On the matter of shooting down Amazon delivery drones with shotguns

Re: Dear Article Author

"There's a reason their country scored twenty-eighth in the world in education."

The UK was 26th, US 36th

Re: Dear Article Author

Actually, we're busy demonstrating that we're not that clever either.

If you dislike the drones coming near your place, order some goods for your neighbours, or to a known place. It's there they will have to get close to the ground to deliver the parcel, at which point even a normal handful of chains is enough to take the thing down. No need to get involved in long distance targeting and worrying about projectiles going astray - far too much work.

After you've caught a few, I reckon they will switch to standard van delivery. Sorted.

While I'm here, any more problems you want me to solve?

Completely missed the target

Even if most can't shoot and wouldn't know a lock from a stock from a barrel at least some of us know what the whole point of the drone delivery story was but don't worry your AC head over it, I'll give you a hint. Consider exactly what he said on one of the most highly rated television shows, just after the showing of a very popular televised game which just happened to be played on the evening before a day that has come to be known in the U.S. as Cyber Monday and shortly after the start of the busiest shopping orgy of the year.

There's a season where the best press is free and Bezos sure knows a turkey shoot when he sees one sets one up.

Re: Dear Article Author

You have failed to mention the PUNT GUN, yes Punt and not with a C.

This is a glorified appendage of a cannon attached to.... A Punt, not C*nt which can take down a whole flock of ducks not f*cks.

I understand that you were in the RN, bad careers advice. Having once had the misfortune of working with the Navy I spent a little time at HMS Cambridge, the gunnery school just outside of Plymouth (no longer there) watching some RN Gunner types trying to hit a stationary rock (Island) with a big gun.

It was painful to watch, Nelson would have turned in his grave.

Re: Dear Article Author

Most redneck yanks have an arsenal of weapons from which they can fill the air with lead.

A flock of ten rednecks with automatic military grade squirrel hunting rifles namely 10x M240 at approx 800 rounds per minute with a range of over 3kms, could place 8000 bits of lead a minute in the path of the drone.

Or the M2 which has a lower rate of fire but heavier bits of lead though it only has a range of around 2000m.

Light aircraft beware.

Sadly very little of the squirrel would be left to barbecue.

Re: Dear Article Author

Dear AC...

I'd say that you have been watching too many movies and/or don't understand suppression fire.

(Scout Snipers 'One shot, One kill')

But more to the point...

If the 'gun toting home owner' is in the military and has access to experimental arm... glaze the target for range, then launch a proximity 20mm grenade or exploding round...

Re: Dear Article Author

people who adopt the point-and-spray method for taking down targets

Not anymore, I believe. They've actually deleted the full-auto mode on the M16, leaving just the semi-auto and 3-round burst modes. And they've trained their soldiers accordingly, so that they're now more deadly with 3-round bursts than they used to be with full-auto (not hard, because full-auto just wasted bullets, as you noted.)

Re: Dear Article Author

Can I get me one of these on eBay ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goalkeeper_CIWS

Hagman could do it any day

An army marksman could do it in single shot mode. Drone would be low, slow, large.

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

The new Robot Wars - in glorious 3D !

(seriously beeb, have a think about it)

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

I wonder if one of those TrackingPoint smart rifles would work on drones? The blurbs talk about hitting a moving target at 1000 yards, but I think they had things like deer in mind rather than drones. I imagine the software could be adapted if they wanted to do such a thing.

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

Barrage balloons?

A flock of trained attack Ravens?

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

A couple of rockets dragging a very light net up in front of the drone. Or possibly use firework mortars?

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

"Think of it as a mini SPB project....First idea: Another drone."

This is an opportunity to let my inner redneck loose!

Second idea: AIrbust shot gun shells filled with aluminium pellets (lower density metal to reduce the lethality beyond the kill sphere, he suggests hopefully).

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

I have wildly optimistic visions of someone strapping heli blades and an automatic lid to a dustbin and swallowing the Amazon drone in flight, like a low budget re-enactment of You Only Live Twice.

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

Weeeeeell, only puny guns. How about Goalkeeper CIWS? Or perhaps Shilka if we're on a budget.

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

Hmm, a fairly focused jammer could work, provided the own onboard services are kept online. The clever ones rely on GPS for flying home, so I suspect there may be an issue if you zap its ability to know where it is (also prevents any recovery effort). After that, reeling off some dental floss or small chains will take out the device. Or a weighted net.

And it MUST carry some sort of pirate flag. This has to be done in style.

Re: Guns won't work, so let's look at alternatives...

It is not that difficult to put together a bit of kit that can follow a target moving through the air especially if it is something with a nice RADAR reflection. Add another bit of kit that sends a projectile and bang, the drone is an 'ex drone'.

Most of this stuff can be picked up Military surplus in the US without too many awkward questions being asked by the powers that be.

Here? you have to make a lot more yourself.

Just don't go aiming it at anything BIG or official. No Laser Target aquisition either as that will get you a spell at HMP.

It is all an awful lot easier than it was <redacted> years ago when I looked into this sort of thing as a student.