Droney. Drones Approved: FAA Gives OK To First Commercial Use Over Land. Hide captionA 2011 photo shows an AeroVironment Puma drone being prepared for launch by University of Alaska researchers.
San Diego, Hub of the U.S. Drone Industry. Seemingly everybody’s talking about drones.
And arguably no city is paying closer attention to the national debate over these controversial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) than San Diego, the undisputed drone capital of America. Best known for its zoo, sunshine, captive killer whales, and military bases, San Diego is also home to the world’s two leading drone makers: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, builders of the Predator and Reaper drones that target terrorists around the world, and Northrop Grumman, makers of the Global Hawk surveillance drones. Several smaller San Diego–area companies, too, build drones, and additional firms make component parts and engage in research and development. These companies are looking at a variety of applications for this technology, from law enforcement to mapping to power-line observation.
The anti-drone hoodie that helps you beat Big Brother's spy in the sky. I am wearing a silver hoodie that stops just below the nipples.
Or, if you prefer, a baggy crop-top with a hood. The piece – this is fashion, so it has to be a "piece" – is one of a kind, a prototype. It has wide square shoulders and an overzealous zip that does up right to the tip of my nose. It does not, it's fair to say, make its wearer look especially cool. Pentagon Looks to Fix 'Pervasive Vulnerability' in Drones. An MQ-9 Reaper drone at Creech Air Force Base, NV.
Photo: USAF Drones may be at the center of the U.S. campaign to take out extremists around the globe. But there’s a “pervasive vulnerability” in the robotic aircraft, according to the Pentagon’s premier science and technology division — a weakness the drones share with just about every car, medical device and power plant on the planet. The control algorithms for these crucial machines are written in a fundamentally insecure manner, says Dr. Kathleen Fisher, a Tufts University computer scientist and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Hunting Down Poachers With War On Terror Tech, Funded By Google. When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) wanted to fight animal poachers--illegal hunters of wildlife--they decided to bring in an unorthodox weapon: Drones.
But these drones were different from the killer Predators of public imagination. Instead, they were unarmed, superlightweight, and users launch them by throwing them into the air--in fact, they are heavily modified model aircraft. Revealed: 64 Drone Bases on American Soil. We like to think of the drone war as something far away, fought in the deserts of Yemen or the mountains of Afghanistan.
But we now know it’s closer than we thought. There are 64 drone bases on American soil. That includes 12 locations housing Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed. Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information, released a map of military UAV activities in the United States on Tuesday. Assembled from military sources — especially this little-known June 2011 Air Force presentation (.pdf) – it is arguably the most comprehensive map so far of the spread of the Pentagon’s unmanned fleet. The medium-size Shadow is used in 22 bases, the smaller Raven in 20 and the miniature Wasp in 11. The possibility of military drones (as well as those controlled by police departments and universities) flying over American skies have raised concerns among privacy activists.
Tiny Device Will Detect Domestic Drones. Worried about drones spying on you?
Soon, a device might be able to send you text and email alerts that let you know when a drone is nearby. [ALSO: Domestic Drone Arrest Database Being Built by Defense Lawyers Group] Insect-Sized Spy Drone Robots Unveiled. Just when you thought insects couldn't get any creepier, the US Air Force has unveiled tiny finger-sized insect spy drones that would be undetectable to most.
Pain Continues after War for American Drone Pilot. For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong, windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the air-conditioning was kept at 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit) and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. “Civilian casualties” authorized under secret US drone-strike memo. A secret Obama administration memo disclosed Monday outlines the legal justification for the government's drone-targeted killing program, a lethal strategy that authorizes the killing of innocents as collateral damage.
The memo (PDF), released by a US federal appeals court under a Freedom of Information Act request, describes the government's legal underpinnings for its so-called overseas targeted-killing program where drones from afar shoot missiles at buildings, cars, and people. It began under the George W. Bush administration but was broadened under Obama and now includes the killing of Americans. The Obama administration fought for years to keep the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memo from becoming public. The document says that lethal force is authorized under international war rules and the US war on terror. Use-of-drones-for-killings-risks-a-war-without-end-panel-concludes-in-report.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.