'We should be vigilant against drones that are on par with weapons of mass destruction.'

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can fly freely in the sky without humans boarding have become established as 'drones' and are used for various purposes such as carrying luggage, shooting from high places, and directing at events. However, there have been some concerns about the military diversion of such drones. The American academic organization IEEE 's academic journal 'IEEE Spectrum' warns that 'drones that can operate multiple units at once are becoming weapons that have the same effect as weapons of mass destruction.'

To Protect Against Weaponized Drones, We Must Understand Their Key Strengths --IEEE Spectrum
https://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/military-robots/to-protect-against-weaponized-drones-we-must-understand-their-key-strengths

The 'use a lot of drones at the same time' method is often used to form logos, photos, and even QR codes in the sky.

A huge 'Drone QR code' that shines in the night sky has appeared, and it can actually be read with a smartphone --GIGAZINE

However, microdrones have become a 'strategic concern' among national security experts. Analysts and the media say that 'massive microdrones will be a new weapon of mass destruction,' and another 'a sinister swarm of really creepy drones is slamming and chasing locals.' Voices have also been raised, and there are concerns that microdrones will cause mass surveillance or even more.

Experts warn about the danger of drones becoming weapons of mass destruction-GIGAZINE

by John

Of course, the drone itself is not a new technology. However, in recent years, dictatorships and terrorist groups around the world are demanding 'weapons that have less human damage but are as effective as weapons of mass destruction.' In the Cold War era, 'weapons of mass destruction to destroy a wide area' such as nuclear weapons were needed. Recently, however, there have been reports of chemical weapons being used to assassinate individuals in peacetime.

For example, North Korea's Kim Jong Un is said to have assassinated his half-brother Kim Jong Nam with VX gas in 2017.

Two women killed with poison needles in Malaysia, reportedly assassinated by North Korean Kim Jong Nam-GIGAZINE

In addition, it was reported that the nerve agent 'Novichok ' may have been used by Russian authorities in the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom in 2018. In 2020, Putin's political opponents are known to have been assassinated using Novichok.

Putin's political enemy who was about to be poisoned succeeded in getting a spy's confession that he 'poisoned his pants' --GIGAZINE

Micro drones and VX gas Novichok are used to assassinate specific individuals. These weapons are expandable, easier to handle, and have the same strategic impact as weapons of mass destruction. The IEEE Spectram calls this new category 'Weapons of Mass Agility (WMA),' stating that 'dictatorships and terrorist groups increasingly see WMA as an attractive weapon.'

In March 2021, the military news media The War Zone reported the results of a large-scale investigation into the flight of drones around naval vessels. According to the report, in July 2019, the US Navy recorded several drone swarms found near the destroyer USS Kidd over several days. According to the Navy, six drones were maneuvering in a complicated manner in poor visibility and were tracking destroyers sailing at speeds of 29 km / h or more. The drone's activities triggered internal investigations by the Navy, the FBI, and the Coast Guard, which were also noted by the Chief of Naval Operations. War Zone revealed details of the strange event by requesting information disclosure such as Navy deck records and internal communications, and reproduced the situation using the location information of the ship, but got a strong explanation about the drone. I couldn't.

The US Navy spends about 100 billion yen to build a destroyer. On the other hand, the Turkish-made military unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), Bayraktar TB2 , which Azerbaijan used in the conflict with Armenia, is equipped with a 150 kg laser-guided bomb, and each unit costs about 100 to 200 million yen. In other words, you can have at least 500 UCAVs for the price of one destroyer.

Consumer drones are still inferior to UCAV in performance, but their load capacity, performance, and autonomous capabilities are improving rapidly. Actually it has happened assassination that uses a consumer drones, in 2018 Kakeru assassinated in drone that Nicolas Maduro president of Venezuela is equipped with explosives in a speech incident has occurred.

IEEE Spectrum calls on drone engineers and engineers to 'be careful when developing applications that can be weaponized and have deadly effects.' Politicians and military strategists also argued that they needed to be vigilant to protect themselves from WMA. 'Fortunately, the use of WMA is limited so far, but as commercial drone technology matures and becomes more widespread, the dangers will increase,' IEEE Spectrum warned. I did.