Hovering Drones Rushed to Iraq

[Truth2Tell]

Source: Wired News

Ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicles are making their way to Iraq to help spot improvised explosive devices. These new drones, which can hover in place, have been under development as part of the Army's massive Future Combat Systems, but it's actually the Navy that plans to deploy them, reports Flight International:

The US Navy will usher Honeywell's unmanned ducted-fan technology into operational service later this year, after disclosing a surprise order for 372 vehicles. All 186 two-vehicle RQ-16A Micro Air Vehicle systems, which includes 93 ground stations, will be delivered between June and November, as the USN rapidly deploys the new hover-and-stare asset to help explosive ordnance disposal teams search for improvised bombs

"That's fast and, based on our experiment with supporting an in-theatre assessment, we have been standing up a production capability to meet those kinds of demands," says Vaughn Fulton, Honeywell's MAV programme manager.

The 11kg (25lb) RQ-16A will join the USN's growing fleet of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Although the slowest of the US services to embrace unmanned aviation, the USN plans to acquire a portfolio of five classes of UAS. But its newest priority should not displace a pending decision to buy a Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system, or a long-term plan to acquire a fleet of small tactical vehicles. "The planned RQ-16A acquisition will not result in any changes to plans for other UAS procurements," says the US Naval Air Systems Command.

Read more: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/hovering-drones.html

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Wow. I wonder if they'll have tasers on em'? :P



What's next? Sharks with laser beams?

[gateley]

1. I saw a piece on these things -- with pics of this thing just floating down

the street. Kinda eerie.

[dysfunctional press]

11. if they 're at street level- wouldn't/couldn't they just get shot at/down by small arm's fire?

especially if they "hover" in one spot, or move slowly.

[gateley]

12. The photo I saw looked like it was in the Middle East -- Iraq, most likely,

and the surroundings looked like it was an American sector because the troops weren't at the ready, and were pretty much ignoring these things.

But yes, they did look like they could be shot down really easily. Or just hit with a baseball bat or something.

[dysfunctional press]

15. or a net, or even just a big rock...

it just doesn't seem all that formidable, for all it's high-techiness.

[truthisfreedom]

2. I love it. We need more technology and less people at risk.

You don't have to treat a machine for PTSD.

[Truth2Tell]

3. That's what Dick Jones said about ED-209

[gratuitous]

8. Machines don't need to be treated for PTSD

And neither do soldiers who aren't deployed for fake wars by fictional presidents.

This seems like a rather lame substitute for the hard work of an occupation, designed to make folks think that we're not putting more people at risk. But if one of these expensive little gadgets goes down, is there a commander who's just going to let it lay around?

[Stella_Artois]

10. Bad logic

It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it.

Robert E. Lee, Statement at the Battle of Fredericksburg (13th December 1862)
US-Confederate general (1807 - 1870)

This is also the reason neutron bombs are banned, and we all should hope the stay that way. Nuclear weapons that destroy nothing ? No thanks.

[khaos]

13. This technology will be used here someday..

Iraq is a training facility

I don't love it at all

[Diclotican]

4. Truth2Tell

Truth2Tell

The world of "Star Wars" is coming more close than it is comfortin for my thingking.. Ok pretty "cool" but...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

[Robb]

5. Misleading headline

I thought the Bush cabinet was making a last-minute trip overseas. :D

[gateley]

16. Cool photo - -looks like Annie Liebowitz for for Vanity Fair or something. nt

[Thor_MN]

17. I was thinking "Droning Rush Hoovered to Iraq"

ala Agustus Gloop, but I must be just punch drunk from realizing that * has less than a year.

[mcscajun]

22. You read my mind.

:evilgrin:

[Javaman]

6. hovering drone? since when was it announced that moron* was visiting Iraq? nt

[lovuian]

7. Iran shoots those Drones down US use them to test defenses

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WINzQtvjnH8

[Greyskye]

9. linked video shows no such thing

It's simply a number of un-sourced assertions.

[yurbud]

14. once they get Skynet going, we'll all go back to sleep...

[Trajan]

18. When we see new technologies emerge in battlefields ....

It is just a matter of time before they are used on dissidents and 'The Opposition' ....

Whenever I see stories about these new weapons, I fear the most for non-combatants under a strict regime, where a leader wants to use the easiest method for getting rid of the 'troublemakers' ...

Fear it ....

[daleo]

19. All kinds of possible uses

From the Orwellian (constant surveillance) to the mundane (speed traps). I don't like this sort of thing at all.

[bemildred]

20. We got plenty of those on Fox News, send them over there. nt

[LynnTheDem]

21. Iraq DIDN'T have unmanned drones under Saddam Hussein, contrary to bush's lies...

but they do now, thanks to bush's illegal invasion of that poor nation.