Cheap drones find new wartime uses, raising concern for US
Method exposes threat to critical infrastructure
At first, it looks like something out of a video game or a movie: A pair of hands hold a cheap drone controller as its small screen shows a grenade falling toward a soldier.
Then there’s an explosion.
This is a real-life, $1,000 consumergrade drone modified to drop explosives on Russian troops and fighting vehicles. Devices like it are used daily since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Videos of such attacks are available on Twitter, proudly shared by Ukrainian fighters and their supporters. Unlike the sophisticated drones that many militaries use, the drones are available at stores such as Best Buy, easily modified and hacked to turn them into lethal weapons.
Experts said such drones are opening a front for both warfare and terror attacks. The Biden administration is expanding its efforts to protect nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, airports and other critical U.S. infrastructure from attacks that would have been virtually impossible 10 years ago.
The administration announced plans for a comprehensive review of anti-drone efforts, from enforcement and technology to which federal, state and local agencies should be able to use them.
“We will never fight another war without hand-held consumer drones,” said Brett Velicovich, a former U.S. Army special operations intelligence operative who visited Ukraine to watch how fighters use drones. “From my experiences, the U.S. has a larger problem than most people realize, and we need to put laws in place to protect our infrastructure before it’s too late. Otherwise what will happen is we will be responding to a drone attack in the U.S., and the public will be asking why we didn’t do something before.”
China-based DJI, the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, announced it was halting sales of its drones in Russia and Ukraine over concerns they were being weaponized. Although Ukrainian fighters have used drones to drop explosives, experts said they’re mostly used for tracking troop movements and sighting.
In a decade, drones have revolutionized aerial photography, building and bridge inspections, even how Midwestern farmers monitor their vast fields of corn or wheat. The speed of their development and adoption, driven largely by cheap, sophisticated computer chips and powerful battery-powered electric motors, has in some cases leapfrogged regulators’ ability to manage them. That’s in part because drones are sometimes treated like airplanes despite being far smaller, cheaper and easier to fly.
Most of the danger has come from overeager enthusiasts caught flying over crowds, wildfires and even the bubbling hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. In February, the FBI warned at least 27 drone pilots in response to violations of a no-fly zone around the Super Bowl in Tampa, and agents arrested one man who ignored the rules.
Experts including Velicovich worry cities, utilities and power plants are unprepared for deliberate attacks like those in Ukraine or one in March 2021 on a Saudi oil refinery by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that caused multiple fires.
Many companies offer anti-drone technology, from net launchers and modified shotguns to electronic jammers that allow someone to hijack the control signals and force a drone to land. But regulations are largely piecemeal, handled almost entirely by the federal government. Federal officials have asserted their right to regulate drones in the same way they regulate airplanes and helicopters, meaning local authorities have little power to intervene.
“I could land a drone on the lawn of the White House tomorrow, and they couldn’t do a thing to stop me,” Velicovich said, stressing that he was speaking hypothetically. “The U.S. government doesn’t truly understand the full extent at which small, consumer, cheap drones can be used to attack infrastructure.”
The use of anti-drone technology is limited in part because some of the systems can interfere with flights, jam cellphone signals or disrupt GPS navigation.
Drone experts said pilots in the USA have a track record of responsible use and push to ensure any rules passed by Congress reflect that.
“The reality is that the overwhelming majority of drone operators are safe and compliant, and that is true of both commercial and recreational users,” said Michael Robbins, executive vice president of government and public affairs for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, the world’s largest drone industry group. “There’s always going to be bad actors with any technology, any instrument. So the government needs to have tools to address that.”
He added: “I mean, a stick is a stick until someone uses it as a bludgeon to hit someone. And that can be applied to any technology.”
Tommy Kenville, CEO of North Dakota-based ISight Drone Services, said he’s surprised more drones haven’t been used maliciously. ISight has 30 pilots and specializes in agricultural, pipeline and wind turbine inspections, and the company bought a drone capable of flying for up to seven hours continuously – something more commonly seen in military drones such as Reapers and Predators.
“If the drone gets in the wrong hands, you could do a lot of damage,” he said.
Kenville said he’s pleased with how responsive the Federal Aviation Administration has been in the past few years in permitting his pilots to fly drones beyond the horizon – which is normally illegal in the USA – or operate in populated areas. “I do think society has come a long way in understanding their uses,” he said.
“We will never fight another war without hand-held consumer drones.” Brett Velicovich Former U.S. Army special operations intelligence operative