Russias drone tech is a looming terror risk now available on eBay

A decade or two ago, air travelers were right to worry that terrorists, emboldened after 9/11, might seek to take down airliners with shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.That threat has receded — but a new one is emerging from the battlefields of Ukraine, one that’s far more insidious and difficult to tackle.A threat that you can buy on eBay.In the early 2000s, after an al Qaeda-linked group in Mombasa tried to shoot down a passenger plane with an anti-aircraft missile in 2002, airports worldwide expanded their security perimeters.The United States instituted a buyback scheme to recover Stinger missiles it had supplied to groups like the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, and Israel mandated protective jammers for all domestic passenger fleets.But the old missiles floating around the world’s black-market arms bazaars became less of a threat over time: rocket fuel degrades, coolant gas leaks, thermal batteries expire.Law-enforcement efforts, and an international treaty called the Wassenaar Arrangement, meant that fewer missiles were diverted from arsenals into criminal hands.In any case, such missiles are expensive, costing at least $60,000 each.With no known attempts at terrorist missile attacks on airliners since 2009, the missile scare has gradually receded.Meanwhile, as Ukraine fights back against Russia’s invasion, air defense has rapidly evolved.Both sides have fielded large numbers of low-cost attack drones like the Shahed — too many to be shot down by expensive missiles like the Stinger.Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have responded by developing small, low-cost interceptor drones.The initial versions of these were slightly adapted from the First-Person-View racing drones used to attack ground targets like tanks: To carry out an intercept, the drone operator spotted an enemy drone and rammed it.Ukraine’s latest versions are more aerodynamic, bullet-shaped craft optimized for high-speed operation, often capable of accelerating to 200 mph or more an...