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Tech

Dronecatcher Is a Drone for Stealing Other Drones

It's pretty good at it too.

The Dronecatcher below has been a work in progress since 2014, with the first proof-of-concept video of the thing appearing in March 2015 with this explanation:

To counter the threat of unlawful use of unmanned systems, the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, together with the Dutch National Police and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, has selected a number of projects in which concepts are developed that can be used to detect, indentify [sic] and/or remove these mobile systems in a controlled manner. Project 'DroneCatcher' of the Dutch SME Delft Dynamics, is one of the ideas that has been selected to carry out a feasibility study.

That first video shows the system in a rather more raw form; crucially, it didn't then feature a parachute. Just a net and an interceptor drone armed with a giant net cannon. This is an improvement, at least. The targeted drone has at least some chance of surviving intact.

I suppose that's better than just shooting them down, right?