Have you ever seen a drone capture another drone with a net? Now yes. Fortem Technologies has announcementon July 21, 2022, a partnership with Qatar for “ secure the world cup which will take place in November.
Fortem’s drones would have already stopped ” more than 4,400 drones since 2016 “, boasts the American firm. Its Drone Hunter (literally “drone hunter”) is designed to locate a flying target, follow it, adapt to its speed, then shoot a net towards it in order to capture it, slow it down and stop it. The demonstration videos show how the perilous exercise is carried out in a fraction of a second.
Targets are identified by “ many very small radars positioned throughout the site, which make it possible to create a complete image of the airspace “, has explainedTimothy Bean, co-founder of the company, at the BBC, which was one of the first outlets to report the information.
Drones hunting drones: the only solution?
Why isn’t it easier to use frequency jammers to prevent dangerous drones from flying over stadiums? Timothy Bean says: Our business is exploding, because terrorists don’t use joysticks (…) These drones are programmed, so their frequency cannot be jammed.»
Fortem Technologies has reportedly been hired during other major events, such as the Davos Economic Forum — in 2018, its co-founder refused to expand on the number of his clients, but he’s now more talkative.
The use of drones has steadily increased in armed conflicts in recent years (just look at their prominent place in the war in Ukraine), since the technology has become more accessible and less Dear. Combat drones are not even the only enemies anymore: commercial drones can also be modified to do reconnaissance, even drop bombs.
This increase generates new defense needs, on the part of global organizations, companies, armed bodies or States. As a large part of football stadiums have an open roof (at least in part), the risks of overflights by illegal drones, programmed by malicious people, are high.
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