[Infographic] U.S. new raids, drone attacks target review process May 24, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones, Military Aviation.Tags: Barack Obama, Drone attacks, Homeland Security, John O. Brennan, Pentagon, United States Department of State, White House
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The Associated Press has recently published the first detailed description of the once classified military’s review process for choosing terror leaders to be added to the capture or kill list.
Two current and three former officials U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP and described the current targeting procedure, developed by the Assistant to the President of the U.S. for Homeland Security John Brennan, that concentrates power over the use of both drones and special forces outside war zones, withinin a small White House’s team.
According to the U.S. officials, the Pentagon’s role in targeting process has been minimized: it can still carry out its own procedures to make recommendations to the Secretary of Defense, but the Brennan’s team would be in charge of approving the final recommendation to Obama.
[Read also: The mysterious U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle detachment in Djibouti. Are they conducting covert air strikes in Yemen?]
Previously, targets were reviewed within a military-run procedure that saw Brennan as just one of the voices in the debate. Under the new plan, Brennan’s staff leads the debate on which targets must be put on the list and runs the names past agencies such as the State Department at a weekly White House meeting.
Since Brennan is still the one to approve the final recommendation to President Barack Obama, there’s a widespread concern that bringing more power to his team could turn it into a sort of military headquarters, entrusting the fate of terrorist targets all around the world to a small number of senior officials.
[Read also: Covert US drone operations tracked in real time, via Twitter. Exposing tactics too.]
Several human rights groups have requested the White House to make public the process by which individuals end up on the targeting lists and the revelation by the officials who have spoken to the AP could help showing the American public that terrorist targets are chosen only after painstaking and exhaustive debate.
This could be particularly useful in an election year, when drone strikes across the globe can be a quite sensitive debating point.
The above image is a modified version of an AP infographic released on May 21
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Iraq to buy Predator drones to protect southern oil platforms May 21, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: drones, General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, Iraq, Predator, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
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Iraq’s Navy has already purchased U.S. drones to protect its southern oil platforms, from where most of the OPEC nation’s oil is shipped.
This is what an official from the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, which is part of the U.S. embassy, said to the Reuters on May 21.
Although no more details about the number of the purchased drone have been disclosed, what it’s certain is that they will be used to protect the oil infrastructure, that went under Iraqi forces responsibility since 2005 and are without a proper aerial surveillance since the U.S. has left the country in December 2011.
With crude exports forecast expected to reach 2.85 barrels per day by the end of the year, the oil infrastructure, and the oilfields around Basra, remains one of the main insurgents’ targets. That’s why the Iraqi Government has bought the robots and started training its engineers to be able to operate them by the end of 2012.
Most probably, the drones purchased by Baghdad are unarmed RQ-1 Predators UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) used to detect suspect activities in typical ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) missions.
Since they should be operated by the Iraqi Navy, it must be assumed they will be extensively used above for maritime surveillance around the oil rigs in the Persian Gulf.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
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Covert US drone operations tracked in real time, via Twitter. Exposing tactics too. May 20, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Drones.Tags: Al-Qaeda, drones, Twitter, Yemen
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The social networking medium of Twitter is becoming a bit of a nightmare for covert CIA drone operations in the Yemen. In fact, in near real time, each time a drone is heard or spotted, locals tweet robots’ targets, details and whereabouts to their followers, using the Yemen hastag (#Yemen).
On May 18, MSNBC has run an interesting article in which it describes an attack on an alleged convoy of militants near the town of Shibam.
Although supposed to be covert, the strike was reported as a “missile strike on car in Wadi Hadhramaut” within minutes. Furthermore, a series of tweets published in the day prior to the strike, about drone suspiciously circling in the area during daylight (as opposed to the usual night activity), gave a hint that could have spoiled the subsequent deadly attack.
What becomes apparent when MSNBC describes the attack, is also the tactics being used against the terrorists: Shibam, a town with around 30,000 occupants, was plunged into darkness minutes prior to the missile attack, implying considerable influence in the hunt for these targets.
Even if only 2 percent of Yemen’s population has Internet access, the U.S. are quickly becoming aware of the problem of instant news afforded by the local populace armed with Twitter. However, news of reconnaissance activity conducted ahead of a strike or account explaining the actions preceding the attacks can be more dangerous than the news that a strike is in progress.
