U.S. readying drones to monitor Canadian border
CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
VANCOUVER - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will patrol the Canada-U.S. border using unmanned aerial drones by the end of 2007, Global National has learned.
The drones are a variation of the MQ-1 Predator used by the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions where the U.S. military is deployed.
The pilot program to patrol the Canada-U.S. border, spearheaded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will be based in Grand Forks, N.D. - just south of Manitoba.
The U.S. CBP version of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), known as the MQ-9 Predator ''B'' or the ''Reaper,'' is even larger, faster and more capable than its original military predecessor.
CBP originally deployed a single Reaper in October 2005. It participated in over 2,000 arrests before crashing into the Arizona desert in April 2006. Since then, the U.S. government has invested nearly $100 million US to supply additional drones to monitor the northern and southern borders.
''As unmanned aircraft have proven to be effective on our southern border, this first step in North Dakota will lay the foundation to expand UAS operations along the nation's northern border,'' said Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner, CBP Air and Marine.
''As Customs and Border Protection expands air operations along the northern tier, the presence of the UAS will further enhance our situational awareness.''
The U.S. CBP press release also indicates the addition of satellite infrastructure for the U.S. CBP's Air and Marine Operations Center in Riverside, Calif., which is intended to provide CBP the capability to access national airspace, expanding the UAS's reach across the northern and southern borders.
The armed military version of the Predator drone is known best for its role on the February 7, 2002, attack on a convoy of sport utility vehicles in Afghanistan, killing a suspected al-Qaida leader thought to be Osama bin Laden or one of his top lieutenants.
Officials of the U.S. Homeland Security Department last September unveiled plans for an array of sensors, infrared cameras, watchtowers and drones that will eventually encompass the country's entire 8,890-kilometre border with Canada. The goal, they said, was to have the world's longest undefended border under surveillance within three to six years.
Sections of the border in British Columbia and Southwestern Ontario - areas deemed most vulnerable to drug smuggling and terrorist infiltrations - were said likely to be the first places for U.S. authorities to erect high-tech monitoring equipment to stop illegal crossings.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had earlier announced the awarding to Boeing Corp. of an initial $67-million US contract to begin work on a project known as the Secure Border Initiative.
Starting with a 45-km section of the U.S.-Mexico border south of Tucson, Ariz., that project is to expand along both the Canadian and Mexican boundaries based on evaluations of the threat posed by illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorists.
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I wonder, will these drones be crossing the border into Canada and thus invading our airspace? If so, then the Canadian Government [ha ha if we had one] would surely be speaking up, no?
It really makes you regret being born on this continent, having to share space with these predators. They don't know any way of relating other than the clenched fist.
gc
