Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Liberté, Égalité, Falconré


From The Washington Post: Terrorists are building drones. France is destroying them with eagles.

Under French military supervision, four golden eagle chicks hatched last year atop drones — born into a world of terror and machines they would be bred to destroy.

The eagles — named d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis — grew up with their nemeses. They chased drones through green grass that summer, pecking futilely at composite shells as seen in Sky News footage. They were rewarded with meat, which they ate off the backs of the drones.

When the eagles were ready — this month — d'Artagnan launched screeching from a military control tower across a field.

The bird covered 200 meters in 20 seconds, slamming into a drone, then diving with the wreckage into the tall grass.

"The eagles are making good progress," said the French air force's commander of a program that adapts the ancient art of falconry to the threats of unmanned flight.

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