Experts claim that far-right American extremists are openly talking about how homemade drones will be a strategic tool in the so-called second civil war, reports the British newspaper "Guardian".
Inspired by modern wars, the far-right American terrorist movement is considering factory or homemade drones with a real-time surveillance function (a "first person viewer" drone is called an FPV drone (First Person View) and is a drone that sends a real-time video stream directly to the glasses, monitor or smartphone of its operator - ed.) as a strategic weapon in its own future war against the US government, which has put the American authorities on alert, the newspaper notes.
The reason for these concerns is that in both publicly available and In the confidential online spaces where far-right extremists gather, it is common to talk about how these cheap drones are revolutionizing current wars and will be key tools in the so-called "Second Civil War".
"The use of FPV drones in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the use of drones by terrorist groups like the "Islamic State", and the use of drones by criminal groups like drug cartels provide examples that domestic extremists may seek to emulate or learn from," said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a professional analyst who has tracked far-right extremists of all stripes for nearly a decade.
He cited a recent case of a neo-Nazi in Nashville who planned to bomb a power plant with a drone but was thwarted by police. Fisher-Birch said there are already rumors among extremists watching criminal groups use drones as force multipliers against government forces.
“Pretty good research on how [drones] are being used by cartels, some useful insights can be found here”, posted a popular neo-Nazi account on the “Telegram” app, attaching a military pamphlet discussing drone warfare to followers, the “Guardian” notes. “If you want to know what a low-intensity conflict, insurgency or whatever term we use this decade would look like, just look south.“
Multiple sources have told the “Guardian” that the FBI has serious concerns about a neo-Nazi sect on the far right – one of which calls for rebellion against the US government – and other ultra-violent actors in the same ideological space who are considering using FPV drones for domestic attacks.
"Far-right groups that promote violence are looking for people with military training and professional skills that can be passed on to other members," Fisher-Birch said.
Drone warfare, which is at the epicenter of modern warfare, is now considered a strategically important technique for any military or paramilitary group. Extremists have been following developments in this area for years, both as a surveillance tool and as a weapon for attacks.
"The FBI has no comment," a spokesman for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said in an email to the "Guardian".