If you fly your drone near United States military areas, you'll want to be even more careful than before: the Pentagon has approved and disseminated a new policy that allows military bases to shoot down drones that intrude upon their airspace.
Though it's generally a federal crime to shoot down any aircraft, including drones, the military holds special privileges due to its need to protect against attacks and espionage. The Pentagon has reaffirmed this as it applies to drones, disseminating a new policy that military installations "retain the right of self-defense when it comes to UAVS or drones operating over [them]." Though the full contents of the policy are classified, this essentially equates to the military retaining the right to shoot down and hold drones operating over bases.
Military Times noted a potential issue in that the military sometimes leases land from private citizens and commercial property owners and that this may cloud the right to shoot down drones in such situations, but a Navy spokesperson said the policy was created in consultation with the FAA and would be applied with consideration given to the circumstances of each case. Of course, it's generally a terrible idea to fly a drone anywhere near military property anyway (and the FAA specifically prohibits it in many cases), so this is just further confirmation that one should avoid doing so.
[via Gizmodo]
if you are dumb enough to fly one over base then you need to lose it. but then again, people are basically stupid.
No shit. Based on numerous articles about drones, every neighbor can shoot down your drone. So I'd assume that the military can do it too...
Ha, as if they would have had any hesitation before!