Government Deploys Drones to Patrol US-Mexico Border

Government Deploys Drones to Patrol US-Mexico Border

http://www.truth-out.org/drone-prone60335

Friday 11 June 2010

by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report

A General Atomics YMQ-9 Reaper "Predator B" Drone. (Photo: John Sloan / Flickr)

Unarmed Predator B drones, the same unmanned aircraft used by the CIA for targeted killings in the Middle East, began patrolling the US-Mexico border between Arizona and southwestern Texas this week.

Top lawmakers from Texas and Arizona, several of whom have recently received campaign contributions from drone makers, have asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to approve drone flights over the entire Texas border despite recent reports that the border is the safest it's been in years.

K&R

the border is just as good a place for training flights as anywhere else.

Unmanned targeted killing drones??

This is absolutely insane!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-9

The MQ-9 is fitted with six stores pylons. The inner stores pylons can carry a maximum of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) each and allow carriage of external fuel tanks. The mid-wing stores pylons can carry a maximum of 600 pounds (270 kilograms) each, while the outer stores pylons can carry a maximum of 200 pounds (90 kilograms) each. An MQ-9 with two 1,000 pound (450 kilogram) external fuel tanks and a thousand pounds of munitions has an endurance of 42 hours.<11> The Reaper has an endurance of 14 hours when fully loaded with munitions.<3> The MQ-9 carries a variety of weapons including the GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb, the AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles, the AIM-9 Sidewinder.<13> and recently, the GBU-38 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). Tests are underway to allow for the addition of the AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missile. Air Force believes that the Predator B will give the service an improved "deadly persistence" capability, with the RPV flying over a combat area night and day waiting for a target to present itself. In this role an armed RPV neatly complements piloted strike aircraft. A piloted strike aircraft can be used to drop larger quantities of ordnance on a target while a cheaper RPV can be kept in operation almost continuously, with ground controllers working in shifts, carrying a lighter ordnance load to destroy targets.<11>

Wrong choice of drone unless you plan on blowing the shit out of people.

That's the only logical issue that comes to mind, unless you want personnel to gain experience with an aircraft that will be used elsewhere.

Edit: OK I found it. The longest declassified Predator flight was 40 hours, 5 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-1_Predator#Specifications

because that would have been very, very bad.

:eyes:

?

Immediately talk of bombing people started up. Ridiculous.

The Military Industrial Complex alive and well in the Southwest.

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