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UK MOD To Spend 20 Million On Toy Size Spy Drones
garymortimer writes "The Ministry of Defense (MOD) is making 20 million pounds available for Nano UAS. This is the second story this week in which military organizations seem to be looking for small multicopters. A market to date that has been ignored by the big defense contractors and a space owned by small start ups. No doubt some of those small start ups will soon become big defense contractors!"
UK MOD to spend 20 million Pounds on toy sized drones which will then be added to every McHappy meal sold in the UK so that they can watch the not quite toy sized British youth.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Toy sized drones swallowed by British Air Marshall's at testing grounds, thought to be hors d'oeuvres.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
No doubt some of those small start ups will soon become big defense contractors!"
Or they'll be bought by big defense contractors, and the existing big defense contractors will continue to be the big defense contractors....
Well, they can't very well let Ogden, Utah and Miami, Florida get too far ahead of them, can they?
How long till they're available to public, so I can put a frickin laser beam on it.
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
Just what immediate pressing military need does the UK have?
It's not like they are involved in multiple concurrent wars and need these spy drones for military purposes.
I think they are explicitly going to be used for surveillance at home and not abroad.
It's not like they are involved in multiple concurrent wars and need these spy drones for military purposes.
Sure about that one tiger?
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I think they are explicitly going to be used for surveillance at home and not abroad.
In dire need indeed
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Fixed that for you.
... oh, this isn't about some IRC mod.
Nevertheless, same rules apply.
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That's nice and all, but this looks much less like a drone. Cute, when you don't consider the implications of a virtually invisible spy drone.
OK - I know I might sound a bit ignorant declaring this, but this story really excited me because I read the title as; "UT MOD spends $ on 20 million mini helicopters."
I know what you might be thinking - 20 mill mini copters wouldn't be nearly enough for a one night frag fest - but seriously; tiny cameras and laser lights to simulate in the real world ---- it would just be so Epic!
but then I realized the last time Epic and Unreal crossed paths and then I realized this was just a wasteful military scheme to find another way to cram more tiny cameras into England.
Defense is the American spelling.
Note, this sounds very much like a follow on from the competition the MoD ran in 2008, focused on Afghanistan issues. £20m is chump change anyway. http://www.science.mod.uk/engagement/grand_challenge/grand_challenge.aspx
They already have drones so I'm going to guess "not long".
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Well considering the current UK terror alert was recently raised to severe and they have already recently foiled terrorist plots such as (http://www.comparecarrentals.co.uk/news/261127639.html). I understand the balance between privacy and not being murdered by superstitious maniacs is unfair on everyone.
I agree that the UK government mollycoddles its population too much and people are right to treat any moves especially against privacy dubiously but equally would you like to be the one to explain to grieving families that they should be grateful for more personal privacy?
The real villains are those incorporating foreign policy and creating these terror threat situations by lining their own pockets with energy funds. Look at Libya for example, are we really supposed to believe that suspiciously well equipped Libyan rebels who have managed to fight off their own countries armed forces should be primarily interested in securing oil wells? When other countries governments are being overthrown its democratic revolution but if we need to get involved to aid 'ahem secure oil wells' it needs to be reported as an international crisis.
The US and indeed, nations around the world, are implementing or preparing to implement aircraft regulations for UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), which includes the model aircraft of us radio controlled airplane hobbyists. While there isn't much in common with the typical model aircraft and a Predator drone with a Hellfire Missile, there is a LOT in common between these new nUAS's and a model aircraft. Just look at the thing. I have seen hobbyists at my local hobby field fly similar hobby planes they purchased for a few hundred dollars that already fly 20 minutes and longer. In case you weren't aware, the aircraft model hobby is moving in huge numbers from gas powered planes to the new LiPo battery powered planes. There are now battery-electric motor combinations that match the power of every gas powered model airplane engine in the world. And my own batteries easily keep my planes in the air for 20 minutes each, same as these military specifications. There is a good overview of upcoming regulatory actions worldwide, on the "sUAS News" website: http://www.suasnews.com/uas-regulations/.
On a tangental note, I enjoy flying radio control helicopters, I have three of them (a "micro sized" heli, T-Rex 250, with a rotor disc of about 25 cm diameter, weighing about 350g), a 500-size and a 600-size (which weighs about 2.5kg, IIRC with a rotor diameter of 1.6 metres), all of them are collective pitch and extremely agile (they are all aerobatic models). All of them are electric too.
What worries me a little is that the wider political world will see the small drones, which don't look an awful lot different to a model RC heli, then start invoking the "terrorism!" bogeyman and trying to ban/restrict the RC flying we do or making us go through a painful registration process to be able to buy parts or helis. It won't take a huge leap of imagination for some politician to think that my T-Rex 600 could be some sort of threat to a public figure if fitted with an FPV (first person view) system, and then we have yet another avenue of pleasure closed off due to the war-on-terror :-(
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Hmm, lets ponder that for a moment. £20m will buy you one, maybe two Tornado aircraft.
Two aircraft, no pilots, no training, no ground crew, no parts, no maintained runway, or 300 drones that are more useful in asymmetrical warfare?
The pilots can retrain as drone pilots if they want, or they can take their RAF training and go work for EasyJet. Their choice.
This is the MOD we're talking about, by the time this deal is finished it'll have cost $100 million and the lives of every pilot's pet dog.
If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
"UK MOD To Spend 20 Million On Toy Size Spy Drones"
What will the rockers counter with?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
The MOD covers all of the UK, not just England.
It's not like they are involved in multiple concurrent wars and need these spy drones for military purposes.
Sure about that one tiger?
Don't forget that Iraq was, and Afghanistan is, a peace-keeping/police missions. We're not at war, oh no
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
There's absolutely nothing to see over here except worn down people, rubbish all over the streets and people happily flouting traffic regulations.
Don't forget that we've reintroduced both corporal and capital for even minor motoring offences.
Copyright Jeremy Clarkson probably.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it