Slashdot Mirror
Radio Controlled Spy Plane
AltGrendel writes: "The US Air Force is sending a radio controlled spy plane on a test flight from Califonina to Australia. Details from Yahoo are here. I like the bit about the early flight termination due to a bad command, maybe someone will hack the control signals and fly it to their home?"
During the Serbian war two years ago, the Serb-run media was reporting that they were being buzzed by "unmanned drones" on almost a daily basis. IIRC, they even claimed to have shot down four or five.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
Hehe - that's what I thought about Clinton towards the end of his first term. Boy was I wrong... and look at all the good things his 2nd term brought us.
Now for a post that is actually about the original article! The damn plane is "barely" remote controled. It's nominally completely autonomous. The reason this is interesting is that it'll be flying to Australia by itself under NO remote control.
Have you compiled your kernel today??
But if we fly an unmanned spy plane, why not just take random potshots at it?
Because first they have to find the thing. You can make the planes smaller, reducing their radar signature (could use stealth materials, but then you have to worry about the enemy getting ahold of them if the plane is shot down). You could fly higher and longer because of the reduced size and weight too. And if the plane is discovered... well, you can self-destruct it.
``Aeroflot achieves ultimate in efficiency, eliminates passengers and cargo from flights''
Since most of the humanoid population of New Zealand seems to be living in Australia now, perhaps that sheep-count multiplication factor needs a bit of tweaking?
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
One thing people forget about the Global Hawk is the fact the cruising altitude is almost the same at the U-2: around 70,000 feet.
At that altitude, it is very difficult to shoot down unless you have a pretty big SAM missile; because the Global Hawk very likely has stealth characteristics thanks to its shape, the use of radar absorbent materials and use of engine exhaust cooling to reduce IR signature, it will also be hard to find on modern sensors, too.
What's interesting is that Global Hawk essentially fulfills the promise of the old Compass Cope project from the 1970's, when Boeing and Teledyne Ryan both built prototypes of a large reconnaissance drone capable of flying above 65,000 feet; Compass Cope was cancelled due to budgetary reasons.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
No, really, you should run to the library and look up LBJ on a list of presidents. Next, get a calculator and subtract 60 from 2001. Then come back and report what you find...
Or simply a high-level of encryption for the software and thus requiring a password to make the stuff useable. In the event of capture the system would be logged off so nobody could access it without the password. Then if it was really a matter of die or give the password, you could always have a second password to erase and burn out the chips - the captors wouldn't know the difference.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Sure, but the plane probably depends on GPS and if someone is aware of it presence, there is nothing stopping the observed from emitting a high power signal, at the same frequencies a used by GPS.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Not radio-controlled, so someone's not likely to hack the contol signals
Well, it's not directly radio controlled, but I'm pretty sure the Air Force can issue new commands to divert the plane's course if they need to, or extract any kind of status information on how the plane is doing. On the other hand, we can safely assume they're using strong encryption, so you wouldn't have much of a chance breaking the code. This would be a perfect application for a one time pad (at least for the commands, the images might be a little too big for that)
To quote Sammo Hung:
"Sushi is Japanese. Moron."
Katanas are Japanese. Bushido is Japanese. We're talking about the Chinese - the Middle Kingdom. Try thinking kung-fu and Shaolin, and you'll be closer.
Also, we don't give a rat's ass if it crashes or gets shot down.
With no humans inside, "destruction of sensitive material" becomes a lot simpler. A couple sticks of TNT and a power source, and kaboom, no incriminating evidence ('cept for the noise and smoke), and no powerful tech falling into the hands of a totalitarian society ('cept for the one that built it and flew it over). Most importantly, no hostages turning into gamepieces.
They could even safely install a "heartbeat" monitor -- if you haven't heard this semi-automated radio signal from HQ in the last twenty seconds, self-destruct.
