10 Things You Didn't Know About Drones

[Buckster]

FYI.
Emphasis on what the future looks like.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ones?page=full

10 Things You Didn't Know About Drones
When drones were created, how they're used, and what their future looks like.
BY MICAH ZENKO | MARCH/APRIL 2012

1. The first armed drones were created to get Osama bin Laden.
In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration shut down an operation to kill the al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan with cruise missiles, given collateral damage estimates of 300 casualties and only 50 percent confidence in the intelligence. As the 9/11 Commission noted, "After this episode Pentagon planners intensified efforts to find a more precise alternative." In 2000 and 2001, the U.S. Air Force struggled to reconfigure a Hellfire anti-tank missile to fit onto a Predator surveillance drone. Meeting one week before the 9/11 attacks, the National Security Council agreed that the armed Predator was not ready to be operationally deployed. The first known killing by armed drones occurred in November 2001, when a Predator targeted Mohammed Atef, a top al Qaeda military commander, in Afghanistan.

2. So far, drones tend to crash.
On Dec. 4, an RQ-170 Sentinel surveillance drone crashed in Iran; a U.S. official involved in the program blamed a lost data link and another unspecific malfunction. Two weeks later, an unarmed Reaper drone crashed at the end of a runway in the Seychelles. "This should not be a surprise," a defense official told Aviation Week & Space Technology, saying the United States had already lost more than 50 drones. As of July 2010, the Air Force had identified 79 drone accidents costing at least $1 million each. The primary reasons for the crashes: bad weather, loss or disruption of communications links, and "human error factors," according to the Air Force. As Lt. Gen. David Deptula, former Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, has noted with refreshing honesty, "Some of the [drones] that we have today, you put in a high-threat environment, and they'll start falling from the sky like rain."

3. Drones are coming to America.
Worried about the militarization of U.S. airspace by unmanned aerial vehicles? As of October, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had reportedly issued 285 active certificates for 85 users, covering 82 drone types. The FAA has refused to say who received the clearances, but it was estimated over a year ago that 35 percent were held by the Pentagon, 11 percent by NASA, and 5 percent by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And it's growing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection already operates eight Predator drones. Under pressure from the congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus -- yes, there's already a drone lobby, with 50 members -- two additional Predators were sent to Texas in the fall, though a DHS official noted: "We didn't ask for them." Last June, a Predator drone intended to patrol the U.S.-Canada border helped locate three suspected cattle rustlers in North Dakota in what was the first reported use of a drone to arrest U.S. citizens.

4. The scope of U.S. military drone missions is expanding…
Drones have come a long way in little more than a decade of military use in strike operations. Five-pound backpack drones are now used by infantry soldiers for tactical surveillance and will soon be deployed for what their manufacturer calls "magic bullet" kamikaze missions. Special operations forces have developed a warhead fired from a Predator drone that can knock down doors. K-Max helicopter drones transport supplies to troops at forward operating bases in Afghanistan. Balloons unleash Tempest drones, which then send out smaller surveillance drones -- called Cicadas -- that glide to the ground to collect data. And now the U.S. State Department is flying a small fleet of surveillance drones over Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy there. Bottom line: More and more drones have been rushed into service, and their use and application by the U.S. military is seemingly infinite.

5. …But not as fast as civilian uses.
Safety inspectors used drones at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to survey the damage after last year's tsunami. Archaeologists in Russia are using small drones with infrared cameras to construct a 3-D model of ancient burial mounds. Environmental activists use the Osprey drone to track and monitor Japanese whaling ships. Photographers are developing a celebrity-seeking paparazzi drone. GALE drones will soon fly into hurricanes to more accurately monitor a storm's strength. And Boeing engineers have joined forces with MIT students to build an iPhone app that can control a drone from up to 3,000 miles away. Last summer, using a laser 3-D printer, University of Southampton engineers built a nearly silent drone that can be assembled by hand in minutes.

6. Most military drones don't bomb.
Although decapitation strikes may get all the headlines, the vast majority of the time, drones are used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance -- what the military calls ISR. The U.S. Navy's first high-altitude drone can relay black-and-white photos covering roughly half the Persian Gulf; the Global Hawk's advanced radars make detailed images of the Earth and attempt to sniff out chemical or biological agents for telltale signs of weapons of mass destruction. Soon, the Gorgon Stare drone will "be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we're looking at, and we can see everything," according to Maj. Gen. James O. Poss.

