MQ-9 Predator drone used in ND

[tonyz]

Arguably a good outcome (no shots fired) but an interesting use of expensive technology - the tin-foil hats will undoubtedly come out.

Daily Mail - Online

Wednesday, Dec 14 2011Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-6-cows.html

Excerpts:

Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in.
The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.

The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA to track down and assassinate terrorists and militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being deployed by cops to spy on Americans in their own backyards.

When cops returned to collect the lost cattle, three of Brossart's sons - Alex, Jacob and Thomas - confronted Sheriff Janke with rifles and shotguns and would not allow officers on the farm.

That's when the sheriff summoned a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone from nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base, where it was patrolling the US-Canada border for the US Department of Homeland Security.

Using a handheld device that picked up the video camera footage from the spy plane, Sheriff Janke was able to watch the movements of everyone on the farm.
During an 16-hour standoff, the sheriff and his deputies waited until they could see the remaining Brossarts put down their weapons. Then, dressed in SWAT gear, they stormed the compound and arrested the three Brossart sons. No shots were fired.

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by tonyz

Arguably a good outcome (no shots fired) but an interesting use of expensive technology - the tin-foil hats will undoubtedly come out.

Two interesting articles on domestic drones from the not exactly tin foil Salon.com.

NPR’s domestic drone commercial

Excerpt:

Excitement over America’s use of drones in multiple Muslim countries is, predictably, causing those weapons to be imported onto U.S. soil. Federal law enforcement agencies and local police forces are buying more and more of them and putting them to increasingly diverse domestic uses, as well as patrolling the border, and even private corporations are now considering how to use them. One U.S. drone manufacturer advertises its product as ideal for “urban monitoring.” Orlando’s police department originally requested two drones to use for security at next year’s GOP convention, only to change their minds for budgetary reasons. One new type of drone already in use by the U.S. military in Afghanistan — the Gorgon Stare, named after the “mythical Greek creature whose unblinking eyes turned to stone those who beheld them” — is “able to scan an area the size of a small town” and “the most sophisticated robotics use artificial intelligence that [can] seek out and record certain kinds of suspicious activity”; boasted one U.S. General: “Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we’re looking at, and we can see everything.”

The growing menace of domestic drones

Excerpt:

Last week, I wrote about the rapidly growing domestic drone industry and the largely undiscussed dangers it poses. The Los Angeles Times yesterday reported that local police in North Dakota used a Predator B drone — the most common unmanned aircraft employed by the U.S. military to attack and kill “insurgents” in the Muslim world — to apprehend three men. The suspects had refused to turn over six cows which had wandered onto their land (the laws governing open-range ownership are in dispute and the farm owners claimed they are entitled to keep the cows); after being tasered in an earlier incident on their land for allegedly resisting arrest, they brandished weapons at the officers who came to seize the cows. The police, armed with a warrant, then called in a Predator drone to fly over their land, locate them, and transmit video images to the police; when the drone revealed the suspects were unarmed, the police entered their property and arrested them.

Just imagine what TSA could do with a few of these

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by Paslode

Just imagine what TSA could do with a few of these

"...boasted one U.S. General: “Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we’re looking at, and we can see everything.”

Damn, Big Sis just might get an upgrade.

[Buffalobob]

They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer

That's certainly a heinous crime!

[Felix87]

The drones are used extensively by border patrol, and many large cities employ different variants for their SWAT teams. When I re-classed out of the UAV field the number one jobs were for General Dynamics, going back to the box as a contractor, and flying the same birds we did down range on the border.

[BOfH]

This is nothing new, DARPA ran a man portable drone contest[1] some time back, and some LEO's[2][3] have picked up on the technology. By the way, you know those $50 RC birds, add a decent wireless camera...you get the point...


[1]http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/is-darpa-recruiting-wireds-editor-to-build-drones/
[2]http://gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/08/11/gay_city_news/news/doc4e4414474e153994147714.txt
[3]http://gothamist.com/2011/12/05/good_to_know_the_nypd_has_six_subma.php

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by BOfH

This is nothing new, DARPA ran a man portable drone contest[1] some time back, and some LEO's[2][3] have picked up on the technology. By the way, you know those $50 RC birds, add a decent wireless camera...you get the point...

The technology may or may not be new...but, a local sheriff summoning a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone from an Air Force Base for use against some local folks strikes me as slightly unusual. Then again...it very well may be the future.

[Streck-Fu]

Seems like the Sheriff was pissed that he was outgunned during the visit.

[longrange1947]

Originally Posted by Buffalobob

That's certainly a heinous crime!

Used to get hung by the neck until dead over it.

[BOfH]

Originally Posted by tonyz

The technology may or may not be new...but, a local sheriff summoning a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone from an Air Force Base for use against some local folks strikes me as slightly unusual. Then again...it very well may be the future.

True that. Expensive toys are always fun when it's not your dime on the line. I wonder how that sheriff spun this one when requesting CAS from the AF for use on the locals...

ETA: Answered my own wondering, keyword: anti-government separatists = Must be those "terrorists" that Big Sis Janet is so worried about...

[Felix87]

Pure guess work, but just from experience the drone was probably in the air and they just request an eyes on the compound. We would do BDA for artillery ranges if we were in between missions during training. The articles make it sound like the family was going to be under fire.

[Pete]

So much for trying to burn some yard waste in your back yard without using the fire pit.

[Bitz]

Well hell. I guess i will have to do a recon from now on before I piss out my back fence.

~Bitz

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Bitz

Well hell. I guess i will have to do a recon from now on before I piss out my back fence.

~Bitz

Which brings op a good point - since I've been known to mark the back yard now and again. If you are out in your back yard at night "marking" and they do a zoom in with the IR - can you be arrested for public urination? Sex Crime?

I would have put that in pink - but I'm just not all that sure these days.

[Utah Bob]

That's it! No more nekkid target shooting at my range!