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"The best fuzzy rules, the best knowledge, deal with the turning points of the system. If a race-car driver teaches you how to drive, you don't need him to show you how to drive on the straightaway. It's how he handles the curves that matters."
- Bart Kosko

Hawk Anti-Drone  
  An autonomous unmanned air vehicle (UAV) designed to seek and destroy other UAVs.  

When the watchbirds become too troublesome, the hawks come to the rescue.

"The Hawks are especially built to hunt down watchbirds. They're stronger, faster, and they've got better armor..."

"But anything the watchbirds can do, the Hawks can do better," Macintyre said cheerfully. "The Hawks have special learning circuits for hunting. They're more flexible than the watchbirds. They learn faster..."

"All I know is that the Hawks are self-controlled. So were the watchbirds. Remote control would have been too slow, the argument went on. The idea was to get the watchbirds and get them fast. That meant no restricting circuits."


(Hawk from 'Watchbird' by Robert Sheckley)

"We can dope something out," Macintyre said uncertainly.

"You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now. A murder machine. Before that it was an anti-murder machine. Your next gadget will have to be even more self-sufficient, won't it?"

Technovelgy from Watchbird, by Robert Sheckley.
Published by Galaxy in 1953
Additional resources -

The Hawks were designed as an anti-watchbird weapon:


(Hawk from 'Watchbird' by Robert Sheckley)

The watchbird was operating erratically now. Many of its delicate parts were out of line, worn by almost continuous operation...

Simultaneously, it became aware of something overhead. The watchbird wheeled to meet it.

There was a sharp crackle and a power bolt whizzed by the watchbird's wing. Angrily, it spat a shock wave.

The attacker was heavily insulated. Again it spat at the watchbird. This time, a bolt smashed through a wing. The watchbird darted away, but the attacker went after it in a burst of speed, throwing out more crackling power. .

The watchbird fell...

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Watchbird
  More Ideas and Technology by Robert Sheckley
  Tech news articles related to Watchbird
  Tech news articles related to works by Robert Sheckley

Hawk Anti-Drone-related news articles:
  - Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations

Articles related to Weapon
Man Builds 200 Foot Basement Firing Range
Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations

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