Drone Assisted Sabotage - Are you safe?

**Disclaimer: This is not advocating illegal activity of any kind. This is only a theoretical thought experiment. We are not responsible how others use this this information!**

Highlighting Vulnerabilities in the Electrical Grid: A Call for Proactive Investment

In an era of rapid technological advancement, our society's dependence on reliable electricity has never been greater. Modern life—from hospitals and data centers to transportation and communication—relies on a continuous flow of electrons. Yet, much of the public electrical infrastructure in many countries remains aging and underinvested, often only receiving attention after major failures or disasters. Why wait for a catastrophe to spur action? Proactively stress-testing and upgrading the grid can reveal weaknesses before they are exploited, encouraging innovation, resilience, and investment.

This thought experiment explores a hypothetical low-tech, high-impact sabotage method to illustrate the grid's vulnerabilities. The goal is not to provide a blueprint but to underscore how dependent we are on electricity and why policymakers must prioritize hardening the infrastructure now.

Drone-Assisted Short Circuit Attack: A Hypothetical Scenario

Imagine a coordinated attack using commercially available drones to drop conductive materials (e.g., wires or chains) onto exposed power lines at multiple points across a distribution grid. What would happen?

Power outage? Yes—likely widespread and immediate in affected areas.

Transformer overload and failure? Yes—high risk of damage.

Permanent system damage from massive discharge? Possibly, depending on protections and coordination.

In 2020, U.S. authorities assessed a real incident in Pennsylvania where a modified drone carrying copper wire approached a substation, likely intending to create a short circuit. The attempt failed, but it highlighted the feasibility of such tactics using off-the-shelf technology.699736e86828

A new drone prototype can find nearby powerlines and land on them to recharge its batteries

Autonomous UAV System for Cleaning Insulators in Power Line ...

How the Power Grid Works: From Generation to Consumer

To understand the impact, consider the basic structure of an electrical grid:12aa9b

What if someone wanted to encourage innovation and investment into the public electrical infrastructure? Some say it will only be possible once a terrible tragedy happens, but why wait? Sometimes you have to push the limits of a system in order to stress test it. Today we live in an unprecedented time of technological advancement. Unfortunately, the majority of elected leaders of many countries have not caught onto this fact. Join us on this theoretical thought experiment with the end goal that politicians come to a full understanding of how vulnerable our society is. How utterly dependent on the electron we are. It’s sad really, that key systems are ignored until they are at risk…

Drone Assisted Sabotage (DAS)– What would happen if 10 drones spread across a power grid, simultaneously dropped wires or other conductive material atop of exposed power lines in an attempt to create a massive short circuit?  Would the power go out? Would the transforms be overloaded and fail? Would such a sudden massive discharge cause permanent damage to the system?

hypothetical power grid showing electrical movement from source to consumer

Yes, yes and maybe. All it would take is someone to program GPS coordinates to the marked spots on our hypothetical power grid. A dielectric failure occurs in main circuits when a connection between two phases is created. For example, a phase and neutral or between a phase and ground (earth) such a short is likely to result in a very intense quick buildup of current resulting in an arc discharge because electrons by nature have an immense desire to correct a difference in charge, like connecting + with -. This will trigger a failsafe (Overcurrent Protection Device) such as fuses, switches, and transformers effectively shutting down the flow of electricity. Let’s take a small power grid system that operates at medium voltage (1kV – 60kV). These systems normally serve urban and rural areas. In this experiment, I’m going to avoid discussing the Ultra High Volt (200kV – 400kV) and High Volt (132kV) systems as these are used to transmit power from the source (Nuclear Reactor / Coal Plant) and are considered “Transmission Grids”. Instead, we will focus on the much smaller “Distribution Grid” found in cities and towns.

Let’s take a small power grid system that operates at medium voltage (1kV – 60kV). These systems normally serve urban and rural areas. In this experiment, I’m going to avoid discussing the Ultra High Volt (200kV – 400kV) and High Volt (132kV) systems as these are used to transmit power from the source (Nuclear Reactor / Coal Plant) and are considered “Transmission Grids”. Instead, we will focus on the much smaller “Distribution Grid” found in cities and towns.

The Transformer

Transformers are used to “step down” or “step up” voltage along its path from the source to the consumer as needed. Transformers produce a lot of heat, how much depends on the load (how heavily it’s used). During a massive electrical short via DAS (Drone Assisted Sabotage) it is these smaller transformers that would fail. Because the load would increase so much due to electricity discharge (electron escape), it would attempt to “step down” more and more electricity in an attempt to balance and maintain the flow of electricity. This puts an extream strain on the cooling systems within the transformers resulting in massive heat accumulation due to the intense voltage. The transformer will crash either by failsafe triggers shutting down the power to prevent permanent thermal damage or by cataclysmic mechanical system failure (explosion).

For more info read this Popular Mechanics article on how and why transforms fail here.