Some 16 British nuclear power plants are acutely vulnerable to drone attacks, a confidential report conducted by a leading nuclear expert reveals.
Carried out by British nuclear specialist John Large, the report tracked the movements of tiny unmanned vehicles as they flew over French nuclear power plants and installations. Grave concerns, which arose in the course of the project, are equally relevant to Britain’s 16 operational reactors that are estimated to generate in the region of 18 percent of the state’s electricity, Large said. While giving evidence to the French parliament, he argued plausible drone attacks on standard nuclear power stations.
Read moreCyber attacks and commercial drones pose a growing risk of commercial aeroplane crashes, a major insurer said, running counter to a long-term decline in fatal accidents and insurance premiums. Technical advances in aircraft design and navigation systems have reduced the chance of dying in a plane crash, but the reliance on computers poses new types of risks.
The International Air Transport Association has been working to improve cyber security including the launch this year of a toolkit to help airlines assess and mitigate risks in their IT systems. Another potential threat comes from commercial drones, whose use is expanding in surveillance.
Read moreDHL has announced the maiden voyage of their "Parcelcopter" will be made in Germany. The unmanned drone service will be used to transfer drugs and other urgent medical supplies to a pharmacy on a remote island off the North coast. This is the first time an autonomous aircraft has been authorised to deliver goods in Europe.
The drone has been cleared by the German transport ministry and air traffic control to use a restricted airspace now reserved purely for the Parcelcopter's delivery missions, where the flight zone is mostly open water. If this is successful, DHL could well be on their way to challenging Amazon's Prime Air project.
Read moreHighly anticipated federal rules on commercial drones are expected to require operators to have a license and limit flights to daylight hours. The drone industry has awaited commercial rules for about six years, hoping the rules would pave the way for widespread drone use in industries such as farming, filmmaking and construction.
Current FAA policy allows recreational drone flights in the USA but essentially bars drones from commercial use. While the FAA wants to open the skies to unmanned commercial flights, the expected rules are more restrictive than drone supporters sought and wouldn’t address privacy concerns over the use of drones.
Read moreIt's hard not to get caught up in the romance of delivery drones, especially when start-ups keep producing spiffy promotional videos set in a fantastical land of airborne courier services. But underneath all this hoopla, progress is certainly being made.
London-based company has begun trials of its autonomous drone delivery service, claiming it is capable of shipping small objects at the touch of a smartphone button. The team has engineered its drones over a number of years at London's TechCity. Their system is aimed at tapping into the ubiquity of smart devices and enable anybody to book their own delivery drone within seconds.
Read moreThe Argentine government has used drones to catch out wealthy tax evaders who had not declared mansions and swimming pools. Unmanned aircraft were dispatched over an upper class area of Buenos Aires and discovered 200 homes and 100 pools that had not been detailed on returns.
Tax officials said the drones took pictures of luxury houses standing on lots registered as empty. Use of drones has been expanding in Argentina and the rest of South America with the unmanned vehicles being deployed for purposes as diverse as locating drug smuggling routes, monitoring farm crops, and looking for archaeological sites.
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