spy drones

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Navy's New Stealth Drone Makes Maiden Flight

X-47B can take off and land from aircraft carrier

(Newser) - The US Navy says the next big leap forward in unmanned aerial warfare has successfully made its first flight. The robotic, bat-winger X-47B drone is designed to take off and land from aircraft carriers, a feat described as one of the most difficult in aviation. The military hopes the technology...

US Testing Next Generation of Spy Drones

Stealthy new planes can fly higher and faster than before

(Newser) - Last week, the US ran a secret test of an experimental spy plane that could revolutionize the war in Afghanistan. The $30 million plane, dubbed the Global Observer, has a wingspan almost as long as a Boeing 747, and can fly at stratospheric heights for days, keeping its “unblinking...

Miami Police Buy Spy Drone
Miami Police
Buy Spy Drone
Jan 7, 2011 11:15 AM CST

Miami Police Buy Spy Drone

Some residents have privacy concerns

(Newser) - Soon, America’s fearsome spy drones will prowl the sky in Kandahar, Waziristan, and … South Beach? The Miami-Dade Police Department has struck a deal to buy a drone, WSN-TV reports. Many residents aren’t particularly happy about this, but police are eager to have “an eye up there,...

Iran: We Shot Down Spy Planes
Iran: We Shot Down
Spy Planes
Jan 3, 2011 1:22 AM CST

Iran: We Shot Down Spy Planes

US denies any knowledge of drone downing

(Newser) - Iran officials are boasting that their nation's military shot down two Western spy planes. But no one is claiming the drones. The planes, "capable of taking photographs," were blasted over the Persian Gulf, Iran's air force commander told a local wire service. But a US source says there...

CIA's Top Spy in Pakistan Forced to Flee

Terrorist threat leads to decision that could complicate war effort

(Newser) - The CIA’s top spy in Pakistan left the country yesterday, after a lawsuit blew his cover and terrorists threatened to kill him. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, accused the Islamabad station chief by name of ordering missile strikes that killed civilians. That name has been oft-repeated by Pakistani...

Top 9 Revelations From Leaked Afghan Reports

Biggest military leak in history underscores grim realities

(Newser) - Wikileaks has unveiled 92,000 secret documents about the Afghan war, which, in the New York Times ' words, "illustrate in mosaic detail why ... the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001." Don't have time to scan through 92,000 documents? Here are what appear to...

Napolitano: The Border Is More Secure Than Ever

And crime is down in border states, too

(Newser) - Janet Napolitano pushed back against immigration alarmists yesterday, even as she touted the the White House's latest efforts to secure the border. The Obama administration will deploy an unmanned aerial drone in Texas, and allow local police communities to temporarily “deploy” to assist the National Guard along the border,...

Pakistani Taliban Leader Reported Dead

Army probes reports that drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud

(Newser) - The Pakistani army is investigating reports that the leader of the Taliban in the country has died after being injured in an American military drone strike. Hakimullah Mehsud, 28, had been at the helm of the Pakistani Taliban for 5 months, having taken over after the death—also in a...

Military Can't Keep Up With Drone Intel

Predators produce too much video for analysts to digest

(Newser) - The military is rushing to get more spy drones into Afghanistan’s sky, but they’ve already got more video streaming in than they can handle. All of the footage is watched live for any potential threat troops should be aware of—roughly 24 years' worth of footage was recorded...

Iraqi Insurgents Hack Drones
 Iraqi Insurgents Hack Drones 
Dec 17, 2009 7:02 AM CST

Iraqi Insurgents Hack Drones

$26 software gives access to predator's camera

(Newser) - Iranian-backed insurgents in Iraq have hacked the video feed from US Predator drones using software available online for $26. Though they haven’t been able to take control of the unmanned aircraft or disrupt their flights, intercepting the video may allow them to anticipate or evade US strikes, and know...

Blackwater Waging 'Secret War' in Pakistan

Mercenaries doing CIA dirty work, plotting killings

(Newser) - An elite team of Blackwater operatives have been doing the CIA's dirty work in Pakistan, a Nation investigation finds. The team plans operations, including "snatch-and-grab" assassinations and drone strikes from a secret base in Karachi run by US Joint Special Operations Command, according to a senior source with direct...

Canada to US: Are We Still Friends?
 Canada to US: 
 Are We Still Friends? 
Analysis
Oct 8, 2009 10:13 PM CDT

Canada to US: Are We Still Friends?

American protectionism worries our northern neighbor

(Newser) - Canada’s biggest problem now also happens to be its best friend: America. PM Stephen Harper once worried that Canada’s “special relationship” with the US had been lost under George W. Bush—and it hasn’t improved a bit under Obama, writes Luiza Ch. Savage in Macleans. Not...

Pentagon Prefers Blimps to $35M Spy Planes

(Newser) - Financially grounded by the recession, the Pentagon and governments around the world are launching blimps to spy on their enemies, the Economist reports. Such balloons cost far less than Predator and Global Hawk drones—which can sell for $35 million each—and stay airborne for more than a week, while...

Pakistan Bombings Kill 15
 Pakistan Bombings Kill 15 
Mar 7, 2009 12:24 PM CST

Pakistan Bombings Kill 15

(Newser) - Three separate bombings killed 15 people in northwestern Pakistan today, while authorities investigated reports that a pilotless US drone crashed in the region bordering Afghanistan. The bombings, coming days after gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team, were a fresh reminder of the militant threat in Pakistan, where Western leaders...

US Drone Downed in Pakistan
 US Drone Downed in Pakistan 
Sep 24, 2008 7:27 AM CDT

US Drone Downed in Pakistan

Pakistan claims US spy craft crash-landed near Afghan border

(Newser) - The Pakistani military says it has recovered the wreckage of an American spy drone in the tense Afghan border region. Local tribesmen had earlier claimed to have shot the drone down, but Pakistani officials said the wreckage had no bullet holes, and apparently was downed by a malfunction. US officials...

After 7 Years, New Tactics to Find bin Laden

Shift to targeting other al-Qaeda leaders in hopes of picking up trail

(Newser) - Seven years after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the US has no bead on Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding out in Pakistan's lawless northwest. Frustrated by the lack of progress, American and Pakistani officials have shifted their strategy to target other top al-Qaeda...

US Releases Pakistan Border Clash Video

Coalition says footage proves troops were returning militants' fire

(Newser) - US-led coalition forces have released a video shot from a surveillance drone showing a controversial clash on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Pakistan claims the engagement led to an airstrike that killed 11 of its troops, but the coalition says the footage proves that US and Afghan forces were simply returning fire...

Robot Drones Have 'Changed War' in Iraq, Afghanistan

Unmanned vehicles help troops target trouble spots, keep casualties down

(Newser) - At the outset of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were little more than nifty, if sometimes helpful toys. They’ve since cemented a key role in US operations, Newsweek reports. Now hundreds of drones, some as small as model airplanes, keep an unblinking eye on militant...

Miami Hopes to Patrol Streets With Flying Spy Drones

Police nationwide are clamoring for the 'bots

(Newser) - A flying spy drone may soon join the ranks of Miami's finest, pending FAA approval of the 14-pound bot. "Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes," says a department spokesman. The US military has been using spy drones for...

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