Embedded Linux in a Marine's backback is cool and all, but unmanned is truly where the military is headed. There were some unmanned recon vehicles used in the Kosovo conflict. The US lost like a dozen of them, and it got briefly mentioned in a newspaper (they were shot down, I think the paper said). We lose a manned helicopter, and the campaign screeches to a halt for three days. We lose a dozen semi-robotic flying camera thingies, and no one cares. This is as it should be.
Also interesting to note that hard science fiction has been prediciting the use of remote-controlled vehicles in warfare for some time now.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Land it in your neighbor's yard and watch the hilarity ensue. Make sure to plant some radio gear tuned to the spycraft in his garbage can first.
Not radio-controlled, so someone's not likely to hack the contol signals. I more interesting question is whether or not Phillip Ruddock, the Australian immigration minister, will deem the robot an illegal immigrant and throw it into the Woomera Detention Centre. And you think you had to wait ages to get people out if China huh?
:wq
will it develop a sense of self preservation and crash-land in China?
maybe someone will hack the control signals and fly it to their home?
Do you really want a plane loaded with 15,000 pounds of fuel crashing into your home?
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
Hey, let's all bash the Americans while they're sleeping, and see if they can make a good comeback when they wake up. That way we'll all feel better about the shitholes we live in.
....you thinking?...yeah, it doesn't take an econ degree to figure it out. You, whoever, wherever you are, will feel it. And let's not forget that we're all toast if nuclear war starts. This is a global community now. We are all citizens of the human race.
Yes, I hate my president. Yes, Corporations are trying to destroy democracy (and so far are doing a good job of it). Yes, the US is pretty fucked up right now.
But look at your country. I don't care where you are, your government is FUCKED UP. Everything is FUCKED UP. The whole world is FUCKED UP. Now ask yourselves this: what will happen if the US crashes?
If you don't like what we're doing in the US (I sure as hell don't and I live there), don't just sit there on your high horse criticizing us, because it's your ass too.
In case you're wondering, I'm awake because I'm studying in Germany this year. Tschüß,
Mike.
-
Yes, but remember that the Democratic official in Palm Beach County approved the design of the "butterfly ballot" that supposedly caused so much confusion.
Whether or not the confusion was obvious beforehand or if it could have been prevented is academic. However, it is evident by now that the ballot did confuse a large number of voters, affecting the outcome of the election. The point here is that we allowed several accidents, errors, and just plain dirty tricks to decide our election and the fact of the matter is that no one is quite sure just who won. Both sides need to face statistical facts: when an election is that close, it's a tie. Florida's votes should have been split or thrown out entirely.
--
...Califonia?
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
The article points out that if spy planes have no pilot, we need not worry so much about them being shot down.
From the enemy perspective, this sounds like an invitation to shoot them down. For example, if we fly a plane with 24 people off China's coast, they may harass it, but would have to be pretty crazy to intentionally kill two dozen Americans during peacetime. But if we fly an unmanned spy plane, why not just take random potshots at it? If survival of the plane really is less vital in our eyes, so must it be in theirs.
In times of tense peace, pilots may have an ante-raising function that reduces the probability of an incident occurring at all. And "tense peace" is not an uncommon condition for the US in recent decades around the world...
Despite the "war on drugs", it seems that our nations secret security forces still enjoy a bong hit of their own.
dudes...you know what would be awesome??? Remember when we used to, like, fly rc airplanes? Can you imagine making a spy plane out of one of those?
(Gurgles)Dude, is that shit laced? Your ideas are always so crazy!
(Gurgles)Yeah, that's what you said about fixing the Florida election...now back to my spyplane...we can run it all off a nine volt battery!
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
maybe someone will hack the control signals and fly it to their home?"
I'd be flying it to the home of that lamer script kiddie who keeps trying to portscan me. I'd love to see his face when the US Air Force shows up on his doorstep, complete with "evidence" supplied by an anonymous "concerned citizen"
Ahhh, sweet vengeance.
