“The FBI assesses that [Unmanned Aircraft Systems] will be used to facilitate an attack in the United States against a vulnerable target, such as a mass gathering … We have seen repeated and dedicated efforts to use UAS as weapons, not only by terrorist organizations, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, but also by transnational criminal organizations such as MS-13 and Mexican drug cartels, which may encourage use of this technique in the U.S. to conduct attacks.” – FBI Director Christopher Wray, address to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, 2017

The proliferation of drone warfare has reshaped battlefields around the world, from Syria to Ukraine and Myanmar to Gaza. There is no question that drones — often called unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) — have changed the way wars are fought. Inexpensive, readily available commercial drones have been repurposed into highly precise antipersonnel or antitank weapons, requiring little more than a single operator, an improvised explosive device (IED), and a crude drop mechanism or impact detonator.

For every one that fails or misses the mark, a dozen more are being built to take its place, continually harassing troops and supply movements and turning the tide in asymmetric wars. In more traditional wars, coordinated attacks by large fleets of military drones have been used in an attempt to overwhelm enemy anti-air defenses, as seen in Iran’s attack on Israel in April of 2024. Joshua A. Schwartz, assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology called that incident “one of the largest drone attacks in history — possibly the largest” and explained that “aerial drones and other types of uninhabited vehicles are undoubtedly key to the future of conflict.”

But the elephant in the room remains: How will weaponized drones be used outside active war zones? Many of America’s top security experts agree that a drone attack within the U.S. is not a matter of “if” but “when.” If you found yourself caught up in the middle of a coordinated attack involving these flying IEDs, what could you do to keep yourself and innocent bystanders safe? Prior to a crisis, what steps can you take to determine if a nearby drone is innocuous or a potential threat? And during an unfolding attack, is there anything you can do to evade, intercept, or destroy a drone before it strikes?

The Scenario

• Situation Type: Drone attack
• Your Crew: Yourself
• Location: Southern California
• Season: Early fall
• Weather: Clear, high 72 degrees F, low 64 degrees F

The Setup

On a Saturday morning like any other, you head to your job as manager of a small store in a popular retail center in Chula Vista, California, only a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. When lunchtime arrives, you walk to a restaurant on the other side of the center, buy a sandwich, and sit down on the outdoor patio to eat. The nearby stores are busy as usual, with the parking lot nearly full to capacity and many pedestrians walking to various stores. Due to the pleasant weather, several of those stores have left their glass double doors open to welcome in customers.

The Complication

Halfway through your meal, you hear a loud thud and turn to see a tower of smoke and dust rising from the middle of the shopping center. Since you carry a concealed firearm (yes, even in California) and trauma kit and have some first aid training, you decide to leave your lunch on the table and investigate. If there was some kind of accident, you might be able to render aid until paramedics show up; if it was an attack, you’re ready to deal with that, too. But what you weren’t ready for was the drone that streaked down from the sky.

This time, there was no uncertainty about the cause of the explosion. Time seemed to slow as you watched the drone zip directly into the open doorway of the police substation a few hundred yards away from where you stood. The resulting concussion felt like a punch to your chest. Chunks of rubble and glass fragments shot outward in all directions. Unsure where the source of the danger was, some bystanders began to run, while others remained frozen in fear. As you take cover and scan the sky, you can see a black speck that appears to be another quadcopter hovering in the distance.

At this point, you feel confident there’s a coordinated drone attack taking place, but you have no idea who the attackers are or what their objective might be. It could be anything from a cross-border cartel hit to a terrorist attack, but it’s clear that the intent is to target multiple locations in the vicinity. It’s also apparent that this may only be the start of the attack. The drone operators could be nearby or miles away — maybe even on the other side of the border — but either way, the danger is right on top of you.

What can you do to escape the immediate danger from airborne drones? As you witnessed, they’re fast and nimble enough to fly through open doors or windows. Also, rather than simply cowering inside a nearby business, you feel a motivation to help innocent bystanders who are injured and scared. Can you safely assess casualties, direct those who can still walk to a more secure location, and render aid to those who can’t move? What’s the best way to inform first responders about the real nature of the threat? And if you see another drone maneuvering to strike, is there anything you can do to stop or redirect it?

Drone Expert Christopher Rance's Approach

Preparation

I stood amidst the rubble of what had once been a peaceful shopping center, the air still thick with smoke and the acrid scent of burnt debris. My heart pounded, not just from the chaos that had erupted, but from the knowledge that danger still lurked above. Two first-person view (FPV) drones, sleek and predatory, hovered like vultures over a carcass, their cameras scanning for their target. I had to act — and fast.

