The newest event at the Olympics? Freestyle drone-defense

An army of drones equipped with facial-recognition technology will scan the Winter Olympics starting this week in Pyeongchang for suspicious people — and other dangerous drones. Gotta fight ...

An army of drones equipped with facial-recognition technology will scan the Winter Olympics starting this week in Pyeongchang for suspicious people — and other dangerous drones.

The newest event at the Olympics? Freestyle drone-defense

Gotta fight drones with drones

As commercial and personal drone technology have, um, taken off in recent years — it’s become increasingly difficult to police the airways.

So, to address security concerns for this years’ Winter Games, event organizers have unveiled special drone-catching drones that use nets to disable rogue aircraft. 

Officials have also declared a “no-fly zone,” blanketed the venue with a “special drone-detection radar,” and armed 60k security personnel with signal-jamming guns.

And, if all else fails? Special forces agents will be sent by helicopter to shoot down drones with shotguns.

It’s a bird! It’s a drone!

It’s ON. To protect against drones, some 70 companies worldwide are developing drone-defense systems, ranging from using machine vision, to a more “natural” approach: Police in the Netherlands have even started training friggin’ eagles to identify drones and take them out.

Which is maybe the only tactic more badass that special helicopter agents with shotguns.

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