Drones on the Home Front. How I Accidentally Kickstarted the Domestic Drone Boom. At last year’s Paris Air Show , some of the hottest aircraft were the autonomous unmanned helicopters—a few of them small enough to carry in one hand—that would allow military buyers to put a camera in the sky anywhere, anytime.
Manufactured by major defense contractors, and ranging in design from a single-bladed camcopter to four-bladed multicopters, these drones were being sold as the future of warfare at prices in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In May, at a different trade show, similar aircraft were once again the most buzzed-about items on display. But this wasn’t another exhibition of military hardware; instead, it was the Hobby Expo China in Beijing, where Chinese manufacturers demo their newest and coolest toys. FAA To Ease Rules For Police Agencies To Fly Unmanned Drones. LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Surveillance aircraft used by the U.S. military overseas could soon be coming to the skies above Los Angeles County.
KNX 1070′s Charles Feldman reports the Federal Aviation Administration is making it easier for local law enforcement agencies to fly unmanned drones. The FAA has streamlined the process that would allow agencies to fly smaller, unarmed versions of the drones that hunt down terrorists in places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Drones for "urban warfare" - drones. In November 2010, a police lieutenant from Parma, Ohio, asked Vanguard Defense Industries if the Texas-based drone manufacturer could mount a “grenade launcher and/or 12-gauge shotgun” on its ShadowHawk drone for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Groups Concerned Over Arming Of Domestic Drones. Get Breaking News First.
Drones invade campus - drones. For all the attention given to U.S. law enforcement’s interest in adopting drones, the biggest users turn out to be not police departments, but universities.
We learned this last week, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation forced the Federal Aviation Administration to reveal that it had approved 25 universities to fly drones in U.S. airspace. Not that universities were waiting on the FAA to begin working in the field: Last fall, Kansas State University created a degree in unmanned aviation. So far, 30 undergraduates have signed up. The spreading drone curriculum is, for better and worse, a sign of the coming normalization of drones in American life. Interviews with university officials revealed widespread excitement about the possibilities of unmanned aviation technology, which has the potential to transform fields like agriculture and disaster response.
8 Creepy Spy Technologies That Can Be Hitched to Your Neighborhood Drones. Photo Credit: Shutterstock March 13, 2012 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. High-Altitude Surveillance Drones: Coming to a Sky Near You. Last week President Obama signed a sweeping aviation bill that, among other things, will open the skies to “unmanned aircraft systems,” more commonly known as drones.
Much of the discussion regarding the coming era of domestic drones has been focused on the many important questions regarding their use at low altitudes. To what extent will it be legal, for example, for drones to hover 300 feet above residential neighborhoods snapping pictures into backyards and windows? What level of human-in-the-loop control is needed to ensure safety in a crowded airspace? And how can we stop terrorists from piloting drones at treetop level towards a target?
Unaccountable Killing Machines: The True Cost of U.S. Drones - Joshua Foust - International. Officials often portray the global expansion of deadly drone strikes as an unequivocal success. Washington's Phantom War. One hot summer evening in 2009, in a small village in the remote Pakistani tribal agency of South Waziristan, a pair of Hellfire missiles fired from an unmanned Predator drone slammed into a house, killing the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, along with his wife.
About a year later, in May 2010, down a dirt road from Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, a missile from another Predator killed Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (known as Saeed al-Masri), a founding member of al Qaeda, along with his wife and several of their children. These drone strikes were successful in killing high-level leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda. David Bell: In Defense Of Drones: A Historical Argument. Once upon a time, American military might was symbolized by the heavy boots of the Marine Corps, stomping ashore to reestablish order in unruly parts of the world.
Today, increasingly, it is symbolized by unmanned drone aircraft, controlled from thousands of miles away, dropping bombs on accused terrorists. And to judge by the Obama Administration’s new defense plan, released earlier this month, this shift will be strongly reinforced in the years to come. The plan aims to cut troops, ships and planes while concentrating our military energies more than ever on drones, spy technology, cyber warfare, jammers, and special operations forces. The Political Consequences of a Drones-First Policy - Joshua Foust - International. The global counterterrorism mission imposes substantial political costs to the U.S.
Yet policymakers are rushing ahead anyway. Why we should start thinking more about politics, and less about killing bad guys. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to the media from the Pentagon Briefing Room in Washington, DC / Reuters. U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners. On December 30 of last year, ABC News reported on a 16-year-old Pakistani boy, Tariq Khan, who was killed with his 12-year-old cousin when a car in which he was riding was hit with a missile fired by a U.S. drone.
President's Top Terrorism Aid Calls Drone Killings "Legal," "Ethical," "Wise" The Drone Blowback Fallacy. Signature Strikes in Yemen. US drone air strike kills al-Qaida terrorist wanted for USS Cole bombing. Terrorist Fishing in the Yemen - By James Traub. Last month, according to news accounts, U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to widen the scope of drone attacks carried out against al Qaeda members in Yemen.
Previously, strikes targeted only known individuals; henceforth, the CIA and the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command will be permitted to target people whose patterns of behavior make them high-value targets. Many counterterrorism and Yemen experts think that the White House is opening up the gates of hell. US drone targeted al-Qaida deputy. Where the Drones Are - By Micah Zenko and Emma Welch. Update, February 6, 2013: National Security Advisor John Brennan's confirmation hearing for CIA director on Feb. 7, 2013 has revived criticism of the targeted killing program he helped institute. On Feb. 5, the Washington Post and New York Times revealed that the United States uses an airfield in Saudi Arabia as a base for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting surveillance and combat missions -- a fact first reported by the Times of London, but previously unacknowledged in the U.S. media.
Secret ‘Kill List’ Tests Obama’s Principles. 10 Things You Didn't Know About Drones - By Micah Zenko. When the US Government Can Kill You, Explained. A US Air Force Reaper armed with hellfire missiles.Louie Palu/ZUMA Press On Monday, the Obama administration explained when it's allowed to kill you. Speaking to students and faculty at Northwestern University law school, Attorney General Eric Holder laid out in greater detail than ever before the legal theory behind the administration's belief that it can kill American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial. An Executive Power to Kill? by David Cole. I Met a 16-Year-Old Kid. 3 Days Later Obama Killed Him. June 14, 2012 | Border agency overextended on drone program. The Homeland Security Department ordered so many drones it can’t keep them all flying and doesn’t have a good plan for how to use them, according to a new audit the department’s inspector general released Monday. Drone Documents: Why The Government Won’t Release Them.
The government has rebuffed attempts by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times to obtain documents related to drone strikes and targeted killing. My Drone War - By Pir Zubair Shah. Our immoral drone war. The face of collateral damage. Hatred: What drones sow. In defense of Obama’s drones. Fire When Ready - By Jack Goldsmith. The drones are coming — to America. What is a Drone, Anyway? Drones' new weapon: P.R. - drones. Orwells and Oppenheimers: Drone Opponents’ Marriage of Convenience » Gunpowder & Lead.
Israel’s drone dominance. One Per Cent: GPS loss kicked off fatal drone crash. Drones, the Empty Aerial Assault.