Let’s take a knee and assess. I’m sure at this point, you’re asking, “What could have been done to prepare for an attack like this? Is this type of act even plausible on U.S. soil?” The hard truth is yes. All we must do is look to our border with Mexico and recent drone attacks carried out by cartels. Knowing that this type of threat is imminent at some point in our future, preparation is key.

Having the following training and tools can help you prepare for a drone attack. The big three are medical, communications, and having a firm understanding of drone (and in this case FPV drone) capabilities.

Training: When preparing for a potential drone attack or any mass casualty event, having a solid foundation in medical training is crucial. One invaluable resource is the Deployed Medicine website, which offers comprehensive guidelines and courses on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC). TCCC provides essential skills for managing trauma in high-stress environments, focusing on lifesaving interventions such as controlling bleeding, maintaining airways, and treating chest injuries.

Additionally, obtaining Emergency Medical Technician-Basic (EMT-B) certification equips individuals with broader emergency response skills, including patient assessment and basic life support. Familiarity with these medical practices ensures that, in an event like a drone attack, you can effectively triage and treat casualties, stabilize critical injuries, and provide support until professional first responders arrive.

Trauma Kit: Have it within easy reach for quick access. This is by far the most important piece of kit to have on you and in your vehicle. Mass casualty events suck. They require immense manpower and supplies. Having only a tourniquet and a pressure dressing on you isn’t going to cut it for an incident like this. Having a larger dedicated trauma kit in the car is a must.

Identify Safe Zones for Casualty Collection Points: Look for enclosed spaces with minimal windows, such as restrooms or storage rooms. Avoid large, open areas where drones can easily enter.

Know How to Communicate with First Responders: Clearly describe the situation, emphasizing the presence of hostile drones and multiple casualties. Provide coordinates or landmarks to help responders find you quickly. Direct first responders to your location with considerations for overhead cover and areas that can minimize the chance of striking them as they make their way to your position.

Communications: In a mass casualty or drone strike event, reliable communication is vital. There have been several instances in recent years where cellular service in the United States was disrupted or shut down, and depending on the scale of an attack, a flood of 9-1-1 calls and data may temporarily overwhelm the system. So, it’s wise to have alternate methods of communication.

Handheld radios like those from Anytone, Motorola, or Hytera are invaluable tools. These radios provide reliable line of sight communication in the VHF and UHF spectrum, which is essential for coordinating with first responders and guiding bystanders to safety. Utilizing ham repeaters, which can be located via resources like Radio Reference can extend their range, ensuring connectivity even in challenging environments. For added security, these radios can be equipped with AES-256 encryption to protect sensitive information. In addition, local ham clubs can offer valuable support in setting up and maintaining these communication networks. Tools like the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) paired with mesh networking devices like GoTenna or Beartooth can add an additional layer of communications for the area. Check out my article in Issue 59 for more details on this topic.

Above: In war zones around the world, inexpensive first-person view (FPV) drones have become a powerful tool for both surveillance and targeted “kamikaze” attacks.

FPV Drone Capabilities and Limitations

First-person view (FPV) drones offer several capabilities that make them more suitable for kinetic attacks compared to typical DJI drones. These drones offer more speed, maneuverability, precise control, and payload flexibility than a typical cinematography drone. On the other hand, FPV drones also face significant limitations when operating in urban or suburban areas which can affect their performance and effectiveness.

The best way to prepare for an FPV drone attack is to exploit their weaknesses. The unfortunate truth is that the standard counter-UAS (cUAS) device isn’t available to the everyday citizen, nor is it installed and operated at soft target areas such as malls, schools, or hospitals. Even if cUAS tech was more widely available, these devices have limitations which can be exploited by the nefarious FPV drone user.

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI): Urban areas are saturated with various radio frequencies from cell towers, Wi-Fi networks, and other electronic devices, which can interfere with the control signals and video feed of FPV drones. For the pilot to control the drone, he must have a stable connection for his video transmitter and remote control. Find ways to force a failsafe for the pilot, which can trigger the pilot to lose signal with their craft and crash.

Physical Obstacles: Urban environments are filled with buildings, trees, power lines, and other structures that can obstruct flight paths and increase the risk of collisions. The presence of numerous obstacles limits the maneuvering space for FPV drones, putting their pilots at a disadvantage. Assess how buildings and foliage are laid out around you. What vantage points does a pilot have in that area? What are his limitations? Prepare an area study to assist in answering these questions.

