Missile takes down drone

USA – A Patriot missile priced at about US$3 million was used to shoot down a small quadcopter drone, according to a US general.

The strike was made by a US ally, General David Perkins told a military symposium.

“That quadcopter that cost 200 bucks from Amazon.com did not stand a chance against a Patriot,” he said.

Patriots are radar-targeted weapons more commonly used to shoot down enemy aircraft and ballistic missiles.

Recently, there have been reports that some groups, for example in Iraq, have taken to attaching weapons to small, commercial drones and using them against security forces.

However, Gen Perkins suggested deploying large surface-to-air missiles as a defence was probably not economically wise.

“In fact, if I’m the enemy, I’m thinking, ‘Hey, I’m just gonna get on eBay and buy as many of these $300 quadcopters as I can and expend all the Patriot missiles out there’.”

Patriot missiles travel at five times the speed of sound, whereas a quadcopter drone typically has a top speed of 80kmh.

‘Detached from reality’

THE NETHERLANDS – Turkey is “completely detached from reality” in calling the Dutch fascists, European Council President Donald Tusk has said.

His remarks come amid a row between Turkey and European nations over campaigning for a Turkish referendum.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the Dutch government of being “Nazi remnants”.

Erdogan’s rhetoric intensified when he accused the Dutch of carrying out the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in 1995.

Tusk’s remarks to the European Parliament came on the day the Dutch vote in an election in which the party of centre-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte and that of anti-immigrant Geert Wilders are frontrunners.

The Netherlands is “a place of freedom and democracy. And for sure Rotterdam,” Tusk said.

“The city of Erasmus, brutally destroyed by the Nazis, which today has a mayor born in Morocco. If anyone sees fascism in Rotterdam, they are completely detached from reality.”