Thursday, March 24, 2022 // (IG): BB //Weekly Sponsor: DiyGarage SoCal
An Amazon drone crash in Oregon set a field ablaze
FROM THE MEDIA: An Amazon drone sparked an acres-wide fire last summer when it crashed in eastern Oregon during a test flight, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report. The drone's motors failed during the flight in June, the report said, causing it to plummet 160 feet to the ground. A video referenced in the report shows the drone "tumbling in uncontrolled free fall until it contacted the ground," the report said. An "intense lithium battery fire quickly consumed the aircraft," and the fire soon spread to the field where the drone had crash-landed, the report added. "Several acres of wheat stubble field were soon on fire," it said. The report redacted Amazon's name but referred to the MK27 drone, the make and model of Amazon's experimental Prime Air delivery drone. Another FAA report, from May, does not redact Amazon's name when describing a second MK27 drone crash. In that incident, the drone's propeller failed, causing the 89-pound machine to careen downward "in an uncontrolled state."
READ THE STORY: Business insider
At Polish site, Ukrainians train to fly drones for rescue missions and targeting Russians
FROM THE MEDIA: Olexi Kroshchenko, a clean-cut Ukrainian helicopter pilot, stood elbow-to-elbow with Chase Bailey, a bearded Las Vegas hipster, and learned how to fly drones in war zones. Within days, Kroshchenko hoped, some of the 10 specialized quadcopters donated by an American manufacturer would be angling into the treacherous gaps of bombed-out apartments and high-rises, giving Ukrainian rescuers a better chance to reach victims. “A little more throttle,” said Bailey, gently touching the joystick controller. “Watch the screen, not the drone.” “Da, yes,” said Kroshchenko, 25, as he mastered the subtle pitch and yaw of a device designed — with laser guidance, night-vision and a concrete-penetrating signal — to operate in the kind of grisly rubble being created daily by Russian missiles and shells.
READ THE STORY: Washington Post
Exploding ‘kamikaze’ drones are ushering in a new era of warfare in Ukraine
FROM THE MEDIA: Recently photos surfaced on social media of a roughly four-foot-wide tan, airplane-shaped drone that had fallen out of the sky in the Kyiv region, crashing into the sandy ground. While that one failed to explode on impact, the images verified by The Washington Post provide some of the first evidence Russia is using a new and terrifying weapon in its war against Ukraine: a killer drone that can dive bomb into targets, destroying them with little notice. The Russian kamikaze drones, also known as loitering munitions, will soon be joined on the battlefield by ones sent to Ukrainian forces by the United States, making the war the largest direct conflict between two countries in which they’ve been deployed on both sides. Researchers who specialize in the field say it shows that these drones are becoming the norm in modern warfare, and are likely to make the conflict more deadly and unpredictable. “It’s going to be more of a psychological effect,” said Ingvild Bode, an autonomous weapons researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. “There’s no place to hide.”
READ THE STORY: Washington Post
BRINC Donates Drones, Training for Ukrainian Pilots: “BRINC Exists to Do This Kind of Work”
FROM THE MEDIA: IPublic safety drone experts BRINC has donated drones and training to pilots in the Ukraine, as an in-depth article in the Washington Post reveals. For the last several days, the BRINC team has worked just over the Ukrainian border at a secret location, training more than a dozen Ukrainian emergency responders on the use of 10 donated LEMUR drones. The LEMUR drones, used here during peacetime as a critical public safety and SWAT operation tool, offer a valuable solution for search and rescue and defense work. “Ukraine’s landscape is now tragically littered with dangerous partially collapsed structures that need to be searched for survivors, and the BRINC LEMUR will be used to complete these searches without risking the lives of emergency responders. The drones will also be used to locate Russian forces and help coordinate Ukraine’s defense,” says BRINC CEO Blake Resnick, in a letter to the BRINC community.” BRINC’s drones are equipped to enter difficult environments and enable two-way communication, which makes them ideal for search and rescue in complex environments. In cities undergoing continuous Russian attacks, rescues are increasingly dangerous – and the BRINC drones offer responders a valuable tool for finding survivors without putting pilots at risk.
