Exclusive | NYC eyes system using net-firing drones to entangle and take down hostile drones
The NYPD plans to cast a wide net when it comes to protecting the Big Apple against nefarious drone operators.The city is in talks with Maryland-based American Robotics to buy technology that can detect, track and intercept “hostile drones,” Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry told The Post.The company has developed a portable station that can launch two or three 8-pound drones capable of intercepting a suspect drone in midair — then fire a lightweight mesh net at the invasive drone, entangling its rotors and preventing it from flying.A parachute then activates to bring the enemy drone down safely to the ground.The drone launchers can be used along parade routes or other large events, he said.“They have a counter-drone detection system where it will detect a hostile drone,” said Daughtry, a former NYPD detective.
“The net will go around the drone and it will safely land.”Daughtry, who directs the city’s fleet of 150 drones, has been in talks with the company about using its Iron Drone Raider System and hopes to have a deal soon, he said.“We could station it anywhere throughout the city,” Daughtry said.The system, which uses eight-pound racer drones, costs less than $200,000, American Robotics CEO Eric Brock said.“Ground radar would detect something that’s unidentified,” Brock said, explaining that the person in charge of the drone would then press a button to activate it.
“Once we locate the drone we track it and hunt it.”His company shows off the tech in a dramatic video on YouTube.Brock said he couldn’t identify the company’s current clients because of security issues, but said they have been working with the UAE in the Middle East.Similar tech — minus the parachute — has been used by the Ukrainians to take down Russian drones.Before the raider drones could be deployed in NYC, the federal government would have to lift restrictions that ban local jurisdictions from taking down flying vehicles.
Right now, only feds hav...