Posted on 10/25/2001 4:10:18 AM PDT by SLB
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some U.S. military officials want to put unmanned aerial vehicles in the skies above the continental United States to conduct surveillance and intelligence operations.
The UAVs could carry a variety of sensors to scan the ground for images and chemical or biological agents and might also carry weapons, such as Hellfire missiles, to engage targets if necessary, officials told InsideDefense.com.
By next summer, officials hope to demonstrate the ability of using a UAV to collect information within the United States and share it with Defense Department and civilian agencies, including the newly created Office of Homeland Security.
The Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, which is spearheading the effort, plans to use the Hunter UAV to test the concept, said Col. Waldo Carmona, the directorate's chief.
"We're in the process right now of getting the program together," Carmona said. "I think it would be fair to say that there is interest and we're working to see how to get these pieces and parts together right now. The goal would be to try to get something together by this summer."
Carmona said Hunter is large enough to carry a variety of sensors and possibly even missiles. Earlier this year, the Air Force conducted two successful tests involving Predator UAVs firing Hellfire missiles, and press reports have suggested the CIA may be flying UAVs with missiles over Afghanistan.
However, Carmona noted that flying armed UAVs over the United States might not be acceptable to the public.
The Army has four Hunter UAV systems in its inventory, and each system consists of eight air vehicles with associated equipment. One Hunter system is used during non-winter months in Kosovo to support military operations.
The Army does not face any technical challenges with using Hunter UAVs for homeland security purposes but would need to reprioritize its UAV resources to do so, said a UAV official who asked to not be identified.
"It depends on what priority the Army puts on how they want to use the Hunters they have now," he said. "The assets are limited. The number of trained Hunter personnel is limited. So it would be a prioritization issue more than anything else."
Carmona said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon highlighted some homeland defense gaps that could be filled by UAVs.
"I think Sept. 11 kind of highlighted the potential need for this," he said. "But I believe that we would have gotten around to this anyway as we evolved. I believe that this would have been a normal evolution in using UAVs."
He said the demonstration next summer would consist of using a Hunter UAV to collect information and imagery and then pass it to DOD and civilian agencies via the Army Airborne Command and Control System.
The intent is to generate an air and ground picture that can be shared between various agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Office of Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA and local police and fire departments.
"Certainly, the ability to have a UAV be able to fly around, look at a damaged area and send pictures back from a high-up point would be an advantage," Carmona said. "The ability to fill in pictures from overhead and an overhead view would be very useful."
Carmona added that the Army wants to use Hunter because it has already used that platform in teaming arrangements with the AH-64D Apache Longbow.
However, he added that one of the biggest issues to resolve will be airspace management, noting that the directorate plans to work with the Federal Aviation Administration to address it.
Yuh 'spose?
Yep! Real bad idea... We'd see somthin' shot down sure as can be! This thing gets more Orwellian by the minute!
A little personal story about this. Several years ago I left active duty and joined the National Guard and went off to Ft Campbell, KY for our two week annual training. Being the good soldiers we were, we went straight to a field location and set up a nice headquarters site to include a field shower using a screen latrine for the sides (this leaves the top open). The first sergeant set up a shower schedule that had the males showering during the day and females at night. The second or third night we were there the number of helicopters flying over us after dark was amazing. We needed air traffic control to keep them from hitting each other. The first sergeant didn't get it until I explained a little about night vision devices to him. The next night he changed the schedules and I guess the aviation unit didn't have any female pilots as the amount of air traffic dropped off immediately.
Loaded for bear!!!
I really do not have enough information to make a judgement on using unmanned UAV's over American soil, I can see some exellent uses for this but I also see dangers. The devil will as always be in the details of how it would be employed.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
I vote NO ! UAV for LEO's and intell gathering ?? I'm OK with that as I have nothing to hide. But first time the data collected is misused or given out to any commercial venue or used for anything other than preventing a criminal act, you may as well make me President as I'm gonna "own" the equal to his 8 years of pay anyhow via a court of law minimum.
I don't like the personal invasion by terrorist or my LEO's. I do support the need better intelligence gathering within and without the CONUS. But if you and I know where these vermin dwell and if given authority to engage them and remove them as a threat to the citizens of this great country............why can't Uncle Sugar do the same ?
We are at war, criminals have rights, invaders bent on terrorism or subversive seditious activities DO NOT IMHO. One who enters this country legaly with the intended purpose of education or vacation or legit business is a guest with the right to due process if they make a mistake and break a law unknowingly. If they are here illegally or entered under false pretense then they are invaders. The only protection I see them getting is from an international court and prison system on a remote island in the atlantic/pacific somewhere, Azores or Johnson island are good choices IMHO.
Modern day devils Island scenerio for all terrorists who get lucky enough not to be shot outright by law abidding citizens or GI's/LEO's who catch em in the act.
Armed UAV's........again I vote NO WAY ! Stay Safe !
You ain't gonna 'own' crap!
You KNOW that the 'authorities' get a pass on this kind of stuff..........
or that it moooved you to tears!
Stay Safe !
I made a right turn at Shamrock (on the way to Utah) and visited the ranch where parts of CASTAWAY was filmed. (I'm a detail nut and observed that the note Hanks had written [to leave in the front door] was NOT on FED EX paper, but on Arrington Ranch letterhead)
Stay Safe !
I can't see a legitimate use for UAVs, armed or unarmed, over America. The idea behind a UAV is to avoid risking live pilots over hostile territory. While we do have hidden enemies on the ground, they are not shooting at aircraft. They don't have troop movements on the ground, and they aren't broadcasting electronic signals that UAVs might pick up.
What exactly could these UAVs discover, and why are they floating a trial balloon about arming them? About the only thing they'd be good for is keeping an eye on "militias" and "religious (Christian) extremists" out in the countryside, like Waco. We already know that klinton is sending his buttboys out saying the anthrax is "right wing", and this UAV business seems to dovetail nicely with that blood libel.
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