using lasers against... surveillance drones?

[ixfd64]

As you probably know, government surveillance drones have become a major topic lately. Not surprisingly, people aren't too fond of them, and one Colorado town even went as far as encouraging people to shoot them down. This got me thinking: what if people started using lasers against these evil eyes in the sky?

It is my understanding that the LPF community generally frowns upon aiming lasers at any type of aircraft as they may be manned. I'm sure drones would fall under the same category. But what if your city offered to pay you for every drone that gets shot down or disabled?

Personally, I wouldn't do it even if my town said it was OK and/or offered me cash for it. The last thing I want is to be investigated by a bunch of three-letter agencies. Even if I could claim immunity due to authorization from local ordinances, I imagine the legal hassles would be enormous.

Plus, I'm highly doubtful there is anything our lasers could do to damage or disable a drone. At such altitudes, the irradiance probably wouldn't be anywhere near enough to burn out the CCD of a multi-million dollar camera. Thoughts?

 

[hwang21]

Well, if you have a multi-kilowatt navy laser, you can mount a laser targeting system to track down drones and blast right through them with your $40 million laser

 

[Cyparagon]

The types of aerial "surveillance" done within the US is mostly for agricultural purposes. You'd be making a statement of your ignorance instead of making a statement against the government. Sort of how rioters trash police cars and storefront windows when they are unhappy with government policy. You can't know what is going on several miles above you, and you'd feel like a fool if you later learned it was a passenger airliner. On top of all that, pointers are ineffective at several miles.

 

[hwang21]

Pointers, yes. Handheld lasers, (in the near future)...

 

[midnighttattoo]

they would just paint them silver....

 

[ixfd64]

Yeah, I agree that aiming lasers at drones for whatever reason would be pretty stupid. I only posted this thread to discuss a "what if" scenario, so I hope nobody here gets the wrong idea.

Perhaps a bit off-topic, but I think shooting at government drones would be even worse. I'm surprised the Colorado town hasn't gotten anything more than an FAA warning. Interfering with U.S. military property goes far beyond a mere violation of civil aviation laws.

 

[Cyparagon]

Pointers, yes. Handheld lasers...

I use the terms interchangeably.

 

[EpicHam]

As you probably know, government surveillance drones have become a major topic lately. Not surprisingly, people aren't too fond of them, and one Colorado town even went as far as encouraging people to shoot them down. This got me thinking: what if people started using lasers against these evil eyes in the sky?

It is my understanding that the LPF community generally frowns upon aiming lasers at any type of aircraft as they may be manned. I'm sure drones would fall under the same category. But what if your city offered to pay you for every drone that gets shot down or disabled?

Personally, I wouldn't do it even if my town said it was OK and/or offered me cash for it. The last thing I want is to be investigated by a bunch of three-letter agencies. Even if I could claim immunity due to authorization from local ordinances, I imagine the legal hassles would be enormous.

Plus, I'm highly doubtful there is anything our lasers could do to damage or disable a drone. At such altitudes, the irradiance probably wouldn't be anywhere near enough to burn out the CCD of a multi-million dollar camera. Thoughts?

Well.....
You can damage the CCD since it has a similar MPE to the human eye I'll imagine... but you'll need some pretty good laser with tight divergence to do so....

Using a laser in the visible wavelength would be pretty well... visible
HOWEVER!!
If you use an IR laser in a 5W+ range with good divergence...

I don't see why it can't be done.
We aren't trying to melt the control surface , we are just gonna blind it .
So do your math.
http://www.buildlog.net/cnc_laser/laser_calcs.htm

We won't endorse such an action tho.

LPF promotes lasers for non-aggressive usage , such as entertainment and astronomy. NOT for shooting at vessels and organisms.