Drone Used In Mock Attack On German Chancellor By Pirate Party

Last week a small quadrocopter was flown to just a few feet away from the German Chancellor Angela Markel and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere at a campaign rally in Dresden. The small flying device was able to hover in front of them for a short period of time before crashing into the stage at Markel’s feet and while no one was harmed by the device, it has raised some interesting security concerns over such devices.

The drone was a popular Parrot AR drone, being operated by a member of the German Pirate Party who was protesting against government surveillance, as well as the Euro Hawk drone program that recently failed due to lack of certification to fly in European airspace.

Markus Barenhoff, the deputy head of the Pirate Party said “The goal of the effort was to make Chancellor Merkel and Defense Minister de Maiziere realize what it’s like to be subjugated to drone observation.”

The whole stunt turned out to be harmless, more to make a point about surveillance than actually cause anyone harm and the pilot was released after being briefly held by police. The issue this raises is what if the pilot had malicious intentions, could the drone be fitted with a small explosive, or similar weapon? More importantly how would be even defend against such a device should they be used in that way.

Thank you AstTechnica for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of ArsTechnica.