The Drone Zone

Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:45 pm » by **The57ironman**

Holloman Air Force Base, at the eastern edge of New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range, 200 miles south of Albuquerque, was once famous for the daredevil maneuvers of those who trained there. In 1954, Col. John Paul Stapp rode a rocket-propelled sled across the desert, reaching 632 miles per hour, in an attempt to figure out the maximum speed at which jet pilots could safely eject. He slammed on the brakes and was thrust forward with such force that he had to be hauled away on a stretcher, his eyes bleeding from burst capillaries. Six years later, Capt. Joseph Kittinger Jr., testing the height at which pilots could safely bail out, rode a helium-powered balloon up to 102,800 feet. He muttered, “Lord, take care of me now,” dropped for 13 minutes 45 seconds and broke the record for the highest parachute jump.

:shock:

Today many of the pilots at Holloman never get off the ground. The base has been converted into the U.S. Air Force’s primary training center for drone operators, where pilots spend their days in sand-colored trailers near a runway from which their planes take off without them. Inside each trailer, a pilot flies his plane from a padded chair, using a joystick and throttle, as his partner, the “sensor operator,” focuses on the grainy images moving across a video screen, directing missiles to their targets with a laser.

Holloman sits on almost 60,000 acres of desert badlands, near jagged hills that are frosted with snow for several months of the year — a perfect training ground for pilots who will fly Predators and Reapers over the similarly hostile terrain of Afghanistan. When I visited the base earlier this year with a small group of reporters, we were taken into a command post where a large flat-screen television was broadcasting a video feed from a drone flying overhead. It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at. A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road. When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/magaz ... wanted=all

Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:57 pm » by **Zegtelzegtel**

Interesting post Iron.

Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:01 pm » by **The57ironman**

.

....video games are good for something..... :mrcool:

..........

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Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:01 pm » by **monica44**

Yeah, but what they don't show you is the rows an rows of booths with remote viewers picking out targets, Our prime Minister said upon his start in office that they will be cutting defense in this country because "We no longer fight wars in the conventional sense".
It is my belief that when we think we are tucked up in our beds our souls are busy being used in clone bodies to fight wars in the unconventional way. This sounds far fetched for sure, but truth it seems is stranger than fiction.

Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:19 pm » by **2020**

That image is so creepy.

I bet those guys operating the drones were excellent on the XBox and only see what they are doing now as an advanced version, i sometimes wonder whether they are so dumbed down that when they get into the ''zone'' they actually take on board and understand it is real human blood being splattered instead of the virtual kind so prevalent in the games that kids (and adults) have been playing regularly for some time already, and if so do they become mentally damaged from it? probably so eh. :top:

Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:27 pm » by **The57ironman**

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...ya' gotta believe that the brain sorts out things in a way that we can't recognise..

things that aren't neccessary to master the game get put into a compartment...

the mind would disregard empathy...you know , that thing that reptillians lack... :peep:

brain damage or impairment , that's for sure

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Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:40 pm » by **The57ironman**

..i hadn't seen these......

British troops are using a nano drone just 10cm long and weighing 16 grams on the front line in Afghanistan to provide vital information on the ground.

They are the first to use the state-of-the-art handheld tiny surveillance helicopters, which relay reliable full motion video and still images back to the devices' handlers in the battlefield.

The Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle is the size of a child's toy, measuring just 10cm (4 ins) by 2.5cm (1 inch), and is equipped with a tiny camera.

http://news.sky.com/story/1047004/mini- ... elicopters

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Tue Feb 05, 2013 5:39 pm » by **The57ironman**

EXCLUSIVE: Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans

By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
The 16-page memo, (here) a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.

(read more)

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Tue Feb 05, 2013 11:59 pm » by **The57ironman**

The undated memo is entitled “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa’ida or An Associated Force.” It was provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees in June by administration officials on the condition that it be kept confidential and not discussed publicly.

Although not an official legal memo, the white paper was represented by administration officials as a policy document that closely mirrors the arguments of classified memos on targeted killings by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides authoritative legal advice to the president and all executive branch agencies. The administration has refused to turn over to Congress or release those memos publicly -- or even publicly confirm their existence. A source with access to the white paper, which is not classified, provided a copy to NBC News.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/secti ... _Paper.pdf

Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:37 am » by **The57ironman**

City in Virginia Becomes First to Pass Anti-Drone Legislation

Resolution bans all municipal agencies from buying or leasing drones

By JASON KOEBLER

Charlottesville, Va., has become the first city in the United States to formally pass an anti-drone resolution.

The resolution, passed Monday, "calls on the United States Congress and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to adopt legislation prohibiting information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being introduced into a Federal or State court," and "pledges to abstain from similar uses with city-owned, leased, or borrowed drones."

The resolution passed by a 3-2 vote and was brought to the city council by activist David Swanson and the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group based in the city. The measure also endorses a proposed two-year moratorium on drones in Virginia.

Councilmember Dede Smith, who voted in favor of the bill, says that drones are "pretty clearly a threat to our constitutional right to privacy."

"If we don't get out ahead of it to establish some guidelines for how drones are used, they will be used in a very invasive way and we'll be left to try and pick up the pieces," she says.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/201 ... gislation-

photos..... http://www.usnews.com/photos/the-expansion-of-the-drone
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