Drones, otherwise known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are of two types: those that require a human operator and autonomous drones, which do not. Drones have been around for over 100 years, early incarnations being balloons, torpedoes and aerial targets. They've been used for target practice, bomb detection, surveillance and even hostage negotiations.

In World War I, the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company invented the first pilotless torpedo. In WWII the Allied and Axis powers both used drones to train gunners. Israel used drones as decoys in the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s and the U.S. used them in Vietnam. In the 1990s, the U.S. began the Predator program which equipped drones with Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

In 2006 the FAA issued the first commercial drone permit and the government began using them for border surveillance while private corporations used them to inspect crops and pipelines and to provide security. Their uses run the gamut from simple recreation, amateur photography, mapmaking, wildlife surveillance and  environmental monitoring. One story recounts a drone being used to deliver a self-inflating rescue pod to endangered swimmers.

When Amazon began using them for delivery, drones entered the mainstream. There were over 100 million drone deliveries of retail products in 2023 alone and the FAA reports that there are nearly one million registered drones in the U.S. Drone sales here exceeded $6 billion in 2024 and are forecast to exceed $31 billion by the end of 2034.

Sadly, some trespassing is occurring. While many incursions can be explained by errant operators, not all drone use is benign. In 2018 a group of Venezuelan army defectors purchased a drone from a U.S. retailer and used it in an attempt to kill President Nicolas Maduro. In an anonymous interview with CNN they stated, "… we have tried every peaceful and democratic way to bring an end to this tyranny that dresses itself as democracy." They armed the drones with remote-controlled explosives and targeted Maduro. Although the beleaguered citizens of his nation may disagree, he was fortunate in that cell phone signal blockers caused the bombs to detonate prematurely.

In January of 2022, the Iranians published an animated video of a wheeled drone accessing the golf course at Mar-a-Lago. The video shows the drone locating President Trump and targeting him with a laser that guides an airborne strike from another drone. The video was in revenge for the killing of IRGC General Soleimani.

The would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks used a drone to surveil the Butler Farm Show grounds the day of Trump's rally, even while local law enforcement officers and snipers were in position.

In the last few years there have been hundreds of drone flights reported over U.S. military installations both here at home and abroad, and likely many more went unnoticed. The sightings over bases that contain classified military programs are quite concerning, although the military believes most of these drones are controlled by locals who have no nefarious intentions.

Three U.S. airbases in the U.K. were subjected to drone incursions last month alone. Members of the British military are assisting U.S. efforts to track down those responsible and encrypted data links are now being used to secure communications between aircraft and ground control.

New Jersey residents have reported a spate of drone incursions across the state. While many of these are transitory, some drones are hovering over homes and, more worrisome, critical infrastructure sites such as water reservoirs, electrical transmission lines, rail stations, police departments and military installations. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy stated: "We are actively monitoring the situation and in close coordination with our federal and law enforcement partners on this matter. There is no known threat to the public at this time."

Call me paranoid, but drones controlled by unknown operators hovering over sensitive infrastructure sites is threatening.

The FAA has reported an increasing number of drone sightings in close proximity to airports. These obviously present threats to safety and security and may result in flight delays. New Jersey resident Walter Ziegler noticed drones in the flight path of Newark Liberty International Airport. He said, "When the aircraft approaches, the lights went out on the 'drone.' When aircraft passed, the lights came back on." The FAA investigates all reports of unauthorized drone operations stating, "Drone operators who conduct unsafe operations that endanger other aircraft or people on the ground could face fines up to $75,000."  

At least 11 countries have announced that they're instituting drone swarm programs, in which hundreds or even thousands of drones work in unison. Controlled by AI and communicating by Wi-Fi, drone swarms can be utilized for almost any mission, from antisubmarine or antipersonnel warfare to overwhelming and destroying enemy air defenses, naval vessels, troop transports and other targets. While one lone wolf terrorist can assemble and deploy a single drone or a small drone swarm, they are unlikely to have the resources to build Predator-sized drones or deploy very large drone swarms. Terrorist groups and hostile nations are obviously not so limited.

Efforts to combat these airborne threats are yielding solutions ranging from the low-tech to the sophisticated. The Dutch National Police were the first to use eagles to capture and bring down drones. Eagles can spot drones from up to 2 miles away and are able to snatch and carry prey weighing up to 4 lbs. Drones can also be deterred by hanging nets or taken down with net cannons or hand-held net guns.

More sophisticated systems begin with the detection, classification and tracking of drones. Some can even identify the digital footprint of the drone or its controller which can be useful in prosecution. These systems detect and monitor drones using radio frequency analyzers, acoustic or optical sensors and even radar.

Drone countermeasure technologies utilize methods to physically destroy the device, neutralize it or take over control. Only law enforcement or the military are legally authorized to utilize these methods. Drones can be taken down with lasers, GPS spoofers, microwave devices and radio frequency jammers. The more sophisticated techniques allow countermeasure operators to land drones in a controlled fashion and sometimes in designated locations, thus limiting collateral damage and allowing for inspection and data collection for prosecution afterwards.

Militarized drones, especially when deployed in swarms present a clear danger to society and especially to high-profile individuals and sensitive targets in our infrastructure. Fewer than 20 hostiles managed to commandeer 4 airliners, bring down the World Trade Center, strike the Pentagon and murder thousands of Americans on 9/11. pResident (not a typo) Biden, Kamala Harris and the Left have welcomed millions of illegals as well as tens or even hundreds of thousands of single, military-aged men from China and the Middle East into our country. How many of these individuals might be sleeper agents?

Kurt Schlichter wrote a terrifying novel describing what would happen if such sleepers had received rudimentary training and financial support and were told to strike simultaneously in cities all across America. The deployment of drone swarms that target our electrical grid, military and law enforcement as well as thousands of foot soldiers equipped with ordinary weapons could send America back to the 19th century.

As Sebastian Gorka wrote in his endorsement of Schlichter’s book, “Forewarned is forearmed.”

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