UAVs Join the War against DrugsJune 10, 2009

 

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With the growing presence of the U.S. military's Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) over the skies of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Defense Department's Southern Command is now testing the effectiveness of unmanned aircraft in combating drug trafficking into the U.S.

Congress is increasingly questioning the cost-effectiveness of the War-on-Drugs strategy, with more than $5 billion in U.S. aid going to Colombia over the past 10 years, and little to show for that investment, according to an article in Time magazine.

The thinking is that if battlefield UVAs, like the Predator, can locate, follow and bomb insurgents in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, drones outfitted with equipment to fight drug trafficking might provide better results and put fewer people at risk. Using drones is an especially popular idea after a five-year-long crisis in which three U.S. military contractors were held hostage by Marxist guerillas after their drug-surveillance Cessna crashed into the Colombian jungle.

Drones could also lead to some substantial cost savings, according to a preliminary Southern Command report to Congress. The exact savings, however, have not yet been calculated, according to Time.

The UVA involved in drug interdiction would be a different model than those used over the battlefield. The law-enforcement drone, called the Heron, can remain afloat for more than 20 hours and stream high fidelity, real-time video from as high as 15,000 feet, according to the article.

Stark Aerospace, a U.S. subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), produces the Heron. Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, the ranking Republican member on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee, has been a big proponent of using the Heron in drug interdiction, saying it has "operational readiness and potential to provide more persistent and cost-effective intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance." The program would lead to hundreds of new jobs in Cochran's state of Mississippi, where Stark Aerospace is based.

Raytheon, based in Massachusetts, is also involved in the Southern Command drug interdiction project. Time reported that the Heron is not without its problems. The Turkish military complained this spring that the drones sometimes become unresponsive to human operators on the ground. IAI rejected the claim but has said it would rectify any problems.

(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Miranda Moorer (released))