The Volgograd bombs are a warning over Olympic excess

Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Review

» The Volgograd bombs are a warning over Olympic excess | Simon Jenkins
30/12/13 10:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. The more elaborate the staging of international sporting events, the more they are liable to attract protest and terrorism The bomb blasts in the...

» Egypt Arrests Al Jazeera Journalists
30/12/13 10:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The Qatari-based television network Al Jazeera al-Jazeera says Egypt has arrested four of its journalists and has demanded their immediate release. Egypt's Interior Ministry says it has d...

» Aftermath shows devastation caused by bomb blast in Volgograd
30/12/13 10:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by ITN. Aftermath shows devastation caused by bomb blast in Volgograd A bomb blast on a trolleybus in Volgograd kills at least 14 people in the second deadly attack in 24 hours. Report by Claire Me...

» Four Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt, accused of illegal ties to Muslim Brotherhood
30/12/13 10:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. CAIRO—Egypt’s government has detained four journalists working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera English news channel, arresting...

» Second deadly blast hits Russian city
30/12/13 10:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by CNNInternational. Second deadly blast hits Russian city An explosion hit a trolleybus in the city of Volgograd, Russia, as the country prepares to host the Winter Olympics. From: CNNInternationa...

» AP IMPACT: The World Braces for Retirement Crisis - ABC News
30/12/13 10:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from world - Google News. AP IMPACT: The World Braces for Retirement Crisis ABC News Living standards will fall and poverty rates will rise for the elderly in wealthy countries that built safety nets for senior...

» Every terrorist attack in Russia since 1991 mapped
30/12/13 10:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in Since 1991, there have been 1,896 terrorist attacks in Russia, including the latest two bombings in Volgogr...

» Second bombing in two days hits Volgograd in southern Russia; 32 dead in the two attacks
30/12/13 10:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. MOSCOW – The southern Russian city of Volgograd was hit with the second deadly suicide bombing in two days on Monday, rattlin...

» Fatal Blasts in Volgograd, Russia
30/12/13 10:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Russian officials say a blast on a bus in Volgograd killed more than a dozen at least 10 people Monday, just one day after a suicide bombing killed 17 people at the city's train station.

» Dogs Saved From Euthanasia In America
30/12/13 10:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. An animal charity strives to give thousands of dogs who face euthanasia in America a second chance - and a new home.

» And the winner is… a look back at a dramatic 2013 in US politics | Michael Cohen
30/12/13 10:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Edward Snowden is America's person of the year if there ever was one, but don't count President Obama out yet With 2014 almost upon us, I wanted ...

» At least 70 journalists killed around world in 2013
30/12/13 10:25 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Figures compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists show that 29 journalists were killed in Syria, 10 in Iraq and six in Egypt At least 70 j...

» More deadly bombings in Russia
30/12/13 10:25 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by CNNInternational. More deadly bombings in Russia A blast hits a trolleybus in Russia's Volgograd, a day after a deadly train station attack. CNN's Diana Magnay reports. From: CNNInternational Vi...

» U.S., Libyan forces capture Tunisian militant leader: media
30/12/13 10:24 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. TUNIS (Reuters) - U.S. and Libyan forces captured Saifallah Benahssine, the leader of Tunisia's Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia, in the Libyan city of Misrata on Monday, Tunisi...

» Afghanistan rejects grim U.S. intelligence forecast as baseless
30/12/13 10:24 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan on Monday rejected as baseless a U.S. intelligence forecast that the gains the United States and allies have made in the past three years will be signific...

» WorldViews: The best case for drones I’ve heard yet
30/12/13 10:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. The United States program of unmanned aerial vehicles is way beyond controversial. It is, in certain parts of the world, espe...

» Sochi Olympics security concerns deepen
30/12/13 10:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by CNNInternational. Sochi Olympics security concerns deepen Terrorism fears rise, with only 6 weeks before the Sochi Olympics. National security analyst Frances Townsend explains. From: CNNInterna...

» Russian ship trapped in Antarctic ice: Australian rescue effort underway
30/12/13 10:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by ITN. Russian ship trapped in Antarctic ice: Australian rescue effort underway An Australian ship is making its way to Antarctica to help free a Russian vessel trapped for days in thick ice. Repo...

» Gunmen in Greece Attack German Ambassador's Residence - New York Times
30/12/13 10:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. AFP Gunmen in Greece Attack German Ambassador's Residence New York Times Assailants raked the German ambassador's residence in Athens with gunfire early on Monday in an attack th...

» German road, railway infrastructure is decaying, with harsh economic consequences
30/12/13 10:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. HAMBURG, Germany — Flawless autobahns and punctual trains are as much a part of Germany’s image as Beethoven and Goethe. But ...

» Reporters' Committee Says Middle East Remains Most Dangerous Region
30/12/13 10:21 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. On a day when deepening violence in Africa and Russia dominated the news, a leading journalism organization reports that the Middle East remains the world's most dangerous place for repor...

» Times Minute | Brainlike Computers
30/12/13 10:21 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by The New York Times. Times Minute | Brainlike Computers Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n Also on the Minute, JPMorgan's hiring and a look back at Typhoon Haiyan. Watch more videos at: h...

» Deadline to Remove Syria's Chemical Weapons May Pass Unmet
30/12/13 10:21 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Tuesday's deadline to move most of Syria's chemical weapons out of the country will likely go unmet. A unmet.A statement issued over the weekend from the United Nations and an internation...

» Russian terrorist attacks since 1991: what's changed?
30/12/13 10:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Two bomb attacks today in Volgograd are thought to be the work of terrorists. Using a database of terrorism we look at how the frequency and...

» Why the Pablo Neruda 'poisoning' saga rolls on
30/12/13 10:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Toxicology tests appear to have conclusively proved that the Chilean poet died of natural causes – but his driver and some of his family are dema...

» Five Decapitated Bodies Found in Mexico
29/12/13 21:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Prosecutors Prosecutors in the western Mexican state of Michoacan say they have found five decapitated bodies in western Mexico Saturday, with a hand-lettered sign linking the killings...

» Boy Scouts to welcome gay members starting Jan. 1
29/12/13 21:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from GlobalPost. None

» Radio station experiences major software meltdown during anti-NSA broadcast
29/12/13 21:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The European Union Times - World News, Breaking News. During a simple discussion of the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices, a US radio program experienced a unique “technological...

» Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns
29/12/13 21:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. A new American intelligence assessment on the Afghan war predicts that the gains the United States and its allies have made d...

Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns - Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Review

Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Review 

» Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns
29/12/13 21:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. A new American intelligence assessment on the Afghan war predicts that the gains the United States and its allies have made d...

» Berlusconi tries to bring down the Italian government – and is humiliated in parliament
29/12/13 21:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. 29 September: Luigi Zanda, the Democratic party leader of the Italian senate recalls the end of Silvio Berlusconi's reign There are days that can...

» New Law All but Bars Russian GPS Sites in U.S.
29/12/13 20:59 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. A measure that was signed into law on Thursday virtually bars Moscow from building monitor stations on American soil that critics feared could be used for snooping or worse.

» U.S. intelligence estimate sees big rollbacks in Afghanistan: report
29/12/13 20:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. intelligence estimate predicts that gains the United States and allies have made in the Afghanistan war in the past three years will be significantly ...

» NY Times: Failed Intelligence Efforts in Benghazi
29/12/13 20:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A leading U.S. newspaper says American intelligence efforts in Libya that fixated on al-Qaida likely contributed to the killing of the American ambassador to Libya in 2012. The New York T...

» FBI: Dangerous bank robbery suspect shot, killed - MyFox Atlanta
29/12/13 20:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. FBI: Dangerous bank robbery suspect shot, killed MyFox Atlanta The manhunt for the man who shot two Miss. police officers, killing one may be over. The FBI believes the man respo...

» Two men arrested after fire on North Sea ferry
29/12/13 20:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Two crew and four passengers evacuated by helicopter after fire forces Amsterdam-bound ferry to turn back to Newcastle Six people were rescued fr...

