Weapon dealers: ISIL ramps up fight with weaponised drones-weapns dealers should be arrested not protected

Why aren't the weapon dealers who sell terrorists weapons arrested?

As fighting raged in eastern Mosul on a recent afternoon, a black Humvee arrived at an Iraqi army command post with a collection of plastics, electronics and rotor blades lashed to its back.

Soldiers leaped to unload the cargo, which comprised the remnants of the latest tool in ISIL's armoury: drones.

The haul included a number of small devices of the kind favoured by filmmakers and hobbyists, costing a few hundred dollars apiece. But there were also larger, fixed-wing craft fashioned out of corrugated plastic and duct tape, apparently made by the fighters themselves.

Since mid-2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has held Mosul, after sweeping through northern Iraq in a shock offensive.

It is now their last urban stronghold in the country, and for more than two months, the Iraqi army's operation to retake the city has met fierce resistance, including snipers, ambushes and suicide attacks using explosive-laden trucks. Drones have been used for reconnaissance and to relay instructions to suicide bombers, said General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, a commander with the elite counterterrorism service in eastern Mosul.

"They use them to give directions to suicide car bombs coming towards us, as well as to take pictures of our forces," Saadi told Al Jazeera.

In the past, ISIL has used drones in Iraq and Syria for general intelligence-gathering, as spotters for mortar firing, and even for filming propaganda videos. Soldiers have regularly spotted these drones over army positions on the outskirts of Mosul, prompting bursts of gunfire skywards.

But there is a fresh threat, Saadi said: ISIL has begun to use the drones themselves as weapons. "They also use a new tactic, where the drone itself has a bomb attached to it," he explained.total of 37,910 organs from living and deceased persons were donated in 2015.

Note EU-Digest:The question that must be asked - who sold the drones to ISIS? Why are they not persecuted or are the weapons sold by the same people who say they are "fighting" ISIS  so they can perpetuate the wars against terrorism forever?

Read more: ISIL ramps up fight with weaponised drones | IS

European Aircraft Industry: Airbus' New Technology Can Track and Disrupt Rogue Drones - by Saul Loeb

The next time pranksters decide to fly their drone too close to an airport and put airplanes carrying hundreds of passengers at risk, security personnel may be able to avert disaster by using an anti-drone defense system. All they would have to do is use technology to remotely lock onto the flying robot, take control, and safely steer it from danger.

New technology from European aerospace giant Airbus is intended to do just that. It is pitched as a way to keep restricted airspace free of drones without having to go to extreme measures like shooting them down.
Airbus showed off a new drone-monitoring system this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The technology scrambles the wireless communications between drones and their owners, so that the authorities can then take control.

The new drone system uses a combination of infrared cameras, radio technology, and radar to pinpoint the location of drones at ranges as far away as 6.2 miles, according to Airbus. It then determines whether the drones may be flying in restricted airspace in addition to determining the pilot’s location to help law enforcement track him or her down.

Read more: Airbus' New Technology Can Track and Disrupt Rogue Drones - Fortune

Postal Services: Swiss test postal drones for future deliveries

The Swiss postal service has begun testing parcel deliveries by unmanned drones.

Eventually for areas which are difficult to access such as mountanous regions this will be the postal service of the future.

Extensive tests will analyse the technical restrictions of the drones, including limited battery life.

ADVERTISING

Swiss Post says it envisages using the drones for mainly emergency situations, which could involve bringing supplies to an area that has been cut off from the outside world following a storm.

Tests are going to run until the end of July although widespread use the flying postmen is not expected for another five years.

Read more: Swiss test postal drones for future deliveries | euronews, world news