Forest Service buys flying drones to help find marijuana growers...

[silenius]

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) The U.S. Forest Service has purchased a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana cultivators operating in remote California woodlands.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, tells The Associated Press the pilotless aircraft will allow agency law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents make arrests.

Rey says there is an increasing number of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels who are using California's national forests to stage their operations.

The SkySeer drones cost $100,000 each and weigh only four pounds. They were delivered to the Forest Service's aviation branch in Montana before being shipped to California.

One of the drones is equipped with a thermal camera for nighttime flights.

Source: http://www.kxmb.com/News/225179.asp

[RaverHippie]

Amazing use of funds for the protection of national forests...

[Alfa]

Forest Service buys a pair of flying drones to help find marijuana growers in California

BILLINGS, Montana: The U.S. Forest Service has bought a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana growers operating in remote California woodlands.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the pilotless, camera-equipped aircraft will allow law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents attempt arrests.

Rey said there are increasing numbers of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels using California's forests to stage their operations.

"We're dealing with organized efforts now — not just a couple of hippies living off the land and making some cash on the side," Rey said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

The purchase of the two SkySeer drones, for a combined US$100,000 (€64,000), reflects rising interest in remote-controlled aircraft among law enforcement, science and other government agencies.

Once used almost exclusively by defense and intelligence agencies, drones are now routinely flown by the Department of Homeland Security to patrol the Mexican border. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to use them on weather missions.

The two Forest Service drones differ from those used by other agencies. They're lighter — less than five pounds apiece — and can fly for only about an hour.

Sold by Octatron of La Verne, California, the battery-powered SkySeer can fly at under 30 miles per hour, has a two-mile range and is operated by a two-man crew on the ground, according to the company. One of the drones bought by the Forest Service was equipped with a thermal camera for nighttime flights.

The purchase was disclosed in documents obtained through a freedom of information request filed by the group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility.

The group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, questioned whether the Forest Service needed the machines. He said the purchase reflected a "boys with toys" mentality within the agency and that manned aircraft flyovers were adequate.

Rey dismissed the criticism. "The fact is, our guys work in remote locations and knowing more about what they're going to confront will make them a lot safer," he said.

More than 2.3 million marijuana plants were eradicated from Forest Service lands nationwide last year, according to figures provided by the office of Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell.

In California's 18 national forests, an estimated 6 million marijuana plants have been removed since 2000. Rey said forests in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains have seen the most activity.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...est-Drones.php

SkySeer™ is a lightweight, portable, autonomous-flight UAV designed for single-person operation. It weighs less than five pounds, flies quietly, can be assembled in minutes, and is hand-launched. It has a flight time of 70 minutes and is recoverable through a normal landing or parachute-based vertical landing (optional). GPS coordinates (latitude/longitude) can be programmed into the Ground Control Station so the SkySeer™ can fly to a specific point of interest. The flight path can also be set by pointing and clicking GPS waypoints on the ground controller, giving the operator full control over the UAV’s air-borne activities as well as the operation of its equipment, such as cameras. The video can be recorded to a DVD or Flash media at the ground station. The night version SkySeer™ includes a thermal camera that allows filming in total darkness. A stealth surveillance mission at night at 250’ has been demonstrated. The two-mile range of coverage can be extended using NetWeaver™. Training is required to fly a SkySeer™.

http://www.octatron.com/prodSkySeer.html

[old hippie 56]

Be handy for looking for wildfires, since they don't allow timber harvesting like they use to.

[RaverHippie]

I always found the studies interesting which showed that forests which naturally and seasonally catch fire end up healthier years down the road, than prior to the fire.

[TMM]

That's exactly what those forests don't need.

Plants.

[0utrider]

VERY intersting. SWIM would love to destroy one of these..

[RaverHippie]

Originally Posted by outriderx

VERY intersting. SWIM would love to destroy one of these..

$100,000 clay pigeon anyone?

[Expat98]

Look for these types of small unmanned drones to become more and more common and to be used for all kinds of surveillance. The Pentagon is striving toward a major expansion in the use of non-traditional air power, and this is a very active area of funding and research. This will bleed over and find uses in law enforcement as well as the military.

On a related (and bizarre) note, there was an article a few days ago about DARPA's Hybrid Insect Micro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program. From the article:

This project is, according to DARPA, "aimed at developing tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems [MEMS] inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis." Put simply, the creation of cyborg insects: part bug, part bot.

Right now, researchers are already growing insects with electronics inside them. They're creating cyborg moths and flying beetles that can be remotely controlled. One day, the U.S. military may field squadrons of winged insect/machine hybrids with on-board audio, video or chemical sensors. These cyborg insects could conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions on distant battlefields, in far-off caves, or maybe even in cities closer to home, and transmit detailed data back to their handlers at U.S. military bases.

The full article is here (you have to scroll down a little to get to it):

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1749..._s_battle_bugs