READ THE STORY: DroneLife
Boeing’s potentially game-changing unmanned aircraft get a new name
FROM THE MEDIA: Australia’s Defence Minister, the Hon Peter Dutton MP, announced the designator and name at a dedicated ceremony held at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. “The introduction of the new popular name is a rare and special moment in aviation history for our RAAF partners and industry team of over 35 Australian suppliers,” said Glen Ferguson, director Airpower Teaming System Australia and International. “Selecting the Ghost Bat, an Australian native mammal known for teaming together in a pack to detect and hunt, reflects the unique characteristics of the aircraft’s sensors and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance abilities, and is a fitting name for this pioneering capability,” said Ferguson. With a rapid development timetable of just three years from ideation to first flight, the development program leverages advancements in digital engineering, advanced manufacturing and unique Australian supply chain technologies.
READ THE STORY: Defense Blog
Drones: Militant Game Changer in the Middle East?
FROM THE MEDIA: Commercial drones are widely available, and weaponizing them does not require much skill and capabilities. Earlier this year, the Yemeni-based Houthis launched a drone attack on an oil storage facility in Abu Dhabi. The attack killed three and injured six. Following the attacks, UAE officials thwarted various other Houthi drone attacks and warned of the rising drone threat. In addition to the Houthis, jihadi groups such as the Islamic State (IS), Hamas, and Hezbollah have used drones for reconnaissance, propaganda, and attacks, with IS being one of the most proficient in its use during the height of its powers from 2015 to 2017. While the recent attacks have cast the militant use of drones into the limelight, the questions that remain to be asked are “how likely is a mass casualty terrorist attack involving drones” and “are drones really a militant game changer?” Between 2016 and 2021, the Houthis were reported to have conducted more than 4,000 drone and missile strikes on Saudi targets. The first type of drone they began using was the commercially available DJI Phantom quadcopter, alleged to have been stolen from a local TV station.
READ THE STORY: The Defense Post
SkyeBrowse is relaunching its Android app to support all DJI drones
FROM THE MEDIA: Drone reality capture platform SkyeBrowse realized years ago its Android app was a mess. So, they scrapped it. But now, the New Jersey startup says it’s got a massive app design overhaul in the works – because not all users who want to convert their DJI drone video into a high-resolution 3D model at the speed of coffee use iOS devices. SkyeBrowse’s 3D mapping software can create accurate 3D models within minutes, without any training. It’s changing the way first responders get their jobs done. In just two years of its inception, the company has saved law enforcement departments over 50,000 hours of manpower and $5 million on accident reconstruction. But those numbers could be much higher if SkyeBrowse was accessible to more users. This is why the team has spent the last six months redesigning its Android app from the ground up to support almost every drone. The initial release, however, would focus only on DJI drones and devices. The SkyeBrowse Android app, expected to lose its beta tag in the coming weeks, will release with support for the DJI M300, DJI Mavic Mini, DJI Mavic Mini SE, DJI Mini 2, DJI Air 2, DJI Air 2S, and DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced.
READ THE STORY: DroneDJ
Drone will enable secure data collection
FROM THE MEDIA: A new small drone jointly developed by Japan’s government and private businesses provides the country with the ability to strengthen its data protection. With China currently dominating the drone market, Japan is working to produce domestic models to keep secure data gathered in highly confidential situations. Chinese companies account for about 80% of the global market share for small drones, and information such as communications data, images and flight routes is often stored on Chinese servers via special apps, raising concerns over information leaks. Released in December, Japan’s Soten drone measures 2 feet across and weighs almost 4 pounds. It was developed by Tokyo-based startup ACSL, NTT Docomo and Yamaha Motor, in partnership with the government and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. Soten can fly for about 30 minutes and has a camera designed for maneuvering as well as photographing. It can fly even in strong winds of 33.5 mph. Drones are used in a wide range of fields, including land surveys and the inspection of bridges, roads and other infrastructure. The Soten drone immediately encrypts its flight routes and the data it collects, and data is stored on domestic servers, features that are expected to prevent third parties from stealing data or hijacking the drone. Soten will be used for surveying remote islands in waters around Japan and conducting search operations in the event of a disaster.
