At least nine schools across Florida, Georgia and Colorado are installing small drones designed to intervene during a shooting.
The devices will be stored in containers distributed throughout the buildings. When a teacher presses an emergency button, an operator verifies the alarm and takes remote control. According to the manufacturer, the first drone can reach the attacker in about fifteen seconds.
The drones are built to fly through corridors, break unreinforced windows and follow a person inside the school. They can switch on strobe lights, sound sirens, produce loud sonic booms and fire pepper balls or pepper gel. Flying at nearly one hundred kilometres per hour, they can also be hurled directly at the attacker.
They are not autonomous and are not meant to choose on their own who to target: they will be piloted by professionals watching footage transmitted by the cameras. Through a speaker they can talk to the attacker, give instructions to teachers or guide police to his location.
The technology has been tested in simulations, but has never been used during an actual shooting. Deltona High School in Florida has installed thirty-nine drones; other schools will receive the systems during the next school year. Public pilot programmes cost roughly half a million dollars per state.
The company says it drew inspiration from the small drones used in the war in Ukraine. The goal is not necessarily to stop the attacker, but to disorient and slow him down in the first few minutes, while waiting for law enforcement to arrive.
After metal detectors, smart cameras and reinforced doors, the American school is now importing a technology straight from the battlefield.
