x.com/GJarrosson/status/2055324949368213931
1 correction found
So the drone flies completely undetected.
That overstates what the company and counter-drone vendors claim. Ornadyne says its design is harder to detect and classify, not impossible to detect, and existing counter-UAS radars explicitly advertise bird-vs-drone classification.
Full reasoning
The absolute claim “completely undetected” is not supported by the available primary sources.
First, Ornadyne’s own Y Combinator page does not claim invisibility. It says its bird-like drones are “harder for humans and counter-UAS systems to detect, classify, and target.” “Harder” is materially different from undetectable.
Second, current counter-drone vendors explicitly say their systems classify birds separately rather than simply ignoring them. Echodyne says its counter-drone radars “detects, classifies, and tracks all airspace movement” and that selectable classes include “bird” and “clutter.” Robin Radar similarly says its systems track and classify “Bird, bat, or drone” and that its drone radars “Detect, track and classify drones in real-time.”
So while a bird-like drone may be more difficult to identify, the post’s claim that it therefore flies “completely undetected” is contradicted by both the startup’s own wording and by official counter-UAS product descriptions.
3 sources
- Ornadyne: We're building robot birds for surveillance. | Y Combinator
We're building autonomous ornithopters with hour-class flight times, low acoustic signatures, and natural bird-like flight. This makes Ornadyne's drones harder for humans and counter-UAS systems to detect, classify, and target.
- Counter-Drone Radar | Echodyne
Reliable Coverage ... detects, classifies, and tracks all airspace movement ... Selectable classes include drone, fixed-wing, multi-rotor, vehicle, vessel, human, bird, and clutter.
- Bird & Drone Detection Radar Systems | Robin Radar
Bird, bat, or drone, our 360° radar systems log thousands of observations, scanning every second to track and classify with precision ... Drone detection: Detect, track and classify drones in real-time.