Drone Wars: First Civilian Deaths from RAF Reaper Drone

[Count Bobulescu]

American scientists have drawn up plans for a new generation of nuclear-powered drones capable of flying over remote regions of the world for months on end without refuelling.

US draws up plans for nuclear drones

TM you need a faster and more reliable news source. See post #44.

[fluffybiscuits]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18643134

A team from University of Austin in Texas hacked into a drone using GPS technology. The article doesnt go into detail but does explain that anyone half skilled could do it.

[C. Flower]

"Hacking the City" in Dublin last week - artist's drones took a look into Mountjoy, Google and Facebook.

http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/vi...95322-Jun2012/

Some British artists, who took part in the event in the Science Gallery, were held for hours under the anti-terror acts on return to Britain.

The customised helicopter drones were launched by visual artist Nina McGowan and filmmaker and digital rights expert Caroline Campbell as part of the Science Gallery’s Hack the City exhibition.
The resulting film, called Loitering Theatre explores forbidden and inaccessible space in Dublin and “focuses on the democratisation of surveillance that drone flights afford”.
Áras an Uachtaráin, the Mountjoy Prison complex, a face-to-face view of the Daniel O’Connell statue, and the European headquarters of both Facebook and Google were all ‘spied’ on by the drones.

[fluffybiscuits]

lol a security guard in facebook threatened to call the guards and google employees closed thier blinds! Purely from an artistic point of view its a genius effort, the accessing of space that would be other wise off limits but in the context of being used for alternative reasons, its worthwhile. Could be used by groups like Shell to Sea if they wanted to monitor activities but there may be privacy issues and as such any evidence would not be admissable in court. Tantalising prospects all the same though

[Count Bobulescu]

MARK MAZZETTI, a national-security correspondent for the N.Y. Times, currently writing a book about the C.I.A. since 9/11, in the NYT Magazine, "THE DRONE ZONE: At a desert facility, Air Force pilots are trained to fight America's remote-controlled wars ": "Holloman Air Force Base, at the eastern edge of New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, ... was once famous for the daredevil maneuvers of those who trained there. ... Today many of the pilots at Holloman never get off the ground. The base has been converted into the U.S. Air Force's primary training center for drone operators, where pilots spend their days in sand-colored trailers near a runway from which their planes take off without them. Inside each trailer, a pilot flies his plane from a padded chair, using a joystick and throttle, as his partner, the 'sensor operator,' focuses on the grainy images moving across a video screen, directing missiles to their targets with a laser. ... [M]ilitary leaders estimate that, within a year or so, the number of Air Force pilots flying unmanned planes could be higher than the number who actually leave the ground ...


"[T]he movement shown on a drone pilot's video screen has over the years been seconds behind what the drone sees - a delay caused by the time it takes to bounce a signal off a satellite in space. This problem, called 'latency,' has long bedeviled drone pilots, making it difficult to hit a moving target. Last year senior operatives with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula told a Yemeni reporter that if they hear an American drone overhead, they move around as much as possible. (Military officials said that they have made progress in recent years in addressing the latency problem but declined to provide details.) ... [P]ilots at Holloman who have flown drone combat missions speak glowingly about a lifestyle that allows them to fight a war without going to war. ... Pilots have flown missions over Afghanistan in the morning, stopped for lunch, fought the Iraq war in the afternoon and then driven home in time for dinner." http://nyti.ms/MJ9CuZ

[jmcc]

lol a security guard in facebook threatened to call the guards and google employees closed thier blinds!

There's a certain irony given how Animal Farm (Google) has invaded the privacy of Irish citizens.

Regards...jmcc

[TotalMayhem]

America's latest spy drone is a Zeppelin, it took to the air for its maiden flight at Lakehurst on Tuesday.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_fmy3xwjbM"]United States Army Airship, Spy Blimp - video 1 - YouTube[/ame]

US Army conducts LEMV first flight

[Count Bobulescu]

SCOOPS:
--WashPost 1-col. lead, "CIA seeking more drones ... Move would bolster paramilitary force," by Greg Miller : "The CIA is urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency's fleet of armed drones ... The proposal by CIA Director David H. Petraeus would bolster the agency's ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and enable it, if directed, to shift aircraft to emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots, officials said. If approved, the CIA could add as many as 10 drones, the officials said, to an inventory that has ranged between 30 and 35 over the past few years. The outcome has broad implications for counterterrorism policy and whether the CIA gradually returns to being an organization focused mainly on gathering intelligence, or remains a central player in the targeted killing of terrorism suspects abroad. ...

"One U.S. official said the request reflects a concern that political turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa has created new openings for al-Qaeda ... 'With what happened in Libya, we're realizing that these places are going to heat up' ... White House officials are particularly concerned about the emergence of al-Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, which has gained weapons and territory following the collapse of the governments in Libya and Mali. ... Meanwhile, the campaign of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen has heated up." http://wapo.st/PeoZxH

[eamo]

The young turks (TYT) did a piece on this.
TYT are worth subscribing to, and maybe including in the "News Links" on the home page? Enlightened, thoughtful and entertaining news from the USA. What ya recon mods?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1RCb1364lo"]Drone Fleet To Expand- Civilian Death Statistics - YouTube[/ame]