SHAH ALAM: Defence against drones? Within the last few years especially in Syria, we have seen the use of commercial drones to conduct attacks on military and non-military in what is described as another form of asymmetric warfare.
Just two days ago it was reported that the Russian military thwarts an attack on an airbase.

From BBC.

Russian forces have foiled a drone attack on an airbase in Syria just days after reports that rebel shelling had damaged several planes, activists say.The attempt to bomb the Hmeimim base near the north-western city of Latakia on Saturday was thwarted when unmanned aircraft were shot down, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.
Two Russian servicemen were killed when the base was attacked on 31 December. The coastal Hmeimim airbase is at the core of Russia’s war effort in Syria. On Saturday the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, said the base was targeted by drones belonging to an “Islamist faction” operating in the area, citing sources. No casualties or details of damage to the airbase have yet been reported, the SOHR added.The drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), used in the attempted attack were basic in design, Russian news site Lenta reports.The UAVs featured an engine taped to a wooden frame, which carried two “home-made mines”, it added.

And this is not limited to Syria or the Middle East.

From Popular Mechanics.

A drone carrying a grenade infiltrated an ammunition dump in Ukraine, setting off an explosion that caused an astounding billion dollars worth of damage. The incident points to the growing use of drones in wartime, particularly off the shelf civilian products harnessed to conduct sabotage and other attacks.

Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, the SBU, believes that a drone carrying a Russian thermite hand grenade caused a series of titanic explosions at Balakliya, a military base in Eastern Ukraine. Amateur video of the incident posted on YouTube shows a raging fire spewing out of control artillery rockets, and an explosion and shockwave that sent civilians nearby reeling.One person was killed in the attack and five were injured.

These two reports are clear examples of how cheap, easily available civilian drones could be used to attack important and highly sensitive targets such military camps and airbases. It is interesting to note that most of our concerns are physical intrusions – for what ever purpose – into these facilities.

From Think Defence

Sophisticated military unmanned systems are expensive and it is this that puts them out of reach of many of our potential enemies but when those potential enemies can buy one from Amazon for hundreds of dollars then the specification difference between proper military systems and remote control toys becomes of decreasing relevance, their very lack of sophistication and low cost becomes the problem because it will drive us to counter with increasingly expensive measures

Perhaps a rethink is necessary especially with reports that militants were preparing to conduct devastating attacks on Malaysian soil. And it has been stated that Malaysia has yet to become a victim of a major terrorist attack not because the lack of motivation but in fact mostly due to ineptness of the would be attackers.

It must be noted that due rapid urbanisation, most military camps and airbases are mostly just a stone throw away from public areas, therefore easily accessible. Attacks on camps and airbase had happened in the past so we cannot fooled ourselves to think that it could never happened again.

— Malaysian Defence

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