Drone Gun MKII
The Commonwealth Games to be held next month on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia, are expected to attract crowds of up to 700,000 people. Given the opportunity for terrorist activities on a mass scale at such an event, Australian detection and countermeasure company DroneShield have announced they will provide Queensland Police with several units of their DroneGun MKII.
The units, which look a lot like a rifle, were recently awarded a NATO stock number allowing them to be purchased for use by any of the participating NATO nations. With a coverage radius of 2km in a wide range of environmental conditions, the guns jam on frequencies ranging from 2.38Ghz-2.483Ghz and 5.725Ghz-5.825Ghz, as well as optionally disrupting GPS and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
By disrupting drones with a blast of electromagnetic noise, the drone is forced to the ground or can be forced to ‘return home’, allowing the authorities to investigate the source of the drone.
The DroneShield products have already been used successfully at the most recent 2017 IRONMAN World Championship as well as the Boston Marathon for three years running. The DroneGun’s selection for use by the Queensland Police Service is further indication of the DroneShield’s successful track record of protecting mass events.
It’s a trend that reflects safety measures utilised by the Anti-Terrorism and Safety Headquarters at the Pyeongchang Olympics last month. A tactical airplane with facial recognition capabilities and a high-definition intelligent CCTV, as well as “drone-catching drones” were used to detect and deal with suspicious drones if they approached Winter Olympics venues.