HOMELAND DUTIES FOR BOEING’S DRONES?

“Discussions are under way to see if Boeing Co.‘s unmanned aer­ial vehi­cle pro­gram can be applied to home­land secu­rity,” accord­ing to the St. Louis Post-​​Dispatch.
“Boeing’s unmanned pro­gram is mostly known for the com­bat appli­ca­tions being designed for U.S troops and the Pentagon’s multibillion-​​dollar Future Combat Systems pro­gram. But Jim Albaugh, chief exec­u­tive of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, said other uses could be found for the unmanned aer­ial vehi­cles, such as con­duct­ing bor­der sur­veil­lance or detect­ing the release of deadly pathogens within the United States.“
As reg­u­lar Defense Tech read­ers know, Boeing is one of two com­pa­nies that’s devel­op­ing killer drones for the Pentagon. But those unmanned planes are still years away from being oper­a­tional. The Homeland Security Department would likely be more inter­ested in vehi­cles like the ScanEagle, a light­weight drone which recently set endurance records by com­plet­ing a nearly 17-​​hour flight over Washington’s Puget Sound.

August 27th, 2004 | Drones | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.