Army UAV's two near misses in a day prompt safety investigations
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Two official safety inquiries took place into the military use of drones over southern England after near-collisions with helicopters. So, just in case you did not know, there are UAV's (drones) flying around the British countryside and probably not just the countryside.
The investigations are the first of their kind involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are increasingly being flown in British civilian airspace after extensive use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those UAVs are not just here on exercises; they are here to spy on us, the British public, as we will come to see further on.
The inquiries by Airprox, the body that investigates reports of near-collisions, relate to flights on 12 February 2010 by a Desert Hawk 3 (DH3) drone owned and used by the army. The drone was being flown in military airspace over Salisbury Plain and operated from the ground.
The areas in Wiltshire over which military drones are permitted to fly have been significantly extended since then. They were widened on 1 July to enable testing of Watchkeeper UAVs – winged drones that are based on Israeli military technology and operated by the Royal Artillery as remote spotter and targeting planes.
Announcing the additional "danger areas", the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) circular warned: "The unmanned aircraft that will be operating within this airspace are not capable of independently detecting or avoiding other aircraft. In other words, there is no pilot on board to 'see and avoid'.
"In addition, their color scheme and relatively small size may result in them being difficult for other pilots to acquire visually when airborne. Pilots who may be unable to comply with the conditions ... should not request a crossing clearance."
There is growing concern over the dangers of drones in our airspace as well as to our privacy as several police forces, government agencies and commercial operators are testing them or, in fact, using them already, some extrensively.
Most have shown interest in or use micro-drones which are rotor-propelled aircraft that hover at heights of about 60 meters and can be fitted with video cameras, thermal imaging devices, radiation detectors, mobile telephone jamming and air sampling devices. They weigh less than 20kg and, when used for surveillance, require a license to fly.
They are said by manufacturers to be virtually invisible from the ground, making them ideal for covert surveillance. The Home Office endorses their use and says that UAVs can be a useful tool for law enforcement agencies in fighting crime and safeguarding the public.
The CAA, which regulates UK airspace, last week warned that misuse of drones could lead to deaths by seriously harming or even bringing down a civilian or military aircraft.
Once again we are told that those things are being used to protect us, the public. Protect us from what? From ourselves?
© 2010
