The Anti-Drone Drone
A bigger, badder flying copter debuts to catch trespassers
By Bryan Lufkin
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
It's a dog-eat-dog world—and now a drone-eat-drone one, too. At a February demonstration in La Queue-en-Brie, France (right), Malou Tech showed off the Interceptor MP200 and its “antidrone strategy”—capturing smaller unmanned copters with a net. The remote-controlled, defensive ambusher could be law enforcement's airborne answer to an emerging security threat. Earlier this year personal flying bots were spotted hovering suspiciously over cultural and diplomatic landmarks in central Paris. Since October 2014 officials have recorded more than 60 incidents of drone activity near France's capital and its nuclear plants. In 2012 the nation adopted civilian drone legislation that has begun to go into effect, including a requirement for permissions to fly over populated areas. Here in the U.S., laws and regulations that govern flight of unmanned aircraft are still evolving.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber