Ridge says unmanned drones could be patrolling borders by end of the year

SFGate ^ | 5/22/03 | JESSE J. HOLLAND

[IronKros]

Unmanned aerial drones similar to ones used in the war on Iraq could be patrolling the U.S. border by the end of the year to help stem illegal immigration and increase security, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday.

"We are very serious in looking at UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) for both border applications, land and sea," Ridge told the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

[Major_Risktaker]

END OF YEAR...BS! Appeaser.....Do it now...

[taxcontrol]

I would like to see the UAVs backed up with helicopters loaded with some Infantry / Marines to handle any "incidents"

[IronKros]

que?

[Reaganwuzthebest]

END OF YEAR...BS! Appeaser.....Do it now...

They ought to. You can expect hundreds of thousands more to make it in by then.

[A Navy Vet]

"...but what is the INS going to do when they spot the illegals?"

Nothing, it's no longer their job. Border Patrol works directly for Homeland Security Department now. They are two separate entitites with different functions - this is a good thing.

[TEXOKIE]

Stem the tide of illegal aliens BUMP!!!

[Let's Roll]

"Second step is to arm the UAVs."

So right - as soon as I saw the headline, I thought "...and?"

[Walkingfeather]

You add Drones with Metalstorm technology + area denial capability From flash bangs to more lethal weapons.... and you have a effective border patrol. Check out Metalstorm.com and their videos.

[Brian S]

OK...maybe we are making progress.

[Criminal Number 18F]

What is this fascination that headline writers have for the redundancy, "unmanned drones"?

Incidentally, a drone is, to be absolutely technically correct, an unpiloted aircraft, the flight path of which is preset on the ground, in advance. I'm being a little fussy here, but the new generation of UAVs can be redirected in flight to examine targets of opportunity. Some are "flown" from a virtual pilot station on the ground.

In the case of Predators, the pilots who fly the mission profiles can be on a US airbase while the Preds prowl the Mideast skies. The pilots who take off and land the machine do need to be at the launch and recovery site, though. (Disclaimer: nothing here that hasn't been in a press release, OK?)

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Hopefully, the patrolling drones will be decked-out with Hellfire missiles.

[BooBoo1000]

two hundred yards of side by side claymores would be a lot better.

[Constitution Day]

Well, we here in NC *would* like to discuss South Carolina with Mr. Ridge.......LOL.

Let's make a suggestion while we're at it to patrol certain CITY LIMITS.
One in particular... Chapel Hell!!

[madfly]

Great News! Let's hope it can happen. Did anyone see him squirm for 2 1/2 hours Monday night on CSPAN, answering questions from congressman, asking when cargo would begin to be inspected on commercial planes, along with many other concerns, especially how all the things he promised could be accomplished with the present Homeland Security budget? I only caught the last 30 mintues. I hope it's on again.

Kudos to Glenn and his group for getting a committment for the use of this technology!

[MissAmericanPie]

This will be designed to do nothing to interfere with the invasion of the nation by illegals, just wait n see.

[liberalnot]

why so long?

got them in iraq.

[El Gato]

I hope they are carrying light machineguns and Hellfire missiles.

Hell fire is kind of heavy for most of these drones which are generally smaller than the Predator. A LMG might be possible, but you couldn't carry much ammo. However the drones would allow the operators to continue to track the illegals pending arrival of Blackhawks filled with Border Patrol agents on the scene, or whatever other "assets" they choose. Especially at night, but in the daytime too, the drones are pretty hard to spot from the gound with the naked eye, and they don't make all that much noise either.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[Ridge says unmanned drones could be patrolling borders by end of the year.]

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I would prefer the border to be patrolled by 300,000 marines and a force of 50,000 Apache helos.

[sweetliberty]

At the risk of sounding cynical, what good is it going to do to watch them crossing the border if we are not going to do anything to stop them? We already know they're coming across in huge numbers. There are even videos. Nobody cares...well, at least not the ones in a position to fix it.

[WRhine]

I still don't understand the importance of this. Now we can watch the illegals come over on video tape? Big deal! How are we going to stop them without the manpower there? This looks to me like a feel good policy that won't do much.

That's right. Unless the government greatly increases the number of Border Patrol Agents in the high traffic border regions all the drones in the world is not going to have much impact. Without increasing manpower it's more of the same window dressing.