7. Attack drones require more boots on the ground.
Most unmanned aircraft flown by the U.S. military require not just a ground-based "pilot," but also a platoon of surveillance analysts (approximately 19 per drone), sensor operators, and a maintenance crew. Some 168 people are required to keep a Predator drone aloft -- and 180 for its larger cousin, the Reaper -- compared with roughly 100 people for an F-16 fighter jet. To keep up with the demand, the Air Force has trained more drone operators than pilots for the past two years. The upside is that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, drones "are usually less expensive than manned aircraft" ($15 million for a Global Hawk versus about $55 million for a new F-16), though costly sensors and excessive crashes can negate the difference.

8. Drones are becoming a lethal weapon of choice, but nobody's in charge.
Over the past decade, there have been some 300 drone strikes outside the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Of these attacks, 95 percent occurred in Pakistan, with the rest in Yemen and Somalia; cumulatively, they have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and an unknown number of civilians. Although U.S. President Barack Obama recently acknowledged that "a lot of these strikes" have been in Pakistan's tribal areas, who can be targeted and under what authority can only be guessed from a few speeches and statements by anonymous U.S. officials. There are believed to be multiple drone-target "kill lists" among government agencies. The 2011 book Top Secret America revealed "three separate 'kill lists' of individuals" kept by the National Security Council, the CIA, and the military's Joint Special Operations Command. In Yemen, the Pentagon is the lead executive authority for some drone strikes (which are reported to the congressional armed services committees), while the CIA is in charge for others (reported to the intelligence committees). As for the Obama administration's claimed power to assassinate U.S. citizens, such as Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the Justice Department refuses to declassify the memo that provided the legal authority to kill him with a drone. So, although 85 percent of non-battlefield drone strikes have occurred under Obama, we have little understanding of their use.

9. Other countries are catching up to the United States.
As with most military programs, the United States is far and away the leader in developing drone technology, and the country is projected to account for 77 percent of drone R&D and 69 percent of procurement in the coming decade. Nevertheless, estimates of how many other countries have at least some drone capability now range from 44 to 70, for an estimated 680 drone programs around the world, up greatly from 195 in 2005. China is escalating its drone program, with at least 25 types of systems in development. Iran has also touted its program, including the armed "Ambassador of Death" drone, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled by declaring: "Its main message is peace and friendship."

10. The drone future is already here.
The Pentagon now boasts a fleet of approximately 7,500 drones, up from just 50 a decade ago. According to a congressional report, "manned aircraft have gone from 95% of all [Defense Department] aircraft in 2005 to 69% today." Over the next decade, the Pentagon expects the number of "multirole" drones -- ones that can both spy and strike -- to nearly quadruple, to 536. In 2011, the Teal Group consulting firm estimated that worldwide spending on unmanned aerial vehicles will nearly double over the next decade from $5.9 billion to $11.3 billion annually. In the future, drones are projected to: hover just behind infantry soldiers to watch their backs; carry airborne lasers to intercept ballistic missiles; perform aerial refueling; and conduct long-range strategic bombing missions. Given that drones will become cheaper, smaller, faster, stealthier, more lethal, and more autonomous, it is harder to imagine what they won't do than what they will. Whatever limits drones face will be imposed by us humans -- not technology.

[Grantbo]

I wonder when these things will start hitting US citizens the govt doesn't like?

[Chocolatier]

Iran has also touted its program, including the armed "Ambassador of Death" drone, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled by declaring: "Its main message is peace and friendship."

Sorry. Love that...

[Chocolatier]

This just in...

http://thelizardfarmer.wordpress.com...me-the-drones/

Threat: I Wanna Make You A Hero – a.k.a. Here Come the Drones Here Come the Drones!
Posted on 19/05/2012

I’ve been prompted by quite a few e-mails asking about my ideas on countering drones. I was going to hold off on this entry for a while longer but I’ll go ahead and get it out of the way and give you a little break from defensive theory to throw some TTPs out. What are presented here are for educational purposes only and I do not condone illegal behavior. With that out of the way let’s get down to business.

