Drone attack: US electrical grid threatened last year, report reveals

A US intelligence report has revealed {that a} drone was utilized in an try and disable {an electrical} substation in Pennsylvania final 12 months, within the first identified assault of its sort

By David Hambling

A modified client drone was utilized in an assault on {an electrical} substation within the US final 12 months, in line with a report from the FBI, Division of Homeland Safety and Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart.

The report, which is being circulated to regulation enforcement businesses within the US, highlights the incident at a substation in Pennsylvania final 12 months as the primary identified use of a drone to focus on vitality infrastructure within the US. The placement isn’t particularly recognized, however the drone crashed with out inflicting harm.

The drone was modified with a trailing tether supporting a size of copper wire. If the wire had come into contact with high-voltage tools it may have induced a brief circuit, tools failures and probably fires.

The machine is analogous in idea to ”blackout bombs” utilized by the US Air Drive, which don’t have any explosive however scatter plenty of conductive filaments over electrical tools. These had been used to close down 70 per cent of Serbia’s electrical energy technology capability in 1999 in the course of the Kosovo struggle.

Electrical substations are usually protected by fences and different obstacles, however Zak Kallenborn on the Nationwide Consortium for the Examine of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism in Maryland says these is probably not ample towards drones.

“Counter-terrorism defences largely assume a ground-based attacker. Therefore the fences and bollards all over the place,” says Kallenborn. “The defences are out of date if terrorists can take to the air. Drones are low-cost, and straightforward to make use of. Important infrastructure amenities want to fret about assaults from any path.”

Counter-drone jammers are deployed at some areas however can not defend each electrical substation, resulting from each value and limitations on the place they can be utilized. Kallenborn notes that whereas such drones solely carry a tiny payload in comparison with a automobile bomb, they will trigger a disproportionate quantity of harm by concentrating on weak spots.

“Important infrastructure house owners and operators have to establish important, delicate elements the place small costs may cause vital hurt to the ability’s operation,” says Kallenborn.