He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. - "Big Al" Einstein
Last night on Speedvision during a one hour show on the SR-71, I was supprised to hear a claim that there was a smaller un-piloted version of the SR-71 made, supposedly still under wraps.
Has anyone else heard anything about it?
But it doesn't get reported because, bzzzt, the global media (including those based outside of the US) are mostly owned by the very people who benefit from our stolen election. Why don't you see what these folks have to say about it?
. story
This is a load of bullshit. For those of you who still think the election was "stolen," please consult this AP (that's ASSOCIATED PRESS, not MEDIA CONGLOMERATES) article available from the Orlando Sentinel website:
http://orlandosentinel.com/news/sns-heraldrecount
The Sentinel largely printed stories indicating that Bush would have lost until this final story came out.
The truth is we will never know FOR SURE who would have won, but it wasn't because the election was "stolen," it was because many parts of Florida used incredibly outdated voting equipment.
P.S. And just so you don't think I'm biased, I voted for Harry Browne, not Bush.
"And like that
Look Ma, no hands! It is not a "remote" spy plane, it flies itself. That is what makes this unique. Anyone can build a remote spy plane by mounting a camera on a plane or something.
One reason it is robotic is presumably that with no puny human inside, it can fly faster and at higher attitude without being loaded down with life support system, crew spaces, etc. More room for spy gears and fuels.
Also according to the article it seems there is some kind of basic image recognition software so that it can identify difference type of targets (eg sedan vs tuck). Possible use? Follow some targets over high-risk area? Circle around certain area to look for activates, like 24hr border patrol?
====
Codeala - Just another mindless drone
Northrop has built five Global Hawks so far. One crashed in 1999 when it accidentally received a test signal ordering it to terminate its flight by spiraling into the ground. Two more are being built, with further production to begin this fall.
[ ... ]
maybe someone will hack the control signals and fly it to their home?"
So in the future the chinese won't need to crash their fighter jets to get ahold of american spy plane - they'll just hire a few radio geeks. Now that's progress.
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
That would be pretty unprecedented. Offhand I can't think of an instance where a sitting first-term president didn't get his party's nomination to run again. While he is working hard to piss off enough people to accomplish this, I still think dubya would have to fuck up spectacularly to lose the 2004 nomination. The election is another matter -- I don't think he'd win if he had to run again right now, much less after four more years.
OTOH in all likelihood whoever the Dems put up is gonna be just as bad -- pro free-trade, anti free-speech, pro-censorship, pro-anything-big-industry-wants (DMCA anybody?), and generally indistinguishable from either dubya or billC in the areas that matter to us. So you could say we'll have a republican wolf in democratic sheep's clothing, like we did for the last 8 years.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Yeah, outdated voting equipment is what set up those police checkpoints near polling places frequented by blacks. And I guess it's those outdated polling machines that illegally removed tens of thousands of "felons" from the voting rolls -- again, predominately black "felons" -- who had never even been convicted of crimes. (And it's a total coincidence that that database was set up by a company which is also a big republican contributor.) And of course those outdated voting machines just forced the design of the butterfly ballot which gave us Pat Buchanan's startling performance in a county where you'd normally expect him to get about 7 votes.
It isn't just about the recount. The Dems thought the recount would put it over the top, which it didn't (quite), but there are more than enough other irregularities for which there is no legal recourse to make it obvious that the will of the people was thwarted.
And the Repubs weren't planning to play nice if the count went against them. I know some folks in the local political machine (they ran the smear campaign against Mary Landrieu when she beat Woody Jenkins out for the Senate by a few hundred votes). Calls were going out all night in preparation for a mass call for recounts, protests, and general dirty tricks. Then the count went in their favor and it all wound quietly down. (Well, mostly quietly. There was that little riot at the recount office, no doubt caused by the outdated voting equipment.)