Battery Life: FPV drones have a limitation in the form of batteries. They don’t have the same loiter times as your consumer drones, so forcing them to fly and look for targets of opportunity is paramount. Eventually, they must leave to recharge, or the drone will run its course and crash.

For devices that a citizen could wear, we must look to what is coming out of Ukraine. The Tsukorok, or “Sugar Cube,” is a portable device designed to detect unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and alert soldiers to impending drone threats. This small but powerful tool is essential for warning infantry or artillery teams about incoming suicide drones like the Lancet, ZALA-Kub, or FPV drone, giving them time to find shelter. The detection range is said to be 8 to 16 km with a detection time of up to 5 minutes per target. The device mainly operates in passive scanning mode, so it doesn’t emit signals. It can also switch to tracking mode, offering detailed information on the drone’s location and movement. Not bad for a device that costs about $50!

Above: Custom-built drones can offer more speed, maneuverability, and payload capability than off-the-shelf models. This is appealing to hobbyists but can be exploited by nefarious individuals looking to covertly piece together weapon systems.

On-Site

Being able to gauge if the drone that’s flying above you has any harmful intent is quite hard. Unless you can make out and positively identify that this drone is carrying some type of payload, your first reaction is going to be to just stare up at it, which is what you don’t want to do. We all have done it before — a drone flies overhead and our first reaction is to stop and look up. What we need to do is move. It doesn’t have to be drastic, but either move slightly under some cover or make a plan about where to move in case it begins to descend.

In this scenario, after that first explosion you only have one viable option: to assess the situation as quickly as possible and come up with the best way to stay safe and help bystanders. At this point, you’re on the defensive, as you and the everyday citizen doesn’t possess the everyday carry tools to reliably take a drone out. My first order of business is to get to some type of hardened overhead cover or gain depth into a room. From there, try to get a call out for first responders. Once the call has been placed, it is now time to scan and assess the area and to see if you can gain a bearing on any more incoming drones. If you can’t hear any audible signature, start getting any wounded bystanders into safety. Begin assessing injuries based on priority and work with others to help direct first responders to your casualty collection site. Treating the wounded is about all you can do at this point.

Crisis

Knowing that the drone and their operator need to have decent line of sight to the target, my educated guess would be that they are operating from an advantageous piece of elevated terrain, that provides them the most opportune chance of maintaining a strong signal to be able to carry out the attack.

Reporting a drone attack to 9-1-1 isn’t something that you or the 9-1-1 operator are used to. The best way to approach it would be to state that you have casualties at your location, be descriptive of that piece of information, and clearly state for first responders to be cautious of drones and their approach to you and to maintain some form of overhead cover if feasible.

Determining the proximity of the drone operator is a challenge, but if in an urban or suburban area, my best guess would be 500 meters to 5 kilometers (about 3 miles). If you have high terrain or structures around you, then those would be the first places I’d look.

Conclusion

Run, hide, or fight? In this type of attack, you can only do one out of the three and that is hide and help others. Some will say that a shotgun is a viable tool for drone defense, and yes, we have seen a few cases of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers using them to knock out drones. However, the success rate has been limited, and you probably don’t walk around everywhere with a loaded 12-gauge slung across your chest. It wouldn’t hurt to keep one in the trunk or behind the store counter, but it wouldn’t be my first option. Situational awareness and developing a plan for when this type of attack will happen is the best answer that I can give you. I say “when,” as this type of attack is going to happen — it’s just a matter of when and where.

Tracking & Surveillance Expert Freddy Osuna's Approach

Preparation

Although a drone-initiated mass casualty event may seem far-fetched, there are some predictable outcomes. The drone is merely a delivery system that we need to address later. But right now, we have casualties. In my experience being within casualty radius of multiple explosives, I can say that the first thing you need to prepare for is the immediate onset of disorienting physical and mental shock from an explosion.

Take care of yourself first, then you can worry about others. Expect to see fragmentation wounds — you’re going to see lots of blood. Knowing how to find and stop arterial bleeds is a must. In this circumstance, I had the opportunity to glean some specifics from emergency trauma expert Kerry Davis of Dark Angel Medical: “Low yield explosive energy leads to soft tissue injuries and burns. I would recommend an ankle medical kit or an EDC kit.” Personally, I like ankle kits.

A self-assessment is key in breaking the initial freeze of the “fight or flight” response. I immediately feel my body head to toe, front and back for any wet spots. This is a physical grounding technique which has helped me to not only assess for damage (blood) but also serves to pull me out of the disorienting shock of the event. Do this on the move.