In one of the Threat entries I mentioned air superiority and the fact that as violent organizations gain technology they will no doubt employ drones to gather target information and conduct surveillance along with coordinating attacks. Currently civilian drone tech is chasing almost directly in line with military tech so what I’m going to do here is write what I know about – tactical small unmanned aerial systems or as we like to call ‘em drones. Their civilian counterparts are such an ideal surrogate that the technology addressed will definitely work against the civvie copies. This article focuses on smaller unmanned aerial platforms. Larger ones that fly several thousand feet in the air and carry payloads similar to aircraft aren’t going to be as effected by any active measures you take however in many instances the passive measures I mentioned will help. Just remember that larger drones employ things like synthetic aperture radar and other complex detection capabilities (google Gorgon Stare to see what I’m referring to).

There are a number of ways to defeat drone technology. We’re going to break them down into two categories – Passive and Active Defense. Quick defs:

Passive Defense: All measures, other than active defense taken to minimize the effectiveness of hostile air platforms against friendly assets. For our purpose these measures include camouflage, concealment, deception, dispersion, and detection.

Active Defense: Direct defensive action taken to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile aerial platforms in the process of reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and coordination. For our purpose active defense includes such measures as the use of aircraft, weapons, and electronic warfare.

These are the two methodologies to defeat the platform. In the process of defeating the platform we are also going to target the one thing nobody seems to think about – the operator and his audience. because without them that flying tchotchke is useless.

To understand the threat we need to do some research. What I present is the most immediate characteristics of the threat you are likely to face. With some minor differences all of the smaller drones nowadays have the following operational characteristics:

Average dimensions: Wingspan: Up to 36″, Length: Up to 48″

Normal Operating Altitude: 50 to 500 feet.

Ground speed: 20 to 50 m.p.h.

Flight duration: 45 minutes to 5 hours.

Operational range from ground Station: 5 to 25km.

Sensors: Electro Optical cameras (CCTV type), may be either forward and side looking or gimbaled (on a turret). Systems currently have the capability to use an Infrared imager.

Keep these capabilities in mind. They are important.

So first up is passive defense. What are VGs going to use smaller drones for? Reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and coordination. That means they need to see the asset they want to look at. Pretty straightforward. So what are some ways we can use the elements I outlined in the passive defense measures? Let’s take a look:

Camouflage and concealment: Things like parking vehicle inside of outbuildings or garages, practicing basic camouflage procedures like covering windshields and other glass on vehicles, moving or conducting our activities under either cover or concealment (smaller drones suck at looking inside of dense woods), and avoiding displaying anything that would relate any elements of EEFI to the threat. A good rule of thumb is “Try to make any measure or activity as invisible to the ground and air as possible. Be creative in your use of camo and concealment. Let that grass grow over your tanglefoot – it’ll be harder to spot from 500 feet in the air. Basically what we want to do is reduce our overall signature as much as possible to include any defensive measures we’ve taken.

Deception: Deception is pretty easy and can be pretty damn effective. That VG that uses a drone to surveil your property may be looking at your house to see where the entries and windows are. Try adding extra fake windows and doors through some creative use of paint. Now here’s where I’m not going to concentrate on the platform but the operator and audience. Remember: A drone is just a dumb machine with humans on the other end. And humans look for things. So overwhelm them – give ‘em so much to look at that they can’t process all of it in a timely manner or make sense of it and they become oversaturated. At nighttime a couple of well placed IR LEDs on a timing circuit to flash (like made here) in a tree line or in windows (especially fake windows) will look similar to a muzzle flash. Now imagine putting a couple or three dozen spread out over a square kilometer in the edge of a woodline or in an empty outbuilding (flank and attack an outhouse – boy wouldn’t they feel stupid). How the heck is the enemy supposed to coordinate a ground attack if they can’t figure out what’s a real muzzle flash or not? Things like fake positions with this little beauty will not only frustrate but misdirect the VGs efforts. Like that angle dude says – “Mind**** Them” or something like that. You can even use 12v RV lights, etc. You are only limited by your imagination. Some added reading for deception techniques: FM 90-2 Battlefield Deception

Dispersion: Pretty straightforward. Don’t cluster together. If you’re going to have a tribal meeting don’t everyone try and park in the front door. Quite the opposite. Park well enough away and under cover so that the enemy doesn’t see any visible indicators of a nice and juicy single basket target with a bunch of folks grabassing together or vehicles parked in a nice neat row. Dispersion is also important for defense – it’s good old fashioned common sense to disperse your defenses so the enemy can’t target you in one fell swoop. It also allows you to employ some other measures I’ll go into later.

