http://news.google.com/news/search?en&q ... over+texas
SEND IN THE DRONES: PREDATORS TO FLY ABOVE TEX-MEX BORDER
Tue Apr 27 2010 19:39:41 ET
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing Tuesday that unmanned aerial drones will soon fly through Texas skies!
"Big Sis" declared that over the past 15 months, federal law enforcement initiatives have made the border more secure than in any other time in history, the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS reports in Wednesday editions.
The new "predator bees" have the capability to fly at altitudes used by commercial aircraft, and are designed to enhance intelligence capabilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.
But a recent analysis of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles found that they were twice as likely to crash as manned aircraft, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Developing...
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashhs.htm
In Cat Vs. Drone, Cat Wins
Sharon Weinberger
Contributor
AOL News (April 22) -- The drone campaign over Afghanistan and Pakistan has captured national headlines and highlighted how modern technology is creating a push-button war, with pilots operating unmanned aircraft from outside Las Vegas. Less publicized, however, is how the fragile communication system linking man (or woman) to drone can be disrupted by something as seemingly harmless as a house cat.
That's essentially what happened in one instance when operators in the U.S. lost control of a drone.
"Actually, a cat climbed into one of the electronic nodes and fried everything and shut down the comms link," Air Force Col. Grant Webb, the director of training for the unmanned aircraft center at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, told an audience at an aviation conference in Texas last week.
The Air Force currently practices what are called "remote split operations" for its fleet of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. That means the launch and recovery of the drones are controlled by operators in the area of military operations, but once the drones are at altitude, they are handed over via satellite to pilots at Creech, who actually conduct the mission.
Webb noted that there are "a lot of potential points of failure" in that sort of operation.
This isn't the first time communication problems with drones have been cited. In an article published in Esquire last year, Air Force officials described cases when the operators at Creech lost communication with the drones they were supposed to be controlling after power surges at the base.
"We have to find it," Air Force Capt. Andrew Dowd told the magazine of these cases. "It's like hide-and-seek."
As the use of unmanned aircraft has grown, so too have the concerns over communications. A report released last month by the Government Accountability Office said the Defense Department hadn't adequately prepared for disruptions in communications with its fleet of unmanned aircraft.
The vulnerability of drones and drone communications was also highlighted earlier this year when The Wall Street Journal revealed that insurgents in Iraq were able to use commercial software to hack into the aircraft's live video feed, allowing them to see what the military was seeing.
Aerospace writer Stephen Trimble observes that, more than an amusing story, the case of the intruding cat highlights "a point of philosophical friction between Army and Air Force officers." The Army, which operates its version of the Predator -- the Sky Warrior -- prefers to have its operators located in the area of military operations, while the Air Force prefers to operate the drones remotely.
"Of course, as long as UAVs are controlled from the ground, the communications link will remain a single point of failure regardless of where the ground station is physically located," Trimble writes.
Filed under: Nation, World
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/in ... s/19450090
Al-Qaeda cat infiltrates Creech, chaos ensues
By Stephen Trimble on April 17, 2010 12:05 PM
Al-Qaeda has trained cats to infiltrate Creech AFB, sneak into the power substations and posthumously inherit 72 virginal kittens by shorting out the communications link to the US Air Force's Predators and Reapers flying over Afghanistan.
That is my satirical interpretation, anyway, of the following remarks yesterday at the Quad-A convention by Col Grant Webb, a Creech resident and director of training at the joint unmanned aircraft systems center of excellence. (Fast forward to about the 40-second mark.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5Vd6U_if5U
More seriously, this anecdote helps explain Creech power outages reported last October by Esquire magazine, and noted on The DEW Line.
It also offers a glimpse into a point of philosophical friction between army and air force officers. For many army officers, the very idea of remote split operations is antithetical to the service's warrior mentality. As the army starts deploying its version of the Predator/Reaper family -- the MQ-1C Sky Warrior, the ground-based controllers will be stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's because the army believes that UAS crews and the troops they protect should be co-located. The air force prefers to station controllers at Creech, located comfortably on the outskirts of Las Vegas, relying on satellite communications to pilot Reapers and Predators flying half a world away.
