North Dakota: Drone Capitol of the USA

For North Dakota, drones a possible growth market

North Dakota is one of six states, along with Alaska, Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia, picked to research integrating drones into the civilian airspace.

State and Federal murderers have targeted the state of North Dakota to become the central hub for all things "drone".

State and federal officials have big hopes for the growth of what are known as unmanned aircraft systems. And North Dakota has positioned itself well to take advantage of its unique attributes: A first-of-its-kind academic program, an established military presence, a strong commitment from state and federal officials to find funding, and even the weather.

Acedemic Program:

"Basically, you're saying that you want to be a hub for technological development, that you want to be the new Silicon Valley," McNeal said. "And that Silicon Valley might be in North Dakota, but it might not be in a state like Texas because of anti-drone legislation."

What a slap in the face. Sounds like crooked salesman talk.

The Draganflyer X4ES will fly over North Dakota State University's Carrington Research Extension Center. Missions are scheduled for the summer over Sullys Hill National Game Preserve near Devils Lake. In both cases, they will avoid private property and focus on research of agriculture-related uses.

At the risk of sounding paranoid, wait...too late, The conditioning happens first. Normally disguised as "testing" or "experimenting on agriculture". What they really are testing for is the development of flight paths, large scale coordination, optimal hunting and gathing techniques and how pay load will affect battery and control.

North Dakota officials have also spent money to welcome drone research. The state put more than $14 million in the Grand Forks site, and the congressional delegation has consistently pitched federal officials that it would be a good home for drone research.

Noooooooo!! Kool-Aid, right from the kitchen faucet!

Grand Forks, the location of the FAA's approved test site, is at the center of the state's drone ambitions. The Air Force is expected in June to finalize a 50-year lease at Grand Sky, an aerospace and technology park in the city. That facility will be anchored by defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. With the FAA's designation, state officials and others hope to attract more investment and interest.

Who could say no to those numbers? As long as your greasing the war machine, they'll keep your belly full. Pay close attention to those investors...

And Nevada...


Death from above: US police drone may fire tasers, rubber bullets

Mongomery County, Texas - Aerial surveillance drones that are being implemented by police departments in America may soon be equipped with a variety of weapons that are dangerous and sometimes deadly.

When Texas found out it wasn't picked first, they quickly gave in and then just made up for lost time.

The Montgomery County Sherriff's Department was one of the first in the nation to purchase the $300,000 Vanguard Shadowhawk drone with grant money provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to the Houston Chronicle. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is equipped with sophisicated cameras and capable of firing rubber bullets, ejecting tear gas canisters and launching taser projectiles.

In additon, the potential for use of even more lethal weapons exists. According to Salon, an Ohio police lieutenant interested in the drone was told by Vanguard representatives that it is also capable of carrying grenade lunchers and 12-gauge shotguns.

Unmanned Mini-Helicopter Gets ‘Weaponized’ with AA-12 Shotgun


Scared Yet?


More to come...

I may not be an expert in this field but doesn't the first picture show an English police officer?

B

a reply to: BennyOj

Sorry, a case of mistaken identity. Fixed

Anything else?

a reply to: eisegesis

Nice catch OP!

I went on blood hound mode after reading your post, and I see you brought up Northrup Grumman already.



I investigated the so called "Organization" behind this program.

AUVSI Foundation and just seeing their front page of their website with one of their logos and their description of their goals, kinda sent some chills thru me. Skynet or Elysium anyone?

AUVSI Foundation



THEN! I went to the Founding partners page, and not only found Northrup, but also this one!



Hmmmm, who are they?

Insitu Inc.
Insitu Inc., located in Bingen, Wash., is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company. Insitu designs, develops and manufactures UAS and provides associated services for commercial and military applications. With a small footprint and expeditionary focus for both land and sea operations, the company's family of UAS solutions serves the needs of the global defense community. To date, these systems have accumulated more than 450,000 combat flight hours and 57,000 sorties.

Founding partners

Now the other day I read this article, which is what made me pay attention to your OP!

The University of Missouri has brought a class on using aerial drones indoors after a federal government agency told the journalism school last summer to stop flying them outdoors.

The School of Journalism grounded its outdoor use of the unmanned aircraft for news gathering after receiving a cease and desist letter from the Federal Aviation Administration last summer.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Wednesday that a judge in early March ruled that the federal agency lacks the authority to enforce such a ban. The ban remains in place while the FAA appeals that ruling to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Students in a new, one-credit drone journalism class instead learn to fly the devices indoors. The FAA has said it hopes to issue revised rules on commercial drone use by next year.

Source

Now as you see, Drones as tools for journalist BAD, but this program sponsored by 2 well know defense contractors GOOD?

Nothing can be proven, but my feelings about this and the intrusive actions of our current "Police State" sure doesn't leave me feeling too comfortable about what is coming down the pike!

a reply to: seeker1963

Commercial UAVs, including for journalism classes, can't be flown in public yet, as the FAA hasn't issued rules for flying them yet. Military and defense contractors have their own rules they have to follow.

Drone have been used for killing terrorists and some US citizens already, so what more do they plan to do with them?

Cops Want Drones for 'Riot Control

CUPID drone to 'shock the world' with 80,000 volt stun

Drone Wars: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Considered Equipping Drones With Non-Lethal Weapons


This link is from ATS member Blackmarketeer, if there are homemade drones firing pepper paintballs one must wonder what our government has and when it will be unveiled.

