DRONES - UAVS's

What a difference some years can make. On the right here is the P-51. This plane was a standard during WWII and Korea. It was used by many nations. At the start of Korean War, the Mustang was the main fighter of the United Nations until jet fighters such as the F-86 took over this role; the Mustang then became a specialized fighter-bomber. Despite the advent of jet fighters, the Mustang remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s. After World War II and the Korean War, many Mustangs were converted for civilian use, especially air racing. There were around 15,000 of them produced. There  are still around 70 of them flying today The cost of the airplane was around $51,000.00

Now we have the DRONE. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), also known as drones, are aircraft either controlled by ‘pilots’ from the ground or increasingly, autonomously following a pre-programmed mission. (While there are dozens of different types of drones, they basically fall into two categories: those that are used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes and those that are armed with missiles and bombs. The use of drones has grown quickly in recent years because unlike manned aircraft they can stay aloft for many hours (Zephyr a British drone under development has just broken the world record by flying for over 82 hours nonstop); they are much cheaper than military aircraft and they are flown remotely so there is no danger to the flight crew. They cost around 3 or 4 million dollars.

Good or bad?

The United States can target its own citizens with drone strikes if they have recently been involved in violent attacks, a Justice Department memo says.
NBC News reported Monday it had obtained a copy of the confidential 16-page memo. The case made for targeting U.S. citizens in countries such as Yemen is similar to, but goes beyond, the one laid out by Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials.

"The condition that an operational leader present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future," the memo said.

The undated memo, titled "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al-Qaida or An Associated Force," was given to members of the Senate and House intelligence committees. It said citizens can be considered imminent threats if they have recently been involved in violence and their views remain unchanged.

Such killings would be "a legitimate act of national self-defense that would not violate the assassination ban," the memo said.

Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, called the memo "a chilling document."

"Basically, it argues that the government has the right to carry out the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen," he added. "It recognizes some limits on the authority it sets out, but the limits are elastic and vaguely defined, and it's easy to see how they could be manipulated."

No longer just a U.S. toy, drones go global

By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent


FARNBOROUGH, England | Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:28pm EDT
(Reuters) - Having revolutionized warfare for the United States in the last 15 years, unmanned aerial drones are going global as the number of countries building and operating them soars.

Until now, such systems have largely been the exclusive purview of the U.S. and a handful of allies. Washington allowed Britain, Italy and Turkey to buy U.S.-built drones and operate them usually alongside U.S. forces, but largely rejected requests from other nations keen to acquire the same capability.

But that is quickly changing. U.S. firm General Atomics expects to make its first sales of an unarmed version of its Predator drones this year, with Latin America and the Middle East seen to be particularly fertile markets.

"There has been very considerable international interest," retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Christopher Ames, now director of international strategic development for the company, told Reuters at this week's Farnborough International Airshow.

Talk of drones patrolling US skies spawns anxiety

By JOAN LOWY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The prospect that thousands of drones could be patrolling U.S. skies by the end of this decade is raising the specter of a Big Brother government that peers into backyards and bedrooms.

The worries began mostly on the political margins, but there are signs that ordinary people are starting to fret that unmanned aircraft could soon be circling overhead.

Jeff Landry, a freshman Republican congressman from Louisiana's coastal bayou country, said constituents have stopped him while shopping at Walmart to talk about it.

An afterthought .............

Let's give all those "mothballed" drones to all those agencies that patrol our borders, chase down drug smugglers and fight crime, put them to GOOD use. Fly one over the Mexican Border, one around the waters around Florida. It just seems like they could be put to good use, and it would create jobs for all of those who would have to be hired to keep them flying, evaluate the information they receive.

Maybe start a new government agency, all the politicians want to CREATE jobs, here is a way. Better idea, no government agency, a private company, "Drones R' Us," experts in aerial surveillance. Could they be converted to crop dusters?

There are twelve of them. Could some state not figure out a way to race them, have wagering under the auspice of the lottery commission. Race them from Cleveland to Cincinnati, paint them all different colors and you could bet on the color to Win, Place or Show. I think that millions could be generated on SPY PLANE RACING. Maybe the company that owns all the casinos would be interested.

The NFL could pay them to fly over the Super Bowl, all major sporting events could hire them for "fly overs." The government could save money by not using their multi million dollar airplanes for fly overs. Get rid of those Goodyear things that fly around. I imagine that computerized advertising could be affixed on the side of the drones. There are hundreds of uses for them, I think a lot of jobs could be created and the government could recoup some of the THREE BILLION they have invested.

I don't think enough thought has been given to this issue. Any suggestions?    joedooley@yahoo.com