Next Terrorist Attack With Commercially Available Drones?

Violent non-state actors have increasingly been making use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones. More recently, some terrorist organizations - among them, the Islamic State and Hezbollah - have extended their use of UAVs to include the deployment of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in warzones. Now, the threat of UAVs being used in attacks in Europe or North America is rising.

Commercial UAVs – considerably smaller and cheaper than military versions - have become widespread in industrialized societies. Their applications range from agriculture to the filming of sporting events. However, violent non-state actors have quickly learned how to adapt this technology to their advantage.

Sporting or music events could well be an optimal target, one that terrorists have repeatedly struck, or attempted to do so. The rationale behind terrorists' interest in targeting sporting events is straightforward: they are mass events attended by large crowds in restricted spaces, and they attract a lot of media attention. Besides these soft targets also attacks on electrical grids, water supplies, chemical plants, nuclear facilities and last but not least: airports represent a further target. Countermeasures like geofencing, cyber warfare and drone-hunting eagles called "counter UAV technologies (C-UAV)" should decrease the likelihood of UAVs successfully approaching an airport or any other target.

Market Forecast's newest forecast report, Global Counter UAV (C-UAV) Systems Market Forecast to 2026, shows that a successful drone attack will create an immediate opportunity for company's selling counter UAV technology products and services. But only those companies that prepare for such an event will be able to take advantage of this business opportunity. Others will not have enough time to react before those sales go to their competitors.