UAVs next step to stem terrorism - Homeland Security; Unmanned aerial vehicles

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 2003

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may have been stars in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, but they are not just valuable to military operations overseas. Protecting the U.S. is another mission these unmanned aircraft can perform. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Gordon England predicts that the vehicles will aid members of his department as they work to ensure America's port and border security.

"This issue of terrorism is not transitory," maintains England, who served as Navy secretary before taking his current post. "Until the [Berlin] Wall came down in 1989, we fought communism for 40 years with the very best technology America had to often And we will in a similar situation in regard to terrorism." In fact, he has asked the Department of Defense to deploy Predator UAV planes with agencies of his department. The aircraft will fly along the U.S. southern border. This will allow members of the new department to "gain some experience, some background, some hands on with the [equipment]," England suggests. "This is a very first step for us as we move into this new area of UAV technology."

"The field is changing and expanding," notes a statement from Naval Air Systems Command. "In ... 2001, the emphasis was on data and pictures. Now the Predator is armed and flying missions. The Defense Department is sinking serious money in the unmanned combat air vehicles, and ... other uses are being considered...."

"These are very economical," emphasizes Clark Butner, who works with the Command's special communications division at Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. "They are getting easier to fly and require fewer people and pieces of equipment to operate."

Many vendors, too, are branching out of the purely military applications for their products. "There is a market for these platforms with the Department of Homeland Security," notes Ken Zugel, director of flight operations for Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas, Va. The vehicles can stay in the air for extended periods of time and the technology is such that it does not require a huge ground base, he indicates. They also can operate from austere environments.

In fact, Aurora is working with NASA on one of the more "far-out" UAVs, called the Mars Flyer, which someday may give scientists a close-up view of Mars and relay test results taken in the Martian atmosphere. Zugel explains that the company has tested the Mars Flyer by dropping it from a balloon that brought the craft to 100,000 feet.