Keeping an eye on another drone in my periphery, I reach the first casualty, a police officer. I see wounds indicative of a concussive fragmentation device and go through my basic assessment as a trained EMT — assess the Alertness, Breathing, and blood Circulation (ABC’s). I find lots of blood coming from the right upper thigh region. I immediately go to my Dark Angel Medical Ankle Kit. The officer is disoriented, speaking incoherently (Alert and Breathing). I apply a tourniquet as high as possible above the wound then think about moving this guy off the X.

Where can we go? That is the golden question, since that drone hovering in my periphery is getting bigger. I need to create space; I need to put hard material between us and the threat (cover and concealment). My location is seven miles from the Mexican border, so it is a pretty big leap to say the operators are on the Mexican side. A retaliatory strike on a police station in Mexico is not unheard of, but here on American soil … that would be ballsy.

These devices are operating beyond line of sight (BLOS), so they’re targeting using real-time camera navigation and GPS fixed targeting. The best thing to do is get cover and concealment so we may not be targeted in real time or find ourselves standing on the next X on their target list. If you can see it, it can see you better. Assume it has thermal and night-vision capability. I teach drone thermal signature management in my class called Anti-Tracker, so understanding the capabilities of the drone is a must.

The key techniques for trying to evade or kill a drone fall into two categories. The first is antitracking, which is passive in nature; the second is counter tracking, which is active in nature.

Above: Humans have a natural tendency to look for threats at our own level, so a drone flying hundreds of feet overhead could easily go unnoticed.

Drone Antitracking Techniques

These include any method which may slow down, confuse, or dissuade a pursuing unmanned system.

Early Detection Devices can alert you to the presence of drone activity up to and past 30 kilometers. Although difficult to find and import due to their high demand in Ukraine, it is possible to make your own with commercially available parts. Drones have optics, but so do you, so use them. A ground operator, for instance, can use commercially available amplified hearing devices to give directional orientation. Now that we have a general direction, we can orient our optics to detect movement or even the thermal signature of the drone itself. I recommend the Pulsar Merger LRF XL50, which provides excellent target acquisition and identification capabilities up to 2,500 meters with its variable 2.5x to 20x zoom, plus a Laser Range Finder. This buys you time to prepare for an aerial infiltration.

Drone Signal Jammers can interrupt GPS, data signal, and frequency transmission to make the drone return to operator or land. These are heavily restricted in the U.S., as the risk of drones crashing is a danger to the public, and because of their ability to jam cellular, Wi-Fi, and/or emergency radio frequencies.

Signature Management and masking techniques are used to mask or hide the presence of personnel and equipment. A great piece of equipment that a ground operator can carry to hide from a drone with the latest thermal capabilities is a Spectralflauge blanket, which hides the body heat of an individual. This is available through BEEZ Combat Systems and is an excellent addition to your pack or vehicle.

When it comes to daytime vision and the zoom capability of an HD camera, camouflage must be carefully selected. You’re dealing with a pixelated light gathering device at detection altitude — say 150-plus feet. The drone has a wide field of view and is looking for movement, shape, and contrast. The height will vary, but there are cases where drones are shot down by small arms, so ballistic standoff is important to an experienced operator. Throwing smoke grenades or even setting fires can help to mask your movement and obscure the drone’s vision.

You must understand that air-to-ground targeting uses something you might never expect: your shadow. Three people who are perfectly camouflaged standing in the open will fail to realize that their shadows on the ground are easy for drones to see. I recommend hugging the nearest positive space, staying in shadowed areas, moving low to the ground, and wearing blotchy camo patterns with soft edges (e.g., Nemesis Camouflage from Alpha Group Solutions). The loiter/detection altitude of a drone negates the use of small patterns designed to fool the human eye.

Evasion Planning Be aware of your surrounding geometry, especially in an urban environment. Some have subterranean networks we can use to evade the drones. Large sporting arenas, malls, casinos, and hotel resorts all have behind-the-scenes networks that allow employees to move efficiently from one side of the facility to the other. Lockpicking and breaching skills are going to be handy here, along with a flashlight for navigating dark passageways.

Drone Counter Tracking Techniques

These techniques are used to harm, kill, or exploit at least one element of the system. By system, we reference the drone support software, hardware, and the operators themselves.

