Drone weapon

"Thousands of bright yellow&mdash;I don't know&mdash;They're coming from the surface! I don't know what they are are! They're cutting the enemy fleet to shreds! My God, it's beautiful."

- Colonel Kirtland during the Battle of Antarctica

Drone Weapons are extremely powerful projectile weapons created by the Ancients, and are considered by many to be the most powerful weapons ever created.

Overview
"Our shields are of no use!"

- Her'ak



They are capable of guided flight and can be controlled from a control chair by someone with the Ancient Technology Activation Gene. Little is known about these weapons, but they have shown the ability to easily pierce Goa'uld shields without exploding and the hulls of Wraith Hive-Ships. In an alternate reality, it was stated that an Ori mothership was destroyed by drone weapons stored in the Antarctic Outpost. Drone weapons are extremely powerful with regard to their size: only two were required to destroy Ares' Ha'tak, and a Wraith Hive-Ship lasted only a few seconds against a salvo of around 20 drones fired from an Aurora-class warship: the Orion. Only two types of shield technology have been confirmed to be capable of resisting drone weapons: Ancient and Asgard, allthough they still suffer heavy damage from them.

Drone weapons seem to have the ability to shield themselves from impact with, and therefore tunnel through, almost any form of matter, from ice to the alloys that make up the hulls of starships. In many cases drones literally fly straight through enemy ships, turn around and come back and hit them again, this time exploding. Drones which have not been destroyed appear to recall themselves to wherever they were launched from, but it could be this only happens when the user of the control chair directs them to do so.

Drone weapons also show some moderate intelligence, knowing the difference between an enemy vessel and a friendly vessel, and also being capable of seeking, tracking, and engaging targets on their own accord, and also dodging weapons fire directed towards them.

City-ships such as Atlantis, Aurora-class warships, and Ancient outposts possess thousands of drones that can swarm and destroy entire fleets of ships.

Mini-Drones
"That would explain why the Genii looked like Swiss cheese. The mini-drones went right through ‘em."

- John Sheppard

One planet within the Pegasus Galaxy served as a testing facility for drone technology that was used by the Lanteans to create a series of miniature anti-infantry drones. These devices were controlled by the thoughts of the wearer of a pendant that served as a control interface similar to an individual in a control chair.

The location of the facility was stored in the Atlantis database but the planet was not found until two years later by the Atlantis Expedition.

It is not known how mini-drones would have been used by the Ancients, seeing as how almost all of their battles with the Wraith took place in space, though they might have been used to prevent entry into Lantean structures.

History
Drone weapons were used extensively during the Ancients war with the Wraith. After the Ancients abandoned Atlantis, drone weapons became increasingly rare in the Pegasus Galaxy, with only Ancient ouposts, city-ships, puddle jumpers, and Aurora-class warships possessing them. Also, the only known drone weapons in the Milky Way are located at the Antarctic outpost, though it can reasonably be assumed that they are also located at other ouposts throughout the Milky Way.

The Asurans have also been seen using drone technology, which should come as no surprise seeing as they have emulated Lantean society in every way. They may, however, possess either a more sophisticated weapon or a more advanced version of drone weapons; both of which seem unlikely as the Asurans have been living in a static society.

Drone weapons were also used in defense of Earth during the Battle of Antarctica, easily penetrating the shields and hulls of the Anubis' Ha'taks.

After the battle, an outpost was created to study the outpost in Antarctica. where scientists stationed there studied an Ancient drone leftover from the battle. When Dr. Carson Beckett was using the Ancient control chair, he accidentally activated the drone, which chased after the incoming helicopter containing John Sheppard and Jack O'Neill. Beckett was, however, able to stop the drone before it destroyed the helicopter.