Detection: These damn things are quiet and about the same color as the sky. Most of them use small electric motors that us folks that have spent lifetimes around loud noises don’t hear until it’s too late. But ya know what does hear them? Dogs. I was out at a lake on a military installation a few years ago one afternoon with HH6 and her Chihuahua and that little bastage went absolutely batshit crazy growling and pointing at something I couldn’t see in the distance. When I got the binos out of my truck I saw it – a Raven UAV way across the lake. That Chihuahua heard that thing a good couple of kilometers away. That’s another argument for owning dogs. There’s other methods including electronic ears, etc. but if we go back to some good old fashioned pre-WWII and foxhunter tech another thing that works well is a large funnel hooked up to a stethoscope. Check out fleabay and buy a cheap Chicom stethoscope, get yourself a good huge funnel, remove the diaphragm from the stethoscope connect the two and wala – directional sound detection like they used in the trenches back in granddaddy’s day to listen for the Red Baron, IIRC I think it was called a “Phonophore”. Plus it works damn good for listening to stuff at long range on the ground. And the damn things doesn’t use CR123s or AAs. Simple, Cheap, Reliable.

So now we come to the next part – Active Defense. Think of active defense as measures you take to target the platform directly. remember those measures include: aircraft, weapons, and electronic warfare. let’s take a look at them.

Aircraft: So do we have aircraft? We might have some small scale RC type aircraft available but it’s pretty damn hard to conduct an RC to Drone engagement and there’s actually a sport where guys RC dogfight. It takes skill because these things are small – just a bit larger than an old Cox airplane (remember those?). But if your pockets are deep enough and you’re willing to put forth the effort it’s feasible. Looking at the average flight parameters above and you need to be able to exceed that envelope – remember you have to be faster than something to catch it. Do you want to ram it directly? That’s a pretty tall proposition unless you have a direct video link because these things are small and it’s hard to line up on them. Other options include possibly flying a couple of dozen long monofilament (fishin’ line for us non-tech types) streamers from the rear of your plane hoping to tangle the prop or control surface if you can fly above it closely. No thrust and no control = one lost drone.

Want to get really high tech? At the end of WWII the Germans developed a system by which they would fly a rocket propelled aircraft under our B-17s at high speed. It was too hard to try and manually shoot them down from such a fast platform so those crafty nazi bastages developed a little system by which a set of rockets were triggered by a photoelectric cell that sensed when it was out of direct sunlight. Mounted upward and slightly forward facing in the top of those little buzzing rocket planes the pilot didn’t have to trigger his weapon. Now put together some creative thought. Solar powered yard light with a nighttime sensor. Electric trigger hooked to a solenoid maybe? Ya see where I’m going? History has given us a lot of creative little inventions that are easily replicated with technology nowadays.

Another option might be ultralight aircraft. Relatively cheap and easy to operate (They used to not require a license) I think they more than exceed the operational envelope of drones. If you intend to go that route do some research on early WWI aircraft vs. aircraft techniques.

Personally I shy away from the aircraft solution. It ain’t cheap, simple, and not as reliable as our other two options.

Weapons: It’s not easy to hit a small flying target but it is possible. You naturally want the flattest and fastest caliber you can get your hands on but remember one thing – these platforms are light (often foam and plastic) and unarmored so don’t waste your 30-06 AP on them. Even smaller calibers (i.e. .17 HMR) that are low recoil will help. When we try to engage a low flying drone we’re going to want to use the following techniques:

Mass of fires: EVERYONE fires. Naturally the more rounds in the air with aimed fire the greater a chance of a hit. The Army term for this is All Arms for Air Defense.

Early engagement: We want to hit the thing as soon and as far out as possible. The closer it gets to and the longer it loiters over our AO the more time it has to accomplish its objectives.

Established aiming points: To deliver effective fires we need to understand where to aim at. For slow flying platforms like drones you’ll want to aim at least 1 aircraft length ahead of the flight path and for incoming drones aim slightly above the nose. For outgoing ones aim slightly below the flight path. The illustrations below depict aiming points.