READ THE STORY: Star Advertiser
Crashed Drone in Croatia ‘Contained Fuse’, Investigation Says
FROM THE MEDIA: A ballistic examination of the fragments of the military drone that crashed in Zagreb two weeks ago has concluded that it was an aerial bomb with a fuse. But no final conclusion has been made as regards traces of explosives, the Zagreb County Prosecutor’s Office said, local media reported on Wednesday. The Prosecutor’s Office said it is continuing the investigation in coordination with the Forensic Science Centre, the Criminal Investigation Department, the Military Police and intelligence agencies. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said: “It is important that all the expert analyses that are being conducted are finished and precise,” on Wednesday. “It has so far been confirmed that a type of aerial bomb was placed [in it] and that the drone was armed. We’ll hear all the other details in the following days when the investigation is finished,” Plenkovic said, Index.hr reported. On Tuesday, some media outlets reported that the investigation of the drone has been completed and that the analyzed parts did not contain explosives.
READ THE STORY: Balkan Insight
Asteria Aerospace launches drone software platform SkyDeck
FROM THE MEDIA: The SkyDeck will be offered as a DaaS (Drone-as-a-software) solution for various sectors such as agriculture, surveying, industrial inspections, and surveillance and security. SkyDeck platform will have a unified dashboard and offers services for drone fleet management, scheduling and executing drone flights, data processing, and visualization, and AI-based analysis of aerial data captured using drones. For instance, in the agriculture sector, SkyDeck will be able to provide data and insights that can be used to accurately measure crop traits, assess crop health, and optimize agri inputs. “The recent liberalization of regulations for drone operations and the promotion of DaaS by the government have increased the demand for drones industry sectors. Asteria is already among the leading drone manufacturers in India. With the launch of SkyDeck, we are addressing the need of the hour with integrated drone hardware, software, and operations solutions.
READ THE STORY: Deccan Herald
Drone Developers Invited to Meet the IMOD Urban Indoor Challenge
FROM THE MEDIA: The Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) in the Ministry of Defense together with the US Department of Defense Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) and the Merage Institute, will hold a first-of-its-kind competition – the Mobile Standoff Autonomous Indoor Capabilities Challenge in short: the “MoSAIC”. The competition will incorporate operating commercial robots and drones in an urban setting, in the city of Yeruham, simulating the challenges on the future battlefield. 20 of the most innovative startup companies in robotics and indoor drones are expected to participate in the competition that will take place over three days in Yeruham between April 4-6, 2022. Each group’s drones and robots will be required to complete an obstacle course where they will face several obstacles such as doors, rubble, curtains, etc. The event will test the abilities of companies from all over the world to complete navigation challenges, structure mapping, human and object tagging, human through-wall detection, maximizing autonomous movement in urban settings, and dealing with physical obstacles in urban areas including stair climbing and more.
READ THE STORY: Defense Update
Items of interest
Turkey Starts Drone-based Electronic Warfare Project(Video)
Turkey's Defense Agency Starts Drone-based Electronic Warfare Project. It seems the Turk still not satisfied with the current capability of their combat UAV, The country defense industry is working in developing Drone-based Electronic Warfare system to get a better capability results for their armed drones.
How Armed Drones Disrupt Modern Warfare(Video)
FROM THE MEDIA: Hat tip to an anonymous Asianometry viewer for suggesting this topic and additional background. One of the bigger things that happened in 2020 was that two countries - Azerbaijan and Armenia - fought a war. The war lasted for about 6 weeks, and it has set the air defense world ablaze. For the first time, the world got to see a national army bring a fleet of armed drones to the battlefield. And the impact those drones have made was huge. Using a swarm of cheap Turkish drones and Israeli loitering munitions, Azerbaijan swept aside Armenia's air defenses and paved a road to victory. Cheap armed drone technologies are spreading like wildfire across the world. In this video, I want to look at how such drones add new wrinkles, opportunities and challenges to modern warfare.
About this Product
These open source products are reviewed from analysts at InfoDom Securities and provide possible context about current media trends in regard to the realm of cyber security. The stories selected cover a broad array of cyber threats and are intended to aid readers in framing key publicly discussed threats and overall situational awareness. InfoDom Securities does not specifically endorse any third-party claims made in their original material or related links on their sites, and the opinions expressed by third parties are theirs alone. Contact InfoDom Securities at dominanceinformation@gmail.com