Drone Guns (i.e., directional electromagnetic weapons) are widely used in Mexico and less regulated countries but trying to buy a drone gun in the U.S. is not going to happen unless you work for a major law enforcement agency. Yes, you can make one with commercially available off-the-shelf items, but doing so requires some electrical engineering skills and carries risks of serious legal trouble.

Ground-to-Air Drone Defense systems exist in the form of electronic countermeasures and are employed at every major port of entry or other tactical positions on our nation’s border. They have the capability of disabling a swarm of drones attempting to enter American airspace. One item I am particularly interested in is the Maverick Drone Systems Skynet Drone Defense shotgun shell, which is a shotgun-deployed net designed to bring down a drone. I intend to test its range and accuracy in the near future. Other shotgun shells with wide pellet spread are going to increase the chance of impacts on target as well, but keep in mind that they may not be effective against drones hovering hundreds of feet in the air.

To improvise, you can make a bolo tool with a few feet of cord plus three round objects about the size and weight of a golf ball. This primitive weapon has been used to take down anything from large game to small birds. Anyone with a little bit of grit and hand-eye coordination might be able to ambush a low-flying drone with a bolo. However, this assumes the drone pilot is bold (or foolish) enough to fly within throwing distance.

Exploitation of Data If you’re lucky enough to capture a drone relatively intact, you can use software to download all the information in the drone, including point of origin, flight pattern, IP address, target data, and corresponding layers of past activity. In long-term operations, this can help you identify sources of materials, funding, and support in order to stop future attacks from the same network.

Above: Techniques for camouflaging yourself against an observer at ground level may not be effective against aerial surveillance. Managing your shadow is especially important.

Next Steps

In this scenario, my next big decision is how to get to safety. I am going to base this decision on two criteria — the same two I have used to determine my next move in a firefight. What is the accuracy and volume of fire I am receiving? In this case, what is the frequency of explosions and what is their proximity to me? As mentioned before, the nearest port of entry is seven miles away, and the area’s main police station is only a couple of miles away. These are two locations where safety from a drone attack can be found because of electronic countermeasures built into their force protection plan.

Do your best to help those on your way out of the area to a subterranean shelter or law enforcement facility. If you have the means to acquire some of the gear and or training mentioned above, do it, because this is an ever-evolving emergent threat, and not just to our border communities.

The aftermath of this type of attack is going to be unlike anything we have seen in this country. Imagine every police car and ambulance carrying electronic countermeasure devices similar to those developed to keep troops safe against IEDs during the Global War on Terror.

I run classes that deal with small teams evading detection of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems and depend on sUAS expert Justin Anderson of Mayhem Solutions Group for the latest intel regarding this threat. He had this to say regarding drone training: “I suggest buying a drone and getting some “time behind the stick.” There are plenty of good schools out there. I personally believe getting a drone and learning as you go is also a good option. I’d recommend a DJI Mini to start.”

When asked are there any tools you can obtain that would be effective against weaponized drones, Anderson said: “Yes, the FAA has a required database where drones report their location and serial number to REMOTE-ID. Multiple apps on the market allow you to see the FAA REMOTE-ID features. This is a way to check up on the drone you see in the sky. Another slightly more expensive route is Dedrone which offers both counter drone and drone detection tools. They also offer devices that keep drones from flying in or near the airspace where they’re deployed.”

“In dealing directly with narcos on the southern border, I have been shot at with small arms and shot down a drone with a counter sUAS weapon. This drone war is already at our backdoor. I deal with it firsthand. As drone mitigation devices become harder and harder to get and drones themselves are on the verge of being banned in the USA, cartel groups in Mexico are in full swing getting better with new equipment and counter drone devices.”

Conclusion

The widespread use of weaponized drones represents a significant paradigm shift in warfare. Much like the introduction of firearms, tanks, radar, or night vision, this technology has rapidly changed how wars are being fought. Hiding from drones on the battlefield is difficult, outrunning them on foot is impossible, and even if one is shot down, it can be replaced at minimal cost and piloted by the same operator.

For those of us who live outside active warzones, this may seem like a distant threat, but many experts agree that a terrorist attack involving weaponized drones is highly likely — maybe even inevitable. Additionally, there’s a consensus that our level of domestic preparedness for such an attack is low, with the exception of certain heavily defended government facilities. As prepared individuals, we should familiarize ourselves with this technology so that we can understand its capabilities and recognize early warning signs of an impending attack. In almost every case, that drone buzzing overhead is just an amateur videographer or hobbyist having some fun … but if it’s something more sinister, do you have a plan?

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Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original print version for the web.