Electronic warfare is a different animal. Assuming that our VGs posses drones we probably must also assume they have the capability to encrypt their control and data link. So jamming that would require some serious electronics that anything short of widespread broad frequency saturation would probably be ineffective. But we have a few other options. Focusing on the sensor package we look at what parts of the spectrum they use – normally everything inside of the visible spectrum plus the infrared spectrum. So IMHO our best bet is to focus any electronic efforts on that. Visible light can be jammed by ultra high power spotlights and possibly even lasers in both the visible and IR spectrum. Remember that normally on the smaller drones the sensor package is in the nose so concentrate any effort on the forward lower portion of the nose. Aligned with a decent scope and collimated at long range this could prove an effective technique as well.

The bottom line is to have to understand what the mission of the drone is and remember the fact that there are human operators on the other end. By employing aggressive and creative passive and active defense measures you can negate their effectiveness. When we measure the effectiveness of our capabilities remember – we don’t have to necessarily destroy the platform but rather deny it the capability to complete its mission. Use the examples and theory I’ve presented to think outside the box when it comes to dealing with these little buzzing menaces. And don’t forget to feed the dog.

[Floratrek]

Good find , Chococlatier!

[Chocolatier]

Good find , Chococlatier!

Shush now - you'll blow my cover as a Troll...

[L.A.B.]

Just wow!

[Nana]

Rev:9:3 ?????

[FREEBIRD]

11. Drones kill innocent civilians in foreign countries at the behest of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

[sojourner for Truth]

Rev:9:3 ?????

I thought of that too, especially after reading and seeing the photo of a drone that looked like a a high tech dragonfly or mosquito on steroids. Remember that article anyone? I'll see if I can find it.

[Dux]

12. Easy targets

[TerryK]

Very good thread.
Thanks Buckster and Chocolatier for excellent posts.

[Jeff Allen]

12. Easy targets

Feel free to post pics when you successfully down a drone flying along at 20,000 feet (4 miles for those of you who can't do math).

In fact, I'd be durn proud of you if you could take one at 5,000 feet.

Just sayin...if they are "easy targets" then you are a world class shot, likely in the top .00000000001% of shooters. Or you have access to some nice sidewinders etc....

J

[Buckster]

I thought of that too, especially after reading and seeing the photo of a drone that looked like a a high tech dragonfly or mosquito on steroids. Remember that article anyone? I'll see if I can find it.

Is this it?


http://www.rt.com/news/israel-drone-...butterfly-672/

Spy-Butterfly: Israel developing insect drone for indoor surveillance


Published: 19 May, 2012, 19:37

Israeli "butterfly" UAV. Image courtesy: Israel Hayom (Image from http://www.israelhayom.co.il)

TAGS: Military, SciTech, Israel, Security

The future is here and this is not a butterfly on your wall, as Israeli drones are getting tiny. Their latest project – a butterfly-shaped drone weighing just 20 grams - the smallest in its range so far – can gather intelligence inside buildings.

*The new miniscule surveillance device can take color pictures and is capable of a vertical take-off and hover flight, just like a helicopter, reports the daily Israel Hayom. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) says this may come in handy in ground clashes, when a soldier would merely take it out of a pocket and send behind the enemy’s line.

The insect-drone, with its 0.15-gram camera and memory card, is managed remotely with a special helmet. Putting on the helmet, you find yourself in the “butterfly’s cockpit” and virtually see what the butterfly sees – in real time.

“The butterfly’s advantage is its ability to fly in an enclosed environment. There is no other aerial vehicle that can do that today,” Dubi Binyamini, head of IAI’s mini-robotics department, told Israel Hayom.


Israeli "butterfly" UAV. Image courtesy: Israel Hayom (Image from http://www.israelhayom.co.il)

*Structures under observation can be anything from train stations or airport terminals – or office buildings – to battlefields and even forests in, say, southern Lebanon, where Israel believes Hezbollah hides its ambush squads.

The virtually noiseless “butterfly” flaps its four wings 14 times per second. Almost translucent, it looks like an overgrown moth, but is still smaller than some natural butterflies.

This is bio-mimicry, when technology imitates nature. And this has proved to hide a trap. When the device was tested at a height of 50-meters, birds and flies tended to fall behind the device arranging into a flock.

The IAI, Israel’s major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, needs two more years to polish their “butterfly” project. The product seems to fall into the trend of reducing drone size. Their recent models promoted for city observation and conflicts were the Ghost, weighing 4 kg, and Mosquito, which weighs only 500 grams.

While the “butterfly” may bring “a real technological revolution,” as the developer predicts, to the military field, questions remain how it will change the civil life. The drone is also propped up for police use and there is little doubt that secret services will be only too happy to grab such an intricate weapon.