Man Arms DIY Drone w/ Paintball Gun, Proves Accurate Hitting Human Cutout Targets

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: seeker1963

Commercial UAVs, including for journalism classes, can't be flown in public yet, as the FAA hasn't issued rules for flying them yet. Military and defense contractors have their own rules they have to follow.

I get that.

It just doesn't sound right to me though. How are a few journalist students on a college campus going to cause any harm if they are on campus learning to fly in a class setting?

Perhaps my distrust for certain organizations are tweaking my spidey senses.....

I guess when I see LEO's confiscating innocent civilians cell phones and arresting them, it made me wonder what is going on?

a reply to: seeker1963

They still fall under FAA rules, even on a college campus. Even if it seems like they can't cause any problems, they still fall under, and have to abide by FAA rules.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: seeker1963

They still fall under FAA rules, even on a college campus. Even if it seems like they can't cause any problems, they still fall under, and have to abide by FAA rules.

I understand that.

It's the way this program seems to be "fast tracked" perhaps and whom is behind it is what bothers me....

Like I said, looking at the "BIGGER PICTURE" I don't much care for what I am seeing.....

a reply to: seeker1963

Of course it's fast tracked. The military has been using civilians to help operate their UAVs, because they can't generate a lot of interest, and until recently required pilots to be officers.

Several of the manufacturers are helping to provide operators to assist with training, and even to fly missions until military pilots get up to speed.

They also operate the CIA and other agencies aircraft on their missions. The demand for pilots to train, and test, as well as engineers to design is increasing.

Once civilian agencies, such as journalists, get permission to fly from the FAA, it's going to skyrocket.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: seeker1963

Of course it's fast tracked. The military has been using civilians to help operate their UAVs, because they can't generate a lot of interest, and until recently required pilots to be officers.

Several of the manufacturers are helping to provide operators to assist with training, and even to fly missions until military pilots get up to speed.

They also operate the CIA and other agencies aircraft on their missions. The demand for pilots to train, and test, as well as engineers to design is increasing.

Once civilian agencies, such as journalists, get permission to fly from the FAA, it's going to skyrocket.

I am not disagreeing with your expertise in aviation, and I hope you don't think I am challenging you on it. I am not that stupid.

Being that this is in the NWO forum, I am just letting my imagination run wild.


I do appreciate hearing your take on the whole aviation aspect of the topic though..

One more drones used in the US link:

U.S. Border Agency Allows Others to Use Its Drones

As Congress considers a new immigration law that would expand the fleet of unmanned drones along the border, the agency in charge of border protection is increasingly offering the military-grade drones it already owns to domestic law enforcement agencies and has considered equipping them with “nonlethal weapons,” according to documents recently made public.

Imagine drones with non lethal weapons being used on protesters, I think the LEO's are dreaming of exactly that!

a reply to: seeker1963

Of course I don't think that. I respect your thoughts on it, and can see where you're coming from.

It can be worrying, especially with people saying there will be thousands of Predator style armed UAVs flying overhead, blowing people up with no warning (which is BS).

I just want to throw out other information about reasons behind it.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

Yeah i can totally imagine the cops strapping paint balls guns loaded with rubber balls or pepper spray balls (yes those exist)

a reply to: eisegesis

So now we need to develop drone hunters...just saying. Start the Drone Wars!!!

I drove to Costco with my kid and I asked him to count the cameras in about a 3 mile span of road...he stopped well over 100.

This is our world today and people are worried about one camera on a drone...geez

Homeland Security increasingly lending drones to local police

Far from the battlefields of Afghanistan, a Predator drone was summoned into action last year to spy on a North Dakota farmer who allegedly refused to return a half dozen of his neighbor’s cows that had strayed onto his pastures.

The farmer had become engaged in a standoff with the Grand Forks police SWAT team and the sheriff’s department. So the local authorities decided to call on their friends at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deploy a multimillion dollar, unarmed drone to surveil the farmer and his family.

Seems like this is becoming standard protocol for these types of events.

The little-noticed August 2011 incident at the Lakota, N.D., ranch, which ended peacefully, was a watershed moment for Americans: it was one of the first known times an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owned by the U.S. government was used against civilians for local police work.

After a rigorous 10-month selection process involving 25 proposals from 24 states, the Federal Aviation Administration has chosen six unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research and test site operators across the country. In selecting the six test site operators, the FAA considered geography, climate, location of ground infrastructure, research needs, airspace use, safety, aviation experience and risk. In totality, these six test applications achieve cross-country geographic and climatic diversity and help the FAA meet its UAS research needs.

They've got their foot in the door. It's now time to bring small scale military testing out into the open.

a reply to: eisegesis

The FAA has nothing to do with military testing. That's handled entirely by the military.

Drone, drone on the range
Where the weapons get tested each day
Where seldom is heard
"Where the hell is my bird?"
If you lose one there goes your week's pay

Go North Dakota!
So desperate for income they're happy to speed the process of creating skynet.
The hour is getting very, very late.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: eisegesis

The FAA has nothing to do with military testing. That's handled entirely by the military.

But they do help form aerospace laws that lay the ground work for what was once only being tested and used by the military. The commercial aspect and public nature of these laws are a ploy for the government and military to work through the local state departments and private companies.

You don't think the Government kills civilians itself do you? Their assassins are sub-contracted.