It is the first known case of a head of a state coming under attack from a drone. During the 81st anniversary of a Bolivian National Guard, president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has been targeted by a drone carrying an explosive charge. Drone exploded in a fair distance from the president, leaving him and his entourage unharmed but inflicting wounds on seven members of the National Guard. Parts of the attack can be seen in this video.
Attack caused panic, during which president has been escorted to safety. A new, mysterious group calling itself Soldados de Franelas, or Flannel Soldiers, has claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming, via their Twitter post, that they will try it again. Flannel Soldiers’ reasons for the attack are unknown. All we know is that they used two DJI Matrice 600 packed with C4 charges. First drone was reportedly shot down before it reached the security cordon around the event. It is unknown whether the second one was also shot down, malfunctioned or exploded too early for some other reason. DJI M600 was a good choice of a drone for such a mission – it can fly up to 65km/h for up to 40 minutes, depending on how much is it carrying, and can carry up to 5.5 kilograms of weight. This, along with the fact that it can be radio-controlled in 5 kilometers-wide radius, means that it is a pretty great tool for such terrorist activities.
This attack will most certainly have repercussions for the drone owners in Venezuela and, possibly, other places in the world as well. It is not the first time when a drone has been used for something illegal; dumb people are filming planes from 300 meters away, some bastards smuggle illegal items into prisons with them, other bastards use them to carry drugs through the borders. Laws regarding the usage of drones will certainly get tighter over time.