Our navy unable to intercept Drones

Contract signed for laser that can take out high-speed drones (UK)

Well then Europe can go and defend it if the need arises.

Someome said we are freeloading our air and naval defence off of the UK and EU. Yeah. Good. It means we are getting it for free and don't have to pay for it, organize it, or otherwise have to bear any of the headache and bother of doing it ourselves.

Long live the freeloading I say, it is a bargain.

And the EU and UK would never pull out and leave it totally undefended for an adversary to get a foothold into. Why would they? It is not in their interest to do so? We are luckily well placed to be able to piggyback on their defence.

I think the best defence against this type of thing is to keep our nose out of international wars and geopolitics and don't be inviting over people who would effectively be putting a target mark on the country.

I have al sympathy for Ukraine, but Ireland isn't a global power and should stop trying to pretend it is. Keep out of all of this stuff. Keep out of anything to do with Ukraine, gaza, israel, the middle east or any other international clusterfúçk. Stop doing UN missions. Don't worry world won't fall apart because of Ireland's absence, someone else will be compelled to step in to do peacekeeping.

Sure Iceland has no army, no air force and no navy. They just have police and a coast guard. They are doing grand and they are dead right.

In honesty there's not much that could be safely done in short term ,

Something like a skynex mounted on the back of a patrol ship , would do it , but obviously you couldnt fire in direction of the shore , bullets do t just go up ..

Heavy duty jamming is obviously possible, but the airport and anyone else with radio transmitters / receivers would freak out ..

Soon it'll be buying interceptor drones ,

But they're not exactly available in numbers at the moment..

Iceland is a founding member of NATO and is protected through a 1951 bilateral defense agreement with the US because of its strategic location.

Yes you want to look the other way but we are under threat and must be able to protect our economy primary protected radar NOW.

You'd want to be some shot to hit a drone with a rifle or light machine gun , especially from a moving ship ,

Shotguns are last ditch very short range weapons ,for when a drone is coming at you .. even with an automatic shotgun you wouldn't get very many rounds off ..

A lot depends on the type and size of the drones - unlikely that they were fibre-optic controlled , no need to be really, unless the jamming is heavy ( and it wasn't )

Somewheee mentioned that the drones were in the air for a couple of hours - which seems , extreme,

They also were running lights on , again odd , would have thought they'd try conserve energy.

They have anti drone fragmentation rounds for shogun's and assault rifles. You could be half blind and hit them.

You either learn from Ukraine or stay stuck in the past.

Just like AA from the the last 100yrs Ukraine use layered defenses. Missiles, larger radar controlled guns down to medium calibre down to small calibre at the infantry squad level. I think they are looking at grenade rounds as well like giant buckshot.

Same lessons seem to relearnt after every conflict. The concept of Canister rounds has been around since artillery was invented.

The Irish Vessels have a 0.5 and GPMG and small arms. Yes they are not currently trained in their use against drones. Or have any standing orders around drones. But lessons have to be learnt from this and use the equipment we have and see what others are doing.

Most navies are struggling to deal with the drone threat. It's not any criticism of Irish Navy that they are in the same boat. They need to be supported and encouraged to adapt.

The way I see it, we have the best of all worlds. Free defence due to being luckily located right in the middle of NATO, and we don't have to pay one iota for it or contribute in any way with personnel or money.

I think we're on the the pigs back. Nato would not just pull out and leave a gaping hole around Ireland just because we won't play the game with them.

I think it's a master stroke in cute hoorism.