[night driver]

As I understand it, 5 years ago the guys at Wright Pat would have considered that butterfly to be "one of the BIG ones".

[Kook]

Shush now - you'll blow my cover as a Troll...

Cover? I thought that was established fact.....just sayin'...

[Beetree]

We've so come full circle with the spy defecation. Everybody is beyond sick of it; even the spies. We are at the analysis paralysis ground ZERO. It is so illegal. It is so immoral. But, the unfulfilling part is the worst. What part of HONOR, COURAGE, and VIRTUE, does that job encompass? ZERO! People are basically GOOD. HONOR, COURAGE, AND VIRTUE MEAN EVERYTHING! Power and money mean NOTHING. Money and power mean NOTHING. GOOD always triumphs over evil. LOVE..true love..NEVER dies. These are the things WORTH believing in!

A good leader will spend money and seek contracts that make the world BETTER. The same people that build worthless spy systems could be selling ways to grow and ship food. Honor is the absence of deceit. It is deceitful and perverted to spy and watch. What kind of good virtuous effects can come of it? What kind of honor can come of doing what a TV soap opera addict does sitting all day in a house dress? NOTHING! Why not hire people, to work growing food? Take the many empty shopping malls and build grow houses in them..give the real-estate markets a boost. Use the many military transports to ship and sell them. Put all of the out of work imprisoned debtors to work and give them stock in the business. FOOD SELLS! Food is consumable, and keeps on selling. Instead of setting up spy systems to watch the world dying..FEED THE WORLD. Put millions to work, instead of a few watching soap operas. Put the transport systems to work, doing something good instead of wasting money. Let those men and women out of jail..that were driving to work with no drivers license. Do the hyroponic grow thing in those empty buildings and warehouses. The same companies that contract the spy systems can build automatic watering and fertilizing systems. Let those poor men and women out of jail and get them to growing. Give them part of the business. It won't do anything but grow. It will help the banks, build the military transport, and get rid of our DEBT in this country. JMHO

[Chocolatier]

Cover? I thought that was established fact.....just sayin'...

Hence the excellent cover. Get it?

[Chocolatier]

A bump to add more info. This is especially for the more "challenged" Doomers among us who often comment about shooting down any drone they see. I hesitated to share this because not doing so might just help the gene pool, but here goes...

Choc

http://greenmnts.blogspot.com/2012/0...erans-who.html


Facebook Status Update

By Veterans who won't stand for "Gun control"


"I dunno how many of you guys have seen the "Drone hunting permits" circulating around the internet, Facebook especially, but it scares me as to how many "patriots" and 3-percenters play the macho card and somehow think they're just going to shoot them down with their scoped rifles and what not. I'm sure that doesn't include you folks on here, as for the most part we're all veterans and we've been briefed on drones, or at least got to know about them better than most civilians; and for all I know some of you may have even operated them or have buddies who operate(d) them.

So, I figure I need to throw out some advice. I'm 99.99999999999999% sure I'm preaching to the choir here, so feel free to pass this on to your like-minded civilian friends.

---I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Keep your powder dry, and don't do anything stupid. To expand on this: STUPIDITY KILLS! It really does. If it didn't, shows like 1000 Ways to Die and Darwin Awards wouldn't exist. You are useless to the "cause," useless to your children and their future, useless to your battle buddies, etc. if you got killed because you did something stupid like trying to find a drone and shoot it down.

---Going along the lines of stupidity: being all macho also kills as well as underestimating your foe. From a big-picture tactics standpoint: if the drones are out, so are the tanks, the APCs, the fighter jets with ground ordnance, the supporting infantry, etc. Unless you have immediate access to the very stuff that'd make any ATF agent wet their pants regarding missiles and other explosives, you're better off taking shelter (something underground and camouflaged is preferable if you weren't seen) until the machinery has passed. Macho people are among the first to die in conflict, or the first to surrender their arms and their lives. Also, underestimating one's foe kills more combatants than just about anything else. History clearly shows that if you have access to the right books, the right documents, etc.

---Only go to battle if you have a 90%+ chance of success. 99.9%+ is even better. Engage the foe with similar odds. Anything less is to risk needless casualties, even if you have a bigger army.

