Monday, October 05, 2015

[cqvdiizl] Weaponizing a drone

As already done by the U.S. military, a drone can be weaponized.  Consider a simpler task of weaponizing a "toy" quadcopter.  While mounting a handgun would be the most straightforward, more elegant might be to take advantage of gravitational potential energy: drop something from a height.

The Mythbusters proved that a penny cannot cause much harm.  We need an aerodynamic, dense object, perhaps a nail or spike.  Will it keep falling pointy end down?  There seems a tension in that any aerodynamic forces that keep the projectile facing the correct direction necessarily increase drag and decrease terminal velocity.

Of course, poisoned darts, or other chemical, biological, or radiological weapons payloads could also be considered (and probably already have been by the military).

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