This could lead the drone operators to operate with more discretion, at higher altitude and distance from the robots’ targets.
On the other side, terrorists could use twitter to spread false news to try to divert deadly Predators, Reapers (or F-15E Strike Eagles…..) from Djibouti, elsewhere.
Provided that Al Qaeda terrorists are among the 2 percent Yemeni using the Web.
Written with David Cenciotti
Image credit: Air Force
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Photo: Is this the first Taliban-made drone, ever? May 19, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: Afghanistan, drone, Helmand, ISAF, Taliban, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
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Update May 19, 2012 21.18 GMT
The following pictures, courtesy of the Helmand Governor’s Media Center, show what looks like a small drone that was discovered along with poppy, small arms, ammunitions and other materials used to make improvised explosive devices (IED), by the Afghanistan’s National Department of Security in the Nar-e-Seraj district of Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 19.
Although the size is very small, the remotely controlled plane could be, if not the first, the most recent attempt by the Taliban to build and operate a minidrone for short range reconnaissance purposes (although, based on the images, it’s not clear where the camera is installed).
I haven’t found other images supposedly showing Taliban drones, but I can’t rule out the possibility that some other primitive robots have been either tested or operated by the insurgents in Afghanistan.
As Royal Aeronautical Society’s Tim Robinson suggests, rather than a new type it could be a recovered/modified/refitted/copied NATO one. In particular, the Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk is almost identical to the one confiscated on May 19. If it’s a NATO UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), whether the drone was airworthy and operative has still to be verified.
If you have more details about the drone showed in these pictures or previous types believed to be operated by the Taliban, please leave a comment or send me an email.
Courtesy image HGMC
Video: Armed MQ-1 Predator drone quietly flying at low altitude over Elgin, Illinois May 16, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: AGM-114 Hellfire, Chicago, Elgin Illinois, General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, NATO, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
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Filmed in Elgin, Illinois about 40 miles from Chicago, the following video (uploaded to Youtube on May 13) shows what seems to be an MQ-1 Predator drone. Armed with AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles.
Noteworthy the drone is flying quite low (maybe to remain in visual contact with the ground below the clouds).
Even if someone believes the video is not genuine, the robot could be involved in a surveillance mission in anticipation of NATO meeting that will be held in Chicago on May 20 – 21.
Although not even comparable with what we have seen in London for next summer’s Olympic Games security, an armed drone over the U.S. territory is at least an uncommon sight.
H/T to WOI for the heads-up
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“Viper Drone”: Boeing QF-16 aerial target for U.S. Air Force makes first flight May 10, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones, Military Aviation.Tags: aerial target, Boeing, drone, Lockheed Martin, QF-16, United States Airforce
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The Lockheed Martin F-16 is one of the most famous combat planes in the world. The 4500th example was delivered at the company Fort Worth production facility, in Texas, on Apr. 3.
Since the first Fighting Falcon (nicknamed “Viper” in the fighter pilots community) exited the production line in 1975, the multirole aircraft has been produced in partnership with 5 countries and sold to a grand total of 26 countries. A further 70 F-16s for Morocco, Turkey, Egypt, Oman and Iraq, are currently on order, with the last plane expected to be delivered by 2016.
Flown in the air-to-air, air-to-surface, SEAD roles, the Viper is about to begin a new role: aerial target. Indeed, it will be flown manned or unmanned as targets and decoys within a controlled range for testing against potential adversaries, radars, surface-air missiles etc.
Although the F-16 is a famous Lockheed plane, the contract to develop the QF-16 aerial target was awarded to Boeing.
On May 4, at 03.05 p.m. Eastern time, the first QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target took off from Boeing facility at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida, and climbed to an altitude of 41,000 feet during its 66-minute flight that marked its first manned flight.
The QF-16 “Viper drone” will replace the QF-4 Phantom drone in the same role.
Image credit: Boeing / Flickr
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First weapon designed to be dropped by gravity from a drone makes debut May 9, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Drones.Tags: AAI RQ-7 Shadow, Drop-Glide, Lockheed Martin, UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Unmanned combat air vehicle, US Army, USMC
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Once used only to perform ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance), drones are getting new weapons day after day confirming a growing trend to arm current UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in order to make them capable to perform UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles) missions.
