Drones Over America. Tacitus is coming.

[Shooter]

               "The enemy could be anywhere and it could be anyone". Big deal, we've heard it before. It's just things fantasized in videogames. Or is it?

     Anywho, as a I went over the paper, I turned the page, and this article instantly caught my eye:

     And it's not just rumors: The government is currently in the early stages of devising rules and procedures for the unmanned aircrafts.

     By 2015, licenses will be more openly given for civilian use and use on the workforce. Farmers can use them to observe their livestock and crops. Power companies want to monitor their cables lines safely and more efficiently. There are positives to using drones. But here's where it gets scary. I'll quote the article completely here:

     The DoD and privately owned Drone companies are insistant upon increased use of USA airspace by 2015. They need to test their military aircrafts, they need to develop more. They need to make them bigger and badder. They need to build an unmanned army. Department of Defense? Privately own sectors? Military use? Sounding familiar? I bring you to this classified image that was released:

     This far out fantasy videogame about future warfare truly is not as far away as we thought. In fact, the article goes on to discuss a drone already in use by a county sheriff's office in Texas. The department used a homeland security grant to buy a $300,000, 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone for its SWAT team. While it is currently only using an onboard camera, the drone can be equipped with a 40mm grenade launcher and a 12-gauge shotgun. The department has no intents on equipping such options, but the possibilty of doing it with ease is present.

Here are the capabilities of the ShadowHawk in terms of surveillance. It's really incredible the amount of detail the cameras can pick up.

asXqvd_Yk5Y

"America is not a battlefield, and the citizens of this nation are not insurgents in need of vanquishing."

     The backlash has drone makers concerned. The drone market is expected to nearly double over the next 10 years, from current worldwide expenditures of nearly $6 billion annually to more than $11 billion, with police departments accounting for a significant part of that growth.

But how? How could the government get away with such things? There's certainly no way the citizens of this country would allow armed military drones to fly over our homes. Well here's what they'd tell you:

"It's for your own good."

"The enemy could be anywhere and it could be anyone."

     The government has been doing this for decades, it's what they do.

[tab][/tab]So where does that leave us? Drones are already over US soil. It's said by 2020, there could be as many as 15,000 drones in U.S. skies. 15 THOUSAND! And that is just aerial drones. By the time we reach 2020, who knows what other "defensive" weapons will be up in our own backyards. (we'll find out in BO2). And what happens, when the things they built to keep us safe,are turned against us?

And what happens, when the things they built to keep us safe, are turned against us?

"The future is not as far off as most people think – We're not ready for it."

Shooter

Sources

http://vanguarddefense.com/military-applications/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asXqvd_Y ... r_embedded

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... 55682654/1

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/dr ... 60393.html

[PFCSNAFU]

eye opening, this is when crap gets real, we need another Kennedy in here 8-)

[WhosOnFirst]

$300.0000 dollars for an RC helicopter that could probably be built for one third of the price or less with off the shelf parts, stinks of backhanders and prefered contractors getting preferentiol treatment.

I wonder if the Sherrifs department even has a bidding arrangment in place to secure the best value for money to the taxpayer?

I would also place a bet that the Sherrifs department is now locked into a maintenance contract with http://vanguarddefense.com/productsservices/uavs/ for at least a few years. Which will probably be very lucrative, for someone.

Vangaurd Defence. I wonder if they are owned by a larger Corparation?