» Why won't the west call out Saudi Arabia for persecution of democratic activists? | Andy Fitzgerald
29/12/13 20:51 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. A Saudi activist was sentenced to four years and 300 lashes. He is the fourth to be imprisoned from one organization this year At the memorial fo...

» Saudi royal faces death penalty for murder: newspaper
29/12/13 20:49 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi prince who murdered a fellow Saudi may be executed, a newspaper reported on Sunday, in a rare example of a member of the kingdom's ruling family facing the de...

» Akademik Shokalskiy could be evacuated by helicopter in 48 hours if situation does not improve – video
29/12/13 20:47 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Passengers and crew on the Akademik Shokalskiy, which remains trapped in heavy sea ice off the coast of Antarctica, have been warned they could b...

» Israeli ministers endorse legislation to annex part of West Bank
29/12/13 20:43 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers endorsed proposed legislation on Sunday to annex an area of the occupied West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a futur...

» Justice Sotomayor to helm Times Square ball drop - The Detroit News
29/12/13 20:42 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Justice Sotomayor to helm Times Square ball drop The Detroit News U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will push the ceremonial button to signal the descent of the Times Sq...

» Icebound Ship Still Awaits Rescue
29/12/13 20:42 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Passengers on board a Russian research ship are still anxiously awaiting rescue, nearly a week after being trapped in Antarctic ice.

» Spain arrests eight over global bank cyber heists
29/12/13 20:41 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police on Sunday said they had arrested eight people suspected of helping to steal more than $60 million from banks worldwide by hacking into credit card pro...

» Antarctic passengers ponder logistics of air rescue as second icebreaker closes in
29/12/13 20:41 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. In balmy 2C weather the ice has softened in places, posing a hazard for wanderers, but the Akademik Shokalskiy is still stuck Sunday began as the...

» In Turkey, Erdogan vows graft scandal won’t topple him
29/12/13 20:40 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. ISTANBUL — Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan swore on Sunday he would survive a corruption crisis circling his cabinet, s...

» Chinese hospitals plagued by violence as disputes grow
29/12/13 20:39 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. Patient-doctor disputes have risen 23% a year on average since 2002, and a typical hospital suffers an attack every two weeks The moment Li Ping ...

» Slapdowns of 2013
29/12/13 20:39 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. It's been a good year for insults. Here's our pick of the best slams, jibes, character assassinations and comebacks "You've had three hairstyles,...

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29/12/13 20:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
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mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Philly.com ABC News Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit ABC News In January 2010, numerous homeowners in San Antonio, Texas, stood baffled in front of their closed ...

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mikenova shared this story from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com. There is good reason to suppose recent bombings, despite taking place 400 miles away, were related to the 2014 Games When Russia's bid for the 20...

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» 'Suicide bomber' causes explosion at Russia train station
29/12/13 14:10 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by ITN. 'Suicide bomber' causes explosion at Russia train station A female suicide bomber is thought to be behind an explosion at a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd, which killed at l...

US states await key drones decision – and the billions that could follow - theguardian.com

US states await key drones decision – and the billions that could follow

• Six states will be chosen to host drone test sites

• Oklahoma is one of 24 states in the running 

• Oklahoma's drones: the next generation

• 
• • Ed Pilkington in Stillwater, Oklahoma
  • theguardian.com, Thursday 26 December 2013 10.13 EST
  • Jump to comments (368)

Full military-grade autopilot allows the Raptr to be pre-programmed to fly to hundreds of points on a map within a range of 10 miles under its own control. Photo: Guardian

The Raptr hovers stubbornly at an altitude of about 100 feet despite a lashing Oklahoma wind, its 73-inch rotor blades whirring like a swarm of buzzing bees. Then handler Curtis Sprague disconnects the remote device that he is using to control the mini-helicopter, leaving the pilotless aircraft to move entirely under its own steam – a flying robot let loose in the clear blue sky. The unmanned plane does a pirouette, then flies back to the spot from which it was launched. It lowers itself slowly to the runway, landing with a slight shudder before switching itself off.

