US Drone Use Takes Off On Home Front

It begins The Skies are belong to them!

With little public attention, dozens of universities and law-enforcement agencies have been given approval by federal aviation regulators to use unmanned aircraft known as drones, according to documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by an advocacy group.

The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Ark., and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

THe drone wars.
I beleieve before we know it these police depts and federal agencies will put weapons on these things. This is the beginning of the end guys.

thnk they're hard to shoot down?

reply to post by biggmoneyme
I think the minute someone does shoot at one . They will get weaponized. Im reseaching this information to see what type of weapons if any are on them. Im sure its more than just cameras. Imagine an LRAD or other type of directional energy weapon in the sky. What if someone somehow took one of these over. This is a seriously dangerous issue.

Great, now we have these stupid things to deal with, cluttering up the skies and making UFO sightings even more hard to determine.

Up until now we've had "Swamp gas", "Weather balloon".

This is what they'll start saying next.

reply to post by robhines


Yeah thats what i think too. What qualifies as a drone. You can go out and buy a decent setup stick a camera on it attach a shotgun to it and bam you have your very own sky weapon.

Originally posted by semperkill
It begins The Skies are belong to them!

With little public attention, dozens of universities and law-enforcement agencies have been given approval by federal aviation regulators to use unmanned aircraft known as drones, according to documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by an advocacy group.

The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Ark., and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

THe drone wars.
I beleieve before we know it these police depts and federal agencies will put weapons on these things. This is the beginning of the end guys.

Hi,

Do you have a link to source where we can expect these "wild ducks"?
Is it being implemented in every jurisdiction, simultaneously?

I have a feeling I'm going to take up kite flying as a hobby.
If a drone happens to kill my neighbors because of a crash, it wasn't because I was flying a kite. It was because of the drone interfering with my hobby airspace Up to 1200 feet

So, if these drones are under 1200 feet, they risk unnecessary consequences...just like shooting them down would bring?

Sounds like another hunting season is about to start. Aim for the compressor at the front of the jet engine.

FAA prohibits private or law enforcement aircraft from being armed with mounted weapons.The Military has REAL strict rules about it too.How often do you see a combat laden fighter over a city?
I doubt they'll get an armed drone authorized.

reply to post by cavtrooper7


My concern is an LRAD. There is nothing to say that it cant be done.

thenewamerican.com/.../10807-bill-authorizes-use-of-unmanned-dro...

go here

30,000 drones in the air. Thats a whole heck of alot. Things are a changing ......

Here is some more on this issue,

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) re-iterated those privacy concerns, noting that the bill has “implications for surveillance by government agencies.”

The EFF is suing the FAA to obtain records of which agencies were granted certificates to operate drones in the past year, following a refusal by the federal agency to disclose which agencies have the certificates and for what purpose.

Guess no one cares about this. I thought by now some of the so called experts on this site would have looked into this and have posted by now. I guess they are too busy to bother with something that has all sorts of implications on the way that we are being watched. But whatever.

Here

The EFF is suing the FAA to obtain records of which agencies were granted certificates to operate drones in the past year, following a refusal by the federal agency to disclose which agencies have the certificates and for what purpose.

Does this bother any of you?

reply to post by semperkill


I don't think it could ever be more than an LRAD without being in a total authoritarian state. If they were weaponized there would be huge backlash. That said.. they are totally gonna have LRAD's you nailed that one.

I am wondering when the first one will be shot down.

Originally posted by biggmoneyme
think they're hard to shoot down?

Yeah some of them, I've seen them as small as a large dragonfly. Maybe some type of net or high pressure spray might take one of them down. Shoot at a bigger one and you would be the one "hosed", if they are not armed to begin with they will be soon, the middle east was the "road test" to work out the bugs. I know some will argue it's not a police state but that is their "normalcy bias" taking over. TSA groping kids and little old ladies, now setting up roadside checkpoints is just the beginning. It's obviously not about terrorism, if it was the borders would be under control. Why risk flying in when you can sneak across a largely unprotected border and have no record of your entry? The old argument "if you are not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" is flawed as those seem to be the only ones being watched.

Originally posted by biggmoneyme
thnk they're hard to shoot down?

You sir, own

I'm really not to worried about it. It's only a matter of time before some idiot who is playing with a drone gets is sucked up in a 747 taking off and kills hundreds of people. Or someone playing tag with one over the city and they both crash down to the ground in a park killing children. Once this happens and they get raked over the lawsuit coals you will find Police departments grounding them rather quickly.

Even if they own stupidity doesn't ground the drones, my Benelli Super Vinci will. I can see it now, sorry I shot down that drone officer but she was flying right next to the biggest mallard I ever seen.

What kind of rights do they have to overfly your persoal property? I am sure the Feds can justify anything but is it legal for civilian companies etc... to overfly your personal property without your permission? What if I do shoot down some civilian UAV flying over my property at low level flight (tree topish)?

Here is another thread I had to seek out in order to find again...

Shameless bump

Originally posted by loveguy
Here is another thread I had to seek out in order to find again...

Shameless bump

Here is another thread I had to seek out in order to find again...

Shameless bump

At the altitudes they fly it would take AA missiles. Also, why get enraged about one new toy in the surveillance machine. Either be mad at the machine if you dont like being under watch, but I dont see why would be unhappy about just one bolt in the machine.