The negatives here could summarily be listed as a shorter range—the MKII’s gps jammer capabilities reached up to 1.2 miles, in contrast to the Tactical’s 0.5-miles-and-unspecified-change—and the fact that there’s no FCC approval to use this jamming gun as a regular civilian. Ultimately, DroneShield’s new product is for those already sure about their need of any potential anti-drone tech. As a city-dweller who doesn’t have any land to protect from surveillance or general aerial intrusion, this doesn’t really pertain to me. On the other hand, it’s impressive how rapidly anti-drone tech is growing, in lock-step with every technological leap that drones take themselves.
Why is gps jammer technology more and more important? The UK must reduce the dependency of its critical infrastructure and emergency services on GPS technology to mitigate against the potentially disastrous impact of signal jamming, a government report has warned.
USAF aircrews began flying GPS-denied training sorties in 2010 as part of an initiative called “Readiness Project 2.” In 2013, the service developed a system called Simulated Programmable Aircraft-Embedded Jammer, which can realistically simulate GPS jamming on one plane’s equipment without affecting others.
“The last 15 years have seen a dramatic proliferation of GNSS jamming systems: from the preserve of the military, through criminal groups, to the point where jammers are now sought and owned by everyday citizens seeking to hide from a perceived risk of being tracked during their day-to-day lives.”
Modern battlefields are complicated, and have been further muddled by the addition of cheap jamming technology. It’s now possible to buy a simple GPS jammer yourself, and there have been plenty of instances of nefarious actors using the tech all over. And, it makes sense. Future wars will be fought chiefly with information. They’d have to be. Technology being what it is, if you can kick the essential services out from under your opponent, you can cripple their ability to respond or conduct themselves. It’s a scary world, indeed.