YEREVAN 0 C°
RA CB:
  • USD - 396.02 AMD +0.02 EUR - 431.27 AMD +0.27 RUB - 5.71 AMD +0.71 GBP - 490.04 AMD +0.04
  • GOLD - - AMD SILVER - - AMD PLATINUM - - AMD

Isis Use of Hobby Drones as Weapons Tests Chinese Makers

Swarajya

China’s world-leading drone industry faces a burgeoning problem: its recreational aircraft, in addition to taking breathtaking clifftop selfies, are being used by terrorists to kill people.

Isis revealed its weaponised drone capabilities in a January video. Since then, says Steve Stalinsky of Memri, a Middle East media think-tank, “we have been seeing almost daily Isis drone attacks, sometimes several times a day, against many different targets”, FT reports.

Bombmaking workshops run by Isis have weaponised X-8s and other drones such as the Phantom, made by Shenzhen-based DJI, the world’s largest commercial dronemaker. Some hobby drones now boast formidable capabilities, with 7km ranges and payloads up to 40kg.

The first X-8 in a conflict zone was spotted in 2015 by Kurdish forces near the Mosul Dam in Iraq, while in October 2016 a bomb-laden X-8 killed two Kurdish soldiers and injured two French commandos in the same area, according to Sahan Research, a UK-based think-tank.

 

 

Other materials on this subject


Most read

day

week

month

    Weather
    Yerevan

    Humidity: %
    Wind: km/h
    0 C°
     
       
    13.12.2024
       
    14.12.2024