The Future of Drones [FR EXCLUSIVE! SCCOP!]

Various ^ | 8/16/2003 | Southack

[Southack]

[Southack]

Civilian drones flying over hostile Cuba, dropping pro-freedom leaflets?!

It can be done. TAM-5 just flew across the entire Atlantic.

Welcome to the future of drones.

[fortaydoos]

What about some islamoscumbag flying one of these full of some WMD into America? How do we stop this?

[Dog Gone]

The Global Hawk looks completely incapable of flight. However, I must admit that my background in aerospace engineering is limited to making paper airplanes as a kid.

[Phsstpok]

What about some islamoscumbag flying one of these full of some WMD into America? How do we stop this?

Don't worry, Skynet becomes active in 1 year, 2 months and roughly 20 days, give or take. MS Blaster was a test deployment of Skynet, which will take over all such automated tools and use them for a good purpose.....

[martin_fierro]

Previous related thread

[donmeaker]

Drones go way back. Elmer Sperry developed the auto pilot allegedly so that he could have sex while flying. Elmer worked with General Motors' Charles Kettering on an unmanned biplane project in the 20s. A young Colonel Hap Arnold was the Army project manager. Based on that project (The Kettering "Bug" ) it was realized that self guiding drones could not reliably hit a target the size of a small city at a distance of 60 miles. Hap Arnold began to push for large manned bombers. The B-10, B-17, B-24 and B-29 were his legacy.

Using a communications link is not a terribly viable option. Aside from the potential for an enemy to jam you, communications links drop out, and your drone beasty would need to have a large tail (to be aerodynamically stable) cutting its range, or have enough smarts to continue on its way until the communications link was reestablished.

[donmeaker]

"The Global Hawk looks completely incapable of flight. "

The darned thing has wings that don't quit. The tough thing is keeping it on the ground in a light breeze. The powerplant is a turbofan, so it has plenty of thrust. V tails are less draggy than most other tail structures.

What's not to like?

[Dog Gone]

It looks like they attached wings to this:

[Buck W.]

Or, while it may not be PC, how about an armed, bird-sized drone to eliminate our North Korean friend? Could probably get in and out without detection.

[Eala]

Don't worry, Skynet becomes active in 1 year, 2 months and roughly 20 days, give or take

I thought it was around April or May of next year, according to the movie.

But what do I know, I'm not a Pak protector.

[Southack]

How do you think that we detected the gas releases of North Korea's nuclear program?!

[Buck W.]

Correct, of course, but my fantasy (?) is to go the extra mile & arm a drone as an accurate, stealthy, remotely-targeted sniper.

[Southack]

Hellfire Sniper Attack From Drone

The Predator (RealVideo)

Photos

Wreckage of exploded car in Yemen (AP Photo / APTN)

Graphics

The Hellfire Missile (43K) (Newsday)

More Coverage

More Worries About Bio-Attack Protection
Nov 5, 2002

A Blow to Al-Qaida

By Knut Royce and Craig Gordon
Washington Bureau

Washington -- A missile launched by a CIA drone killed a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden in Yemen as U.S. forces expanded their overt attacks on the al-Qaida network outside Afghanistan for the first time, knowledgeable sources said yesterday.

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi was one of a half-dozen al-Qaida members traveling in northwest Yemen when a Hellfire missile struck their car and killed them all Sunday, according to the official Yemeni news agency and local tribesmen.

Al-Harethi was a suspect in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. He was bin Laden's chief operative in Yemen and has been a leading target of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

A Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Authorities have been monitoring this particular car for awhile and we believe those men belonged to the al-Qaida terror network."

President George W. Bush did not comment directly on the Yemen incident, but reiterated that he is determined to break up al-Qaida. He called al-Qaida members "international killers" and said they can be found only by being "patient and steadfast ... "

"And the United States of America is doing just that," Bush said. "We're in it for the long haul."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to confirm al-Harethi's death yesterday, but said, "It would be a very good thing if he were out of business."

Neither the Pentagon nor the CIA would comment on the attack, though defense officials said the aircraft that fired the missile didn't belong to the Defense Department. Other sources said the missile came from a CIA-operated drone aircraft -- a Predator -- which the CIA used extensively in Afghanistan to fire Hellfire missiles at suspected terrorist leaders.

Witnesses said they saw a helicopter in the area of the explosion, in the northern province of Marib, about 100 miles east of Yemen's capital of San'a, where al-Qaida is considered active. Helicopters also can fire Hellfire missiles.

The attack in Yemen marks a new phase of the global war on terror, with the CIA making a highly visible attack against suspected al-Qaida leaders in another nation.

News of the missile strike came as the Pentagon announced it is creating a special military command to monitor and pursue terrorists on the Horn of Africa. About 800 Army Special Forces soldiers already are based in the tiny nation of Djibouti, and a headquarters element of 400 Marines will run the command, with more possibly joining later.

Gen. Richard Myers, Joint Chiefs chairman, described the Horn of Africa -- it includes Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, as well as Yemen across the Red Sea -- as a region in which "terrorists can gather and either do operational planning or training ... We're very interested in the area for that reason and have positioned forces there to take appropriate action."

Yemen is bin Laden's ancestral home.

Sources say the Yemeni government is highly sensitive to U.S. forces carrying out attacks on its soil, leading to the refusal by U.S. government officials to confirm the operation. In fact, early reports of the incident by the official Yemeni news agency said merely that the car blew up, suggesting the men were carrying a bomb for a terror attack that went off by accident.

The government of Yemen "wanted this to look like a bunch of guys blew themselves up in a work accident. The worst thing for their government is that they cooperated with the U.S. government on this matter," said a knowledgeable source. "But it was a hell of a success."

The source said two of the others in the car were a communications officer for al-Qaida and someone involved in al-Qaida finances, though Yemeni officials said the five appeared to be relatively low-level operatives.

CNN reported in February that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih had said his security forces were seeking two top al-Qaeda operatives in connection with the Cole bombing -- al -- Harethi and Hamdi al-Ahdal, also known as Abu Assem. It is not known if al-Ahdal was in the car Sunday.

Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.

[ikka]

Would be great for stopping the flow of illegals into the country, no? Remote surveillance of hundreds of square miles of land.

[BenLurkin]

Great post. Thanks!

[null and void]

What about some islamoscumbag flying one of these full of some WMD into America? How do we stop this?

At the source, or not at all...

[Ranger]

Thanks for the thought provoking post. Do you see any near-term useful commercial applications for low cost drones? I don't have much confidence in the military to make anything low cost, but they can't ignore commercial developments.

[BenLurkin]

[BenLurkin]

Saw one of those broken down by the side of the 15 freeway between Baker and Las Vegas not too long ago.