[time-nuts] "The GPS navigation is the weakest point,"

[Chris Albertson]

I bet this drone contains no technology that is not exportable.  Of
course they had to think about a crash.

I also bet it had an inertial nav system as backup to the GPS.   But
and this is the key to all backups.  You have to know the primary is
failed.   When you jam GPS the smart way is not to over power it with
white noise but to first transmit an IDENTICAL signal.  Then very
slowly move your stronger signal away from "truth" until it is sending
a false signal.   This way the receiver does not know it is being
jammed.  No I did not just think of this, it's what "everyone" does.
 But why then if the INS and GPS disagree was there not an alarm?   It
was likely a low-cost INS that needed periodic updates from a GPS

I would not rule out that they simply made the drone fly into a big
fishing net and dropped it with a parachute in a kind of controlled
mid air collision.   Heck the US used to capture film cam falling from
space with big nets

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California