Yep, we're gonna call the Vile Pretender "Resident" until we get the chance to kick him out in 2004. Get used to hearing it.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
OK, so you have to go back 60 years. You know, I don't think things are likely to work quite the same way today as they did in the years just after Big Two.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Mostly true, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's entirely true.
Firstly, through their own criminal corruption and stupidity, they except the travesty of democracy that was the election, and end up with the candidate that lost.
Yep, we got the candidate that lost and he is also proving very obtuse about his lack of a mandate. But a lot of us are very pissed off and I'm pretty sure Dubya is gonna be a one-term prez, just like his dad.
Then, their new president, a man who is renowned for being insanely stupid decides to throw bombs at Iraq to deflect growing concerns about his mental capabilities and lack of foreign policy.
Noticed that, did you? I was wondering if anyone else did.
And the American people do nothing.
Ummmmm... it's obvious you don't live here because a lot of people are up in arms. But it doesn't get reported because, bzzzt, the global media (including those based outside of the US) are mostly owned by the very people who benefit from our stolen election. Why don't you see what these folks have to say about it?
The economy takes a huge nosedive because faith and trust in the country is plummeting.
It didn't help that Greenspan cringed when dubya patted him on the back.
Star Wars is reinstated to "protect" this foolish president and his foolish people.
bzzzt, wrong. Star wars is reinstated to "protect" the pocketbooks of some of the folks who benefitted from our stolen election, in this case the aerospace industry. Nobody seriously thinks Star Wars can protect us from anything military because quite a few of us have enough brains to realize you could just ship the bombs over here via parcel post.
Then a spy plane (a plane used to SPY on possible targets and threats in foreign countries) crashes into a Chinese plane while SPYING on Cina, a country that is know to be hostile toward Americans and who's huge growing strength and might is not something you want to fuck with.
bzzzzt, wrong. You must have missed that part about how our plane was flying straight and level on autopilot when the hot-dogging Chinese pilot crashed into it.
The Americans then proceed to handle the situation as badly as possible, insisting on NOT apologising, and rattling sabres at the Chinese because they feel that their national honour is at stake.
Actually, one of Dubya's rare moments of actual backbone. They should have apologized to us. And they should give us the goddamn plane back right now.
(News: You have no national honour left. We laugh at you while feeling pity.)
Fine, we will take back all the things we have given to the world and build a wall around the country so we won't bother you. We can start with this computer network you're using to bash us -- you do have two tin cans and some string so you'll have a fallback when it's gone?
And you still pay this man, and his criminally corrupt aids and coworkers, and you defend him and his xenophobic policies.
Not sure where you're going with this chumly. He's in office, so he gets paid, and a lot of us are very vocal about not liking it.
Have fun with your recession Americans - this is one financial crisis that you have engineered yourselves, and this time you truly deserve it.
It's been in the works for at least a decade. Hell, I'm looking forward to it. I got my house in the last recession and I'm sure I'll be able to get a good deal on a beemer once a few more twentysomething snotnoses get their reality check.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Marines making flying foot soldiers
QUANTICO, Va., April 19 (UPI) -- The Marines are developing small robotic flying machines that can fit into a soldier's backpack and, when called on, fly across battlefields, sending back to him or her video images of enemy positions.
"UAVs have typically provided the upper echelon of military commanders with sensitive reconnaissance but Dragon Eye is intended to empower the foot soldier," said Jim McMains of the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, VA.
(full article)
All thats left is a remote cd changer, so I won't have to get up, remote chef so I won't have to cook, throw in a clone (just trolling here... I know what a clone is and isn't) to send to work for me, and I'm straight.
MTV's True Life exposed
360 degrees of Karma
The US Air Force is already flying remote spy planes over the Balkans. The "Predator" is flown via remote, and can go over the horizon by use of satelites to send and recieve transmissions. May issue of Air & Space has an article on them. The pilots who get the duty are none too happy, as they don't accumulate flight time while doing this, but typically will be rewarded when their tour is up with the duty of their choice.
Jason A.