The security threat posed by the misuse of commercially-available unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has become a serious concern for the defense and intelligence world. A simple online search today presents a list of thousands of incidents involving improper drone flights, from near misses to crashes, with at least 3,456 such accounts being confirmed in 2016 – almost triple the number encountered in 2015.
However, as defense agencies eye this threat, ever more sophisticated counter-UAV (C-UAV) technologies for wayward UAVs are being developed and matured, with many going a step beyond the conventional jamming-centric techniques that have traditionally lacked sufficient situational control and precision. When a drone is jammed, it may land in place, or it may return to its point of launch – the result is unpredictable.