The drone lifeguard service, which has been rolled out across Spanish beaches, dropped a life vest into the sea this month that was able to keep the teenager afloat just as he started to sink, its operators have said.
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I thought I had heard of this before, but it's nice to see how well it worked.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-62048403
Col Oleksii Noskov, assistant commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said: "The army of drones will allow us to constantly monitor the 2,470km-long (1,535 miles) front line and to field an effective response to enemy attacks, using modern technology."
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, told the BBC via email that the first goal of the campaign was to purchase tactical drones which have a 100-mile range and are equipped with a sophisticated camera, GPS and mapping tools.
However, after studying the issue, he said "our team understood that Ukraine's army still needed quadcopters", and so he said the country was asking people to "donate their own drones".
Ukraine hopes to collect thousands of multi-use and commercial UAVs.
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the videos from Ukrainian drones also make for good news clips and youtube videos.
https://en.defence-ua.com/weapon_and_tech/spectator_m1_mission_successful-1644.html
The Spectator-M1 UAS technology has been developed with special emphasis placed on anti-jamming capability. The system incorporates proprietary solutions from Meridian – including, but not limited to an ECM warning system which alerts about the incoming jamming signal; automatic switchover between control modes; the use of long-range secure communication links; and digital encryption of signals -- allowing it to operate in heavy ECM environments. The Spectator-M1 has been successfully tested against all counter-drone systems currently available in Ukraine.
The Spectator-M1 drone, due to its small size, camouflage painting, and low RCS along with other low observability features, is stealthy to enemy countermeasures. It is so silent as to be undetectable while flying at over 300 m, and the very low noise of its engine can only be heard while flying at 100 m or lower.
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Sounds like they know what they're doing! I don't think I've seen any reports of these being shot down yet.
https://www.kvertus.com/products/drone-jammer-antidron-kvsg-3/#
“ANTIDRON KVSG-3” allows effectively fight against drones, approaching the protected area, by suppressing the drone’s control and navigation channels. It leads to neutralization and forced landing of the intruder.
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I'm not sure how it can force a landing. Range of 1 kilometer.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/04/06/ukraine-drone-footage-pleitgen-pkg-lead-vpx.cnn
I read that DJI (a Chinese company) helps Russia with archives from their database, while they don't help Ukraine.
These guys were using a DJI quadcopter. Bad idea.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/29/dji_denies_aiding_russia/
DJI's involvement in Russia's illegal invasion first became an issue around March 11, when allegations emerged that Ukrainian users were unable to use a DJI drone detection product called DJI AeroScope that the Chinese company bills as "a comprehensive drone detection platform that rapidly identifies UAV communication links, gathering information such as flight status, paths, and other information in real time."
Russian users could run AeroScope, leading to accusations that DJI was assisting Moscow.
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Personally, as a DJI drone owner, I'll be happy to switch to one of the many US companies that now make just as good products.
