India equips police force with weaponized drones

Asia-Pacific, News April 7, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

India has become the first country to equip a city’s police force with weaponized drones equipped with thousands of balls of paint and pepper spray for crowd control.

The province capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, has purchased five eight-rotor drones with the capacity to carry weights of two kilograms to be used to disperse crowds, and surveillance, Senior Superintendent of Police Yashasvi Yadav said.

The drones, operated by pilots from a remote command center, have already been deployed in the city to capture images in some districts.

Drones are also used in other areas of the country for surveillance purposes.

The file photo shows a police drone in action in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri area.

The unmanned aircraft can fly at an altitude of 600 meters (2,000 feet) and have a flying range of 914 meters (3,000 feet).

According to drone maker Desert Wolf, based in South Africa, the aerial devices are capable of holding 4,000 balls with the capacity to fire up to 20 and 80 paint and pepper balls per second respectively.

The manufacturer has said that the drones have a high-pressure carbon fiber air system that “allows for real stopping power,” which could bring to a halt “any crowd in its track.”

This makes India the first country to use weaponized drones; however, the US has also considered using drones capable of delivering firepower.

In 2012, a Texas sheriff’s department bought a USD 300,000 Vanguard-made Shadowhawk drone, with its police chief expressing interest in using the aerial vehicle’s weapons capabilities, including rubber bullets, Taser and tear gas.

The US-based company Vanguard has also informed a police lieutenant in the state of Ohio that its drones are capable of being equipped with a “grenade launcher and/or 12-gauge shotgun.”

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