Of course, as long as UAVs are controlled from the ground, the communications link will remain a single point of failure regardless of where the ground station is physically located. The Al-Qaeda suicide cat brigade is just one of the threats.
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-d ... creec.html
Aerial drone will fly on Texas border soon, Napolitano says
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Gary Martin, San Antonio Express-News
WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing Tuesday that an unmanned aerial drone will soon fly through Texas skies as drug-cartel violence continues to escalate on the U.S.-Mexico border.
ROSS D. FRANKLIN/The Associated Press
A Predator drone unmanned aerial vehicle will be sent to Texas soon, the homeland security secretary says. Texas is the last border state to receive a Predator drone, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the absence of one has hurt intelligence capabilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.
"I'm concerned that some of the assets that could be deployed to help not only quell the violence, but also keep our borders secure, are not being deployed because of unnecessary foot-dragging," Cornyn said.
Napolitano said Texas was the last Southwest border state to receive a drone because "Texas airspace is more crowded."
Napolitano, under questioning by senators, said the timeline for placing a drone in Texas remains a decision for the Federal Aviation Administration.
"The FAA now has to go in and carve out, as I understand it, space for the Predator," she said.
The drone tentatively would be stored in Corpus Christi. It would help law enforcement officers identify drug and immigrant smugglers and relay that information to authorities on the ground.
Napolitano testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held an oversight hearing into programs under the Department of Homeland Security.
The secretary said that over the past 15 months, federal law enforcement initiatives have made the border more secure than at any other time in history.
Operation Stonegarden, which provides federal aid for local law enforcement assistance, sent $90 million to states, counties and cities for police and investigative efforts. Of that, 85 percent went to the Southwest border.
She said the number of Border Patrol agents has doubled from 10,000 to 20,000 in five years, and 653.3 miles of border fence have been built.
Still, she said, more needs to be done to build partnerships with the Mexican government, which remains in an intense battle against narcotics cartels.
Napolitano said the recent deaths of a Douglas, Ariz., rancher and U.S. consulate employees in Juarez, Mexico, were tragedies "that serve to remind us of how drug violence can directly affect Americans and our nation's interests."
More than 23,000 people have died in Mexico in the "drug war" since 2006, Cornyn said.
Gary Martin,
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 2da2f.html
TribBlog: DHS Says Skies Too Crowded For Drones
by Julian Aguilar
April 27, 2010
Texas’ congested air space is preventing the deployment of unmanned aerial drones to the southern border; a problem one U.S. senator said is working in favor of Mexican drug cartels.
“I’m upset that there are none in Texas. We have a 1,200-mile border with Mexico,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “And as I understand it none of those predators are being used by the Border Patrol or Customs and Border Protection in Texas.”
Cornyn’s comments came during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, where he reaffirmed his belief that the carnage in Mexico, specifically Ciudad Juárez, was spilling over into El Paso. It was evidenced, he said, by the 150 victims of violence who have been hospitalized in El Paso.
“There is a war going on, as you know, and I am worried that the Mexican government may not be poised to win that war,” he said.
Cornyn and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have repeatedly argued that unmanned aerial drones would assist the federal government in its efforts to secure the border. They had been greeted with little, if any, response. U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, has said repeatedly, however, that unmanned Predator drones have been conducting training operations along the border for about 10 years.
Tuesday Napolitano explained why none of the five drones currently used are keeping a permanent eye on Texas.
“The plain fact of the matter is that Texas’ air space is more crowded than the other airspace that needs to be protected along the border,” she responded. “The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) now has to go in and carve out space for the Predator but that is under way.”
Despite the explanation, Cornyn said he plans to personally approach FAA officials for an explanation of what “their posture is.”
“It seems like the delay just keeps extending on and on and on, and I would ask for your help to try to expedite this,” he told Napolitano.
http://www.texastribune.org/blogs/post/ ... ed-drones/