Equipped with a military-grade autopilot that can make up to 500 flight corrections per second even as it carries out fully-autonomous surveillance of an area with a 10-mile radius, the Raptr is one of a new generation of drones now poised to burst onto the civilian scene. The helicopter’s ability to transmit real-time video and thermal imaging over a wide area has already attracted interest from as far afield as South Africa, where game keepers want to use it to thwart rhino poachers. (Drones are also being eyed as a means of carrying snake antivenom to the Australian outback.)

In the US, a diverse group of interests have their eyes on the technology – fire fighters combatting wild fires, police departments tracking fugitives, farmers on the watch for diseased or parched crops, TV crews filming breaking news.

Public debate about drones continues to be dominated by the controversy around the Obama administration’s ongoing policy of targetted killings. Attention has focused on the weaponised aircraft, such as the Global Hawk and the Predator, that have been deployed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and other conflict spots.

But all that is about to change. Though Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ boaston 60 Minutes that one day his company will drop packages on its customers’ doorsteps using unmanned “octocopters” was more than a little futuristic, given the hurdles to flying drones in densely populated urban areas, it’s likely only a matter of time before drones really do make their entry into civilian life.

A 'road map' for drones

Indeed, the Federal Aviation Authority is about to make a giant leap towards unleashing drones into American skies. The FAA has promised to announce by the end of the month the six states that it has chosen as the hosts of the official drone test sites that within a couple of years will provide a “road map" to drone participation in civilian life, including the integration of larger, high-altitude, unmanned aircraft into the air traffic control system.

Small drones (defined as those lighter than 55lbs) could be allowed to begin commercial operations in the US as early as 2015, according to aviation experts. Larger unmanned vehicles designed for use in heavier tasks such as crop spraying and cargo delivery are expected to follow suit by around 2020.

Already, a burgeoning sector of aerospace firms is actively developing civilian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in preparation for FAA approval. Some of the drones are small enough to put in your pocket; some are powered by the Sun. Their potential uses range from crowd control and law enforcement to predicting tornadoes and surveying livestock on cattle ranches. One, the snappily-named Dehogaflier, is designed to lead hunters towards feral pigs.

“In 10 years everyone will be familiar with UAVs, they will be routine,” said James Grimsley, the CEO of Design Intelligence Corporation, a tech company that is developing a solar-powered drone called the Eturnas. “As they get cheaper and smaller, they will be used more and more, until they become ordinary.”

Oklahoma is one of 24 states bidding to host one of the six FAA test sites. The stakes are high: the Oklahoma department of commerce estimates that if the state is awarded one of the contracts it stands to create 2,000 jobs and generate $200m a year in economic activity as well as $20m in state tax revenues. Overall, the Teal Group has suggested that drones could be doing $100bn of business across the country by 2025.

Frontier Electronic Systems is developing the Hexacopter, designed for use by firefighters and other public services to provide advance information on emergency situations.Photograph: theguardian.com

The state has emphasised Oklahoma’s strong military, business and academic traditions in its bid for one of the test sites. Since 2011, Oklahoma State University in Stillwater has been home to the country’s – and probably the world’s – first post-graduate programme in drones.

OSU students have built about 25 prototype UAVs over the past four years, including the Talos, a light-weight plane with a 16-foot wingspan built on a commission from the Department of Homeland Security, which wanted the university to develop a craft with qualities that would make it fit for surveillance of people entering the country illegally over the Mexican border. The students working on the Talos are using a sound-proofed room known as an anechoic chamber to test the drone, which the DHS has specified must fly so quietly that it can avoid being detected by its targets even when it is operating at low altitudes.

Thomas Hays, 28, a PHD student involved with the Talos program, said he had decided to work on drones because “UAVs are the frontier of modern aviation. All we are waiting for is the FAA to tell us we can now fly these planes and we will be ready.”

Before they get to that point, however, Oklahoma’s budding drone activists know that they must overcome public suspicion of the technology – including the aircraft’s reputation as a killing machine. “People see UAVs as machines of war – when they hear the word ‘drone’ they think of a Predator with Hellfire missiles,” said Grimsley, who has played a central role in the FAA bid as president of the Unmanned Systems Alliance of Oklahoma.

