Sept 9, 2015 10:21 a.m. ET

The unmanned vehicles can pose a threat, prompting companies to develop lasers and jammers
Amazon.com Inc.
Amazon.com described its planned Prime Air drone-delivery service in July, which included sending a seven-page letter to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Jurica Dujmovic
Columnist

Drones are amazing. They come in all shapes and sizes, and serve a variety of purposes.

Ever since Amazon.com AMZN, +0.91% first suggested using drones for delivery service, I’ve been enticed to learn more about these flying automatons and explore other ways they could be used to improve our lives and make things generally more fun and exciting. It’s been estimated that by 2020, around 30,000 of these unmanned aircraft systems will be licensed to fly over U.S. soil.

While many of them will be used for security tasks, such keeping the borders safe by monitoring illicit activities, assisting with search-and-rescue operations or simply for making breathtaking aerial photos, the fact is that not all drones will be welcome everywhere. Aside from embedded algorithms and code, drones don’t have minds of their own and only behave as well as they are programmed to. Although the Federal Aviation Administration is committed to regulating drone usage, there is still a high possibility that in the near future drones may pose a danger.

So how exactly could someone defend themselves against such a threat?

You could shoot down the offending drone. A company called Snake River Shooting Products has created special shotgun ammunition, optimized for maximum destruction of small drones. You could also use various radar jammers to try to stop communication with a drone’s pilot. That would not only be tricky, but it also might be illegal.

Or you could fry them with a laser.

You’d probably have to be working for the government or military to legally do so, but having a laser to shoot down drones would be pretty awesome. Boeing Co. BA, +0.57% has developed a futuristic drone-protection system, called the Compact Laser Weapon System, and is roughly the size of an old-school TV camera. I mentioned its bigger cousin in my article about futuristic weapons a few months ago.

Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon System can be used to take out an unwanted drone.

The device is portable and can be set up quickly, either by technicians or government officials. Its purpose is to protect the airspace over secure locations, such as military and government facilities and other no-fly zones. Don’t be fooled by the size of this device. Its 2kW infrared laser took less than two seconds to penetrate the hull of an unmanned areal vehicle (UAV), setting it aflame just moments later. The device will be ready for market production in a year or two.

Like them or not, drones are here to stay, whether we choose to ignore them, shoot them down or pilot them. There is one other area where drones are becoming increasingly prevalent: in the military, or more precisely, the Navy.

Of 273 ships the U.S. navy owns, only 10 are fleet aircraft carriers. Those, of course, carry helicopters, airplanes and, along with them, drones. Smaller warships, such as destroyers, are not fit for housing drones, since military class UAVs are wider and larger than their hobbyist cousins and, as such, require more space than smaller ships can accommodate.

All of this could soon change, thanks to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program which, when finalized, would allow drone aircraft “to take off and land from very confined spaces in elevated sea states and … to transition to efficient long-duration cruise missions.” Its ultimate goal would be “to make it much easier, quicker and less expensive for the Defense Department to deploy persistent [surveillance] and strike capabilities almost anywhere in the world.”

DARPA plans to roll out TERN in three phases over about 40 months, culminating in a full-scale launch-and-recovery demonstration.

As you can see, there is, and will be, plenty more to say about drones — both military and civil ones — and other futuristic weapons and devices, as more countries get their hands on the technology and develop drone laws. I believe they will change our lives for better and worse alike, just like any other man-made device.

What is your stance on drones in general? What about drone warfare? Please let me know in the comments section below.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-drones-proliferate-so-do-weapons-to-counter-them-2015-09-09