(by Pasquale Preziosa) The micro drones have become objects of almost common use, from toy drones to professional drones.
They have become very reliable especially in the field of photography and can also be purchased via the internet.
Moreover, they are easy to modify for the transport of small quantities of harmful / explosive substances and are a big problem, if they have autonomous guidance in the selection of the target, identified according to the data / algorithm combination.
The problem arises when the micro drone is used in prohibited areas, for terrorist or criminal uses, or in the operational field by opposing forces.
Micro drones having small capacities create asymmetry on the ground and in the air: in both domains they are difficult to identify and contrast.
If before the air superiority in the operational field was put at risk by other states that reached the same technological levels of the West, now this low altitude superiority, up to 3000 / 4000 feet is put at risk by micro drones, inexpensive and commercial which can damage ground forces and create security problems within individual states.
The test field for these new capabilities and technologies were operations in Iraq and Syria, where ISIS has already experimented with the use of micro drones for reconnaissance and offense at MOSUL (Lt. Gen.Mark Nowland).
The ISIS flew in the month of the battle of Mosul 300 missions using micro drones, of which one third of the missions carried armament (Peter Singer CyCon conference).
In return, already last March a small quadricopter was photographed while flight tests were carried out to transport two 40 mm grenades. (Aris / Messinis / AFP / Getty Images) by Iraqi forces, in order to use this capability against ISIS.
At the moment no concrete capacity has been developed to combat this new threat.
There are many studies and few abilities to combat this new threat, some studies predict kinetic and non-kinetic air surface assemblies, while others plan to fight these drones with other drones.
It is still an open field and the interest is not only military but also of internal security for the states, for the fight against terrorism and crime.
Europe's new defense and security dimension could benefit greatly from the development of these new capabilities, which are dual and involve a large number of state actors.
These are the new frontiers of security that must be dealt with quickly to increase the security of forces and citizens, only those who control the phenomenon can manage the consequences.