Man Accused of Selling US Military Drones On EBay

garymortimer writes "47-year-old Henson Chua is in a bit of trouble for trying to sell a RQ-11B 'Raven' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on eBay. From the article: 'A federal grand jury in Tampa returned an indictment charging Henson Chua, 47, of Manilla, Philippines, with violations of the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling, following an investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. If convicted on all counts, Chua faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.'" I'm kicking myself for missing this auction.

Comments

Re:Hmm..

[michelcolman]

By the way, anyone interested in buying a B2 bomber? Really cheap, got a few from an old friend of mine, I can't fly them all at once anyway so I might as well make someone else happy with them. Just drop me a line.

Re:I had one of these when I was a kid!

[flaming error]

Yes. With a camera.

And a 6 mile range. And a ceiling of 15,000 feet. And speed up to 60 mph.

And autonomous GPS navigation.

Probably you didn't have a plane like that when you were a kid.

Re:I had one of these when I was a kid!

[Locke2005]

It's a remote control plane with a secure two-way communications channel. It's that communications channel that they don't want falling into the wrong hands.

Perhaps tangential, but a worry nevertheless...

[ScientiaPotentiaEst]

... these UAVs are becoming more and more like amateur model aircraft. In this current climate (fear, terror, control), I believe the model aircraft crowd are therefore likely to be increasingly regulated. It has happened already to the high power rocketry crowd (they pushed back - with some limited success).

An anecdote: a few years ago, a group flew a model airplane across the Atlantic (link). I found this quite interesting and told a few friends. One reacted with horror, postulating that terrorists would be able to use such a thing to deliver all sorts of nasty. No counterargument convinced him of the absurdity of his fear.

Re:Perhaps tangential, but a worry nevertheless...

[Layer 3 Ninja]

There is at least some support in the Senate for the RC guys with bill S.223. There is a section which will prevent the FAA from regulating model aircraft given the meet a certain criteria: (1) IN GENERAL.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems into FAA plans and policies,, including this section, the Administrator shall not promulgate any rules or regulations regarding model aircraft or aircraft being developed as model aircraft if such aircraft is-- (A) flown strictly for recreational, sport, competition, or academic purposes; (B) operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization; and (C) limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program currently administered by a community-based organization. (2) MODEL AIRCRAFT DEFINED.--For purposes of this subsection, the term ``model aircraft'' means a nonhuman-carrying (unmanned) radio-controlled aircraft capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere, navigating the airspace and flown within visual line-of-sight of the operator for the exclusive and intended use for sport, recreation, competition, or academic purposes."

Re:Perhaps tangential, but a worry nevertheless...

[Overzeetop]

Actually, the absurdity is that these are fairly complex undertakings. These types of hobbies - or at least those that do it successfully - are generally for pretty smart folk, and there are precious few of those in these terrorist organizations (they do exist, but in very, very small numbers). There are far cheaper ways of working terror, and at the end of the day, everybody has a limited budget.

I happen to have played with both pyrotechnics (I was a PGI member for many years) and I now do high power rocketry. It's fun stuff, and it's far less usable to terrorists than a tank full of gasoline, but up until recently you could fill up a 300 gallon tank on the back of a pickup at any local gas station, but you couldn't store 64 grams of slow burning model rocket propellant in your garage without a BATFE inspected, plate steel, double hasp explosives magazine and a Low Explosives Users Permit. You're allowed to have 25lbs of black powder in your basement, but you still can't purchase a 0.5gram engine igniter without the aforementioned permit.

Re:Perhaps tangential, but a worry nevertheless...

[ScientiaPotentiaEst]

What is the absurdity of the fear that a model airplane that can fly thousands of miles by itself could be used to deliver something hazardous?

It is akin to worrying about general aviation (all those "uncontrolled" airplanes in the sky - in the hands of terrorists, etc.) while ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room - Ryder trucks. Only more so.

Further, as has been demonstrated repeatedly, a car bomb is a horrifyingly effective terrorist weapon (cheap, fast, inconspicuous, readily available, large payload). As an example, the use of just one such device ended up with US forces leaving Beirut.

Thus far, no model airplanes have been used in any terrorist attack (long distance or otherwise). If we are to worry about model airplane terrorist attacks, then we are no longer able to prioritize and are fearful to the point of collapse.

So you can't buy a plane? Buy a ship instead!

[jd]

One 19,000 tonne aircraft carrier for sale, one careful owner, only used to drive to church on sundays and launch fearsome aircraft into the skies to intimidate the enemy and drink their blood.