Lockheed Martin has developed a new weapon: a drop-glide bomb called Shadow Hawk.
Shadow Hawk is the first weapon designed to be dropped purely by gravity from a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).
Weighing in at 4.9kg (11lb) the bomb has a diameter of 6.9 centimeters (2.75 inches) and is guided by laser designator attached to the drone.
The weapons first launch was from a RQ-7 Shadow at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah on Mar. 28, and the munition, released from an altitude of 5,100 feet, impacted its intended target only 8 inches from the laser spot center at a speed of 460 feet per second.
After the first successful launch, more tests ahead for the new lightweight, low cost PGM that can be delivered by the Shadow UAV.
Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com
Image credit: Lockheed Martin via Defense-Update
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Sooner or later we will all be spied upon by a drone like this. May 2, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: drones, law enforcement, Security, Surveillance, Television, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
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TV coverage of sport events once relied on helicopters. Today, live video is provided by cameras carried by micro-drones like the one depicted in the image below.
Used to film auto or skiing races, such “Octocopter robots” are slightly becoming distinctive features of our lives and, sooner or later, they will be used for surveillance, spying and law enforcement purposes in urban scenarios, in the same way current police helicopters are dispatched over our heads seeking criminals.
At least, being small and light, they will be less dangerous than Predator or Reaper UAVs whose greater freedom in much crowded airspaces is seen as a safety nightmare by many analysts.
In the near future they will also be transformed into deadly war machines: give ‘em more endurance and enough payload to carry also a gun (or a mini-gun), and it’s sorted.
Image credit: ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/GettyImages
By the way, the above ‘bot was photographed on May 1, 2012 during a special F1 car show in Budapest organized by Hungaroring Zrt and Vodafone Zrt.
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Photo: RQ-7 Bravo drone launched at night from Kandahar (as it can’t fly much on hot days). April 29, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: AAI RQ-7 Shadow, Afghanistan, drone, Kandahar, Lockheed C-130 Hercules, UAV, United States Marine Corps, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, US Army
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The following AP photo shows an RQ-7 Bravo UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) being prepared for launch at Forward Operating Base Pasab, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.
It is particularly interesting because it was taken with a long exposure: the headlamps and bodies of a crew from the 508th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army are blurred as they prepare the drone for a night mission.
AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, James Robinson
Night flying will be routinely performed during the summer months, not only for tactical purposes, but also because of fuel-leak problems caused by extreme heat: an internal US Marine Corps review of air operations in combat, released in October and available here, raised some questions about the possibility to employ the Shadow for daytime missions.
(U//FOUO) VMU-1 established a “hot weather schedule” during the summer months due to
temperatures that could reach as high as 135 degrees Fahrenheit on the runway. This
extreme heat could cause the Shadow’s wings to swell and vent fuel.
Obviously, April temperatures are not even comparable to the Afghanistan’s intense summer heat that, according to a Marine Corps Time article, forced the service to fly daytime missions with smaller drones.
A Shadow drone collided midair with an Air Force C-130 in Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2011. The robot struck the Hercules’s left wing between the engines: although damaged, the aircraft managed to land safely, whereas the RQ-7 crashed.
Looks like summer is not a lucky season for the drone that the USMC wants to “weaponize” as soon as possible.
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Quadrotor killer drone with machine gun and self-destruct module: a deadly weapon of the future April 24, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones.Tags: drone, Machine Gun, Quadrotor, Russia
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First of all let’s have a look at the following increble video.
It shows a mini quadrotor drone carrying a machine gun in order to bring remote-controlled death from above. The prototype drone, performs a short-range reconnaissance, neutralizes some unarmed suspects as well as a group of bad guys playing cards, before entering inside a vehicle initiating a self-destruction sequence to destroy it.
Impressive.
Even if the whole video is fake (at least according to some experts who have “inspected” the footage, and to Russia Today, that has published an article on the subject), the quite famous author who uses his nickname “FPS Russia” to show how to use various kinds of arms, believes that a deadly gun attached to a sort of remote-controlled toy is the low-cost weapon of the future.
Indeed, it will be an extremely dangerous killing device for soldiers. And ill-intentioned willing to shoot someone.
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