---If the circumstances are so bad that our very government is waging open war against us; then your best, most insured path victory is to SURVIVE. Why survive? Procreate with the hot chicks... OK, all kidding aside: to survive means that you keep the idea of freedom going. You keep the torch of freedom lit. You get to pass on your knowledge to the next generation and not the opposing side. You keep your side of this chapter in history alive. Remember: the winners of all conflicts write the stories in the history books. Losers, otherwise known as the dead, don't.

---On the subject of war: war is hell. I don't remember who said it but boy did he/she have it right. Our combat vets have a better idea about this than anyone else. Shit happens in war, and it always happens in the shittiest way possible. How shitty can shit be in war? Well, the Bosnian conflict as an example... you have a city surrounded by an army. You cannot go out during the day because of snipers. You have no access to food or water, except what you can scrounge up or barter for. Bartering ranges from skills, material goods, or sending the women in your group to the person or people with what you need so they can have their way with them for a couple hours in exchange for the life essentials that you need. Your worldly possessions are reduced to only what you can carry all at once. Anything made of wood is fair game to use as firewood. Animals are hunted to extinction, as people are too hungry to care for conservation. Diseases that were once thought to be practically nonexistent come back due to a lack of proper hygiene and take out the population physically, psychologically, and mentally. Please note that I haven't even added combat encounters to this list of bad things that happen.

---Watch your mind. You may have your best friend, spouse, child, etc. one day, and lose them the next day due to a stray bullet or an encounter with a military vehicle or patrol. Or, in a not quite as extreme situation: you lose your home and have to live elsewhere, with the odds being that wherever you are is nowhere near as comfortable, probably less safe, etc. Either way: you decide whether to move on and keep surviving (maybe even kill the ones responsible for your misfortune if you are lucky enough), or fold your cards and kill yourself as well. All the weapons, tools, supplies, and battle buddies in the world are of no use to you if you have a weak mind.

I may be hitting a little too close to home for a number of you, and to you all I apologize. I wouldn't be posting this if I didn't think it was necessary for others to know."

[Buckster]

Choc + doomer article = :shock:

TB2K will make a doomer out of you yet....there is hope for ya. lol

[Chocolatier]

Choc + doomer article = :shock:

TB2K will make a doomer out of you yet....there is hope for ya. lol

Nah - it's just another way to tie up precious Doomer resources.

This just in...

http://thelizardfarmer.wordpress.com...ecial-edition/

Viewer Mail: Special Edition
Posted on 21/05/2012

Wow – the Counter-UAV entry generated a lot of email, a lot of views, and seemed to stimulate a lot of creative thinking. For those that sent compliments on the entry thanks! One email caught my attention. Lemme share part of it with you:

“Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to post information like this on the internet? The threat of information like this to law enforcement SUAS (Treaded Note – it’s an acronym for Small Unmanned Aerial Systems) efforts adds to the current difficulty facing departments already coping with policy hurdles and regulations. Please be assured that no Law Enforcement Agency would ever use these systems in an irresponsible manner. Please remove your article” – Signed LEO in Texas

I replied to that email and haven’t heard back from them. I’ll paraphrase what my response was:

“The intent of my blog is to educate rural area residents of how to prepare and defend themselves if there’s a societal collapse and the absence of law existed. As I frequently state I don’t advocate lawlessness and surely not any actions against law enforcement. HOWEVER at the same time I recognize that the use of these systems against citizens Fourth Amendment Rights without warrant is easily exploited by irresponsible parties and without exception every large police department in the United States has recorded cases of abuses. So to think that the technology won’t be abused is naive. The very actions that governmental departments will conduct using these systems would be chargeable under stalking laws if a civilian conducted such surveillance. The blog entry shall remain posted”. – Treaded

Well it appears that the populace is a threat to these toys. At this point I wanna throw a challenge out for some enterprising soul (sorry but I just don’t have the time). Another way to beat this threat that I didn’t cover in my entry because it wasn’t really relevant is to “Reagan them” Turn it into an arms race. There’s an empty niche right now that someone could seriously fill if they would develop a collaborative community of new and creative ways to counter these things. Don’t go all illegal but develop measures and counter measures to defeat drones. IMHO a group think environment coming up with new and creative solutions could outpace and outgun those labs full of engineers through good old fashioned collaborative effort. Anyone up to it?

[Chocolatier]

a bump to share an opportunity to see a Predator up close and maybe give it a hug. You can bet these things don't get much love. As a Polly on a Doomer board I feel its pain...