A powerful surveillance tool

UAV pioneers (they avoid using the term “drone”) also know they have an uphill battle on the issue of privacy. Opinion polls suggest that more than a third of Americans fear their privacy will be eroded through aerial surveillance of their personal space. Several states have imposed restrictions on the technology – Texas, for example, has prohibited individuals from using UAVs to take pictures of private property from the air, but given police departments and even real estate companies permission to use the devices. Deer Trail, a small town in Colorado, has gone one further and debated issuing licences to residents to allow them to hunt and shoot down drones flown by the federal government over the town’s airspace. (There are no such drones yet in existence, but that didn’t stop Deer Trail.)

Dr Stephen McKeever, Oklahoma’s secretary of science and technology, said that it is important for people to enter the debate “with open eyes and minds. The right way to have a conversation about this issue is to look at the benefits as well as possible abuses. The technology itself is neutral – it’s people who abuse it.”

Drone proponents argue that the vehicles are no different from manned aircraft in terms of their ability to snoop on citizens. A passenger of a light plane like a Cessna can capture high-resolution photographs of private property that are just as detailed and intrusive as any images streamed from a drone – and besides, they say, existing laws should cover both manned and unmanned planes.

But the Oklahoma branch of the American Civil Liberties Union disagrees. “That’s a naive view,” said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of ACLU Oklahoma. “Drones are different – they are very quiet and can remain stationery in the sky for long periods of time,” he said, arguing that such capabilities make them powerful surveillance tools unlike anything we’ve yet seen.

Kiesel added that reaping the benefits of domestic drones and protecting the privacy of individuals should not be seen as mutually exclusive. “One way to overcome public resistance to drones, and to make full use of the economic opportunities they represent, is to reassure people that their privacy will be respected.”

Part of that, Kiesel added, was to ensure that local police departments – which have been among the early adopters of domestic drones – will have to secure warrants before carrying out surveillance.

Police in Arlington, Texas, have used the vehicles to fly over a co-operative known as the “Garden of Eden” to look for drugs. They were also given one-off permission by the FAA to use the UAV to stake out an apartment complex in which a shooting suspect was barricaded.

Tactical Electronics, the private security firm that is distributing the Raptr, has participated in tests on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security in which small drones equipped with sensors are pitted against possible public safety scenarios, from a search for a family lost in the woods to the detection of criminals hiding out in an urban setting. These “Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety” (RAPS) tests are being staged at Fort Sill in southern Oklahoma in 208 acres of restricted military airspace.

The PMAW isn’t your typical drone – it’s shaped not like its manned predecessors, but like an owl. Photograph: Guardian

Over the past year the Raptr has been put through its paces in a corner of the RAPS site, where an apartment block dubbed “Freedom City” has been simulated out of stacked shipping containers about the size of townhouses. The mini-helicopter was flown alongside the containers and its thermal imaging and other sensors used to track human movement inside. Tactical Electronics said the craft performed well, though independent assessment of its performance is not available.

Curtis Sprague, the Raptr’s handler – he controls the helicopter from the ground using a remote control box from the ground – worked as a SWAT officer with Oklahoma police for 10 years. He said he is confident that once the public realises the value of the technology, it will come onboard. “All it needs is one little girl to be found using a UAV, and it will change everything,” Sprague said. “Right now all they can think of is the theatre of war. After a little exposure the outcry about privacy will subside.”

From feral pigs to emergency responders

The most heated arguments are likely to concern drones in American towns and cities. But in practice, supporters say, the technology is most likely to be applied in large open spaces where the aircraft can fly freely.

That includes agriculture – a $37bn a year industry in Oklahoma. High-resolution cameras can survey up to 3,600 acres a day, down to the level of an individual clump of grass, from a long-endurance unmanned aircraft. That allows farmers to keep an eye out for early outbreaks of disease, shift cattle more efficiently between areas of heavy and light grazing – and look out for those pesky feral pigs.

Staffers at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, a federal complex that tracks extreme weather across the US, are also eager to embrace the devices. Meteorologists are particularly interested in gathering data from the lower atmosphere – from ground level up to about 2km above the Earth – which is where most of the moisture that fuels thunderstorms is concentrated. Drones are in development that will fly in a helix through that zone in the hope that the information collected will allow scientists to