My first worry wouldn't be this.
I got out of doing drone work because of all the FAA restrictions on where you can fly drones now. Within 30 miles of a major metro area? Nope. Within 20 miles of an airport? Nope. I'm exaggerating of course, but it got to a point where I was having real problems trying to find areas where you can fly a drone just for fun so I just gave up and quit.
My more immediate fear would be how the gov can control who and where these drones will be able to fly. If some revolutionary built a swarm of drones, it would be pretty easy (I would think) for the gov to just jam the signal and shut them down.
The parts? I'm not worried about. Its the gov holding the keys to access that makes me more worried.
Jam what signal? You'd need a HERF gun to stop an autonomous drone -- a real one, not something made from recycled microwave oven parts -- and an EMP bomb of some sort to stop a swarm of them.
Uh, jamming has been used since the beginning of the Russian/Ukrainian war. Its literally one of the main areas that has become a game of cat and mouse on both sides.
The Black Eye is a suitcase-sized radio noisemaker that can muddle the signals that control all but the best fiber-optic drones. According to an electronic warfare expert who writes under the pseudonym “Roy,” Black Eye can ground surveillance and attack drones from as far as 4 kilometers away, “when located high enough.”
Unlike many other jammers, which target the drone, the Black Eye targets the drone’s operator—blocking a drone’s command signal at its source. The new jammer “is appearing across the whole front,” Roy wrote. “This is a serious development for Ukraine.”
https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/05/06/blackeyejammers/
More recently:
Kvertus’ innovative EW backpack system provides Ukrainian troops with a mobile counter-drone shield for just $7,000. Operating in the 720-1050 MHz range, it jams and disables threatening Russian drones.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/05/17/the-ew-backpack-revol...
I think you're missing the whole 'autonomous' thing here.
There is no signal, and there is no operator.
The US govt has been working on countering autonomous drones for years now.
The Department is mitigating the potential negative effects of unmanned systems on U.S. forces, assets, and installations – at home and abroad. A critical portion of our efforts, particularly in the near-term, comes from improving our defenses, with an emphasis on detection as well as active and passive defenses
https://media.defense.gov/2024/Dec/05/2003599149/-1/-1/0/FAC...
Its been working on countering drones (unmanned systems) for years; most of the drone threat it has been focused on is not autonomous but remotely-controlled. But there is considerable overlap in countermeasures (other than ones that target the control channel of remotely controlled drones.)
What countermeasures exist against a swarm of autonomous drones, other than an EMP weapon?
(Other than CIWS, because nothing like that can be used on land.)
> (Other than CIWS, because nothing like that can be used on land.)
Someone should tell the US, UK, Israel, and Australia (all of whom operate the Centurion C-RAM/Land Phalanx Weapon System) [0] that that land-based CIWS system, and any potential similar system, cannot be used on land.