The "Drone Defender" -- Has 1950's Science Fiction Come To Life?

I recently saw a news story with pictures of a Ukrainian soldier using an odd rifle-like device to disable Russian drones. Apparently, these “drone defenders” (American made) are quite effective in disturbing the radio signal directing the drone, causing them to crash land.

The Drone Defender as Pictured by the manufacturer

So, I did a quick google search and found a short instructional video demonstrating how the thing works. As the modern battlefield and security needs change, weapons like this will become increasingly important and commonplace.

Indulge me for a minute—I’m a child of the 60’s.

While watching the Drone Defender video, it dawned on me that I’ve seen something like this before. When aliens attack Washington DC (as seen in the snippet below from the 1956 Sci-Fi movie “Earth Versus the Flying Saucers” — cheesy by contemporary standards) notice the technology used to defeat the deadly alien flying saucers (beginning about the 40 second mark). I grew up on re-runs of the science fiction and “monster movie” genre—Ray Harryhausen did some amazing work before modern computing power did much of that for us. Thank you TMC for showing these!

Remarkable to think that what seemed so fantastical in the 1950’s is now quite ordinary—not aliens in flying saucers, but the use of radio-controlled drones and the need to defend against them by disrupting the radio signal which directs them. Hey, it worked against the aliens . . . Why not on an intruding drone?