Choc

http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/05/23...fest-june-2-3/

Predator Drone to make rare appearance at Rockford AirFest June 2-3

Staff Report

Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) announced it has secured a MQ-1 Predator Drone as a static display for the 2012 AirFest Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3.

The aircraft from a U.S. Air Force base is incredibly rare at airshows, both international and domestic. The 2012 Rockford AirFest is one of only three airshows in the country to ever host a Predator Drone. AirFest is also the only show in the Midwest that will feature the Predator Drone this year.

The Predator is an armed remotely-piloted aircraft that has gained prominence for its role as an intelligence collection asset as well as executor of combat missions. It is capable of performing a range of tasks, including surveillance, reconnaissance, close air support, combat search and rescue, precision strike, buddy-lase, convoy/raid overwatch, target development and terminal air guidance.

The revolutionary aircraft has gained fame in recent years for its use to combat terrorism in the Middle East. While its missions and specific uses are typically classified, Drones have been credited for gathering intelligence from and completing successful combat missions against major terrorist targets.

RFD Director Mike Dunn said: “This aircraft is on the same level as the F-22 Raptor that we featured at AirFest in 2009. You just don’t see these aircraft because they very rarely come to airshows. Between our performers and very unique static displays, this year’s AirFest is going to be especially memorable. The size and prestige of our statics are really outstanding this year. It’s a real honor to RFD and our 2012 AirFest that the U.S. Air Force is allowing us to host this aircraft.”

The Predator will be accompanied by a crew of six technicians, who will be responsible for assembling the aircraft when it arrives in Rockford. While in town, the Drone will be under very strict security restrictions.

The Predator will be part of the 2012 AirFest’s focus on honoring the U.S. Air Force. The B-52, another rare airshow display, will also be featured at AirFest to celebrate the aircraft’s 60th anniversary.

The 2012 Rockford AirFest featured performers are the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. A full list of displays and performers, as well as ticket information for AirFest, is available at www.FlyRFD.com. General admission tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12, and free to children younger than 5. Call (815) 969-4000 for more information.

From the May 23-29, 2012, issue

[twincougars]

"Only go to battle if you have a 90%+ chance of success. 99.9%+ is even better. Engage the foe with similar odds. Anything less is to risk needless casualties, even if you have a bigger army."

Well, if that were true and adhered to, there wouldn't be any wars. But, I disagree. There are many times when you have to go to battle, REGARDLESS of the odds, even if there is a slim or even NO chance of success, just because, under the circumstances, it is the right thing to do. Just make sure your enemy's causalities are much greater than your own.

[Buckster]

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/201...n-czar-137181/

MEDIA BLACKOUT AS OBAMA APPOINTS FIRST EVER ASSASINATION CSAR

Posted by Alexander Higgins - May 23, 2012 at 12:53 am - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog

Corporate news blackout as Obama appoints John Brennan as the sole person in charge of designating people to be assassinated.

John Brennan, Obama’s chief counterterrorism advisor was a name that you did not see on the Mainstream media today as they continue to run stories that serve to distract the masses from stories that matter.

Most recently he publicly spoke about the drone program calling it moral and ethical and just.

According to reports from the Associated Press, John Brennan has now seized the lead in choosing who will be targeted for drone attacks and raids after Obama delegated him as the sole authority to designate people for assassination under the United States top-secret assassination program.

Yes, if it such a secret program then why is the Associated Press running a story on it? Because it is only a “top-secret” matter of National Insecurity when the public and organizations such as the ACLU request more details on it than is revealed int the propagandized reports the public is fed through the corporate media.

While this story deserves to have been put before the eyeballs of every U.S. citizens it was merely a side note ran by the Associate Press that didn’t make corporate news headlines anywhere.

According to the AP, under the new plan, Brennan’s staff compiles the potential target list and runs the names past agencies such as the State Department at a weekly White House meeting.

At the same time ACLU lawsuits and requests for information about the decision-making process behind the government’s assassination program repeatedly get denied with the government claiming the programs are so top-secret that they can neither confirm nor deny the programs even exist.

[Buckster]

More on drones.

This a video that claims there are 30,000 flying over America.
Looks like lib. and conserv. are equally uncomforable with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=iIPFkJtOO10

[mzkitty]

I see Choc's membership is revoked.

*tippy-toes back out of the room*