Posted on 06/24/2010 3:35:10 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Los Angeles County is seeking to add a new tool to its arsenal of firefighting weapons: satellites. Before California’s next fire season, county officials hope to gain access to infrared data gathered by U.S. Air Force missile warning satellites to assist them in detecting wildfires.
On June 16, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sent letters to senators and representatives in Los Angeles’ congressional delegation asking for help in establishing a program. “The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors respectfully requests your consideration in exploring the feasibility of implementing a pilot program to assess the viability of utilizing satellite technology for early detection of wildland fires on Federal land within Los Angeles County,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Space News. The supervisors added that a recent county report on automated, fire-detection systems found that U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites would be particularly useful in spotting fires.
“The infrared sensors constantly look for the telltale signature of a flame from a missile launch, with automatic analysis of the data,” according to the letter signed by all five county supervisors. “Since a missile flame has characteristics similar to a wildland fire, the satellites should be able to detect forest and brush fires just as effectively.”
DSP satellites, which scan the globe every 10 seconds, have proved their ability to spot wildfires. In 1994 and 1995, the U.S. Air Force participated in the Hazard Support Program, according to Anthony Roake, spokesman for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo. That program, led by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, combined information derived from U.S. military and civil satellites to detect wildfires in the United States and volcanic activity around the globe and reported the results to local agencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
Sorry 2b paranoid, but this sounds like a reasonable-sounding excuse to extract info regarding US ImInt capabilities, for hand-off to the PRC.
This would also alleviate pressure to purchase UAV’s, emerging platforms also usable for immigration-related applications.
Also a way for a state used to blowing it’s cash on foolish social programs to get around budgeting for something that is really REASONABLE.
Why not also prevail on the USMC at Oceanside to conduct patrols, or maybe set up field kitchens for “migrants”..?
I...smell a rat, sorry...
There is a real PURPOSE for the US military, and it is the wet dream of every lib —particularly those in Kalifornia— to find “worthy work” for “money wasted on defense”.
Same thing for submarines, right after the USSR went away —every boomer in the USN was having to whore itself out 2 enviros, doing recordings about whales and stuff...
“You can’t cut us..look at this latest BEAUT of a WHALE RECORDING..!!!”
A much better idea would be to put a heavy lift airship on duty, carrying an enormous amount of water. It could provide something like a drenching micro-burst of heavy rain over a fire area, or an adjacent, unburned area, which would strongly inhibit all but the hottest forest fires.
Such an airship could descend fire hoses for considerable accuracy hitting hot spots. They could avoid any heat convection columns from strong fires with infrared cameras.
“A much better idea would be to put a heavy lift airship on duty, carrying an enormous amount of water.”
I read articles many years ago about the variety of disaster situations in which a heavy lift airship could be invaluable. Not sure why that’s never moved forward...Hindenburg hangover (in spite improved technology)?
It is moving forward.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/army-orders-huge-airship-aid-combat-missions-100616.html
U.S. Army Orders Huge (HAV-3) Airship to Aid Combat Missions
The United States Army has ordered a huge hybrid airship longer than a football field to watch over battlefields in Afghanistan by the end of 2011, according to the airship’s builder Northrop Grumman Corporation.
The company has received a $517 million Army contract to build up to three of the huge military airships, called the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV). Such airships would serve as surveillance stations at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) above sea level and could stay on watch for as long as three weeks at a time.
*also*
The P-791 is an experimental aerostatic/aerodynamic hybrid airship developed by Lockheed-Martin corporation. The first flight of the P-791 was on 31 January 2006 at the company’s flight test facility on the Palmdale Air Force Plant 42. It has a unique tri-hull shape, with disk-shaped cushions on the bottom for landing.
*also*
The Zeppelin NT (”Neue Technologie”, German for new technology) is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen.
The Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd, Britain, Sky Cat airship.
The Hua Jiao Airship China, HJ-2000 airship.
Cool, thanks for the info.
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