The DroneDefender s weighs less than 10 pounds and can be mounted on any existing weapon with a picatinny rail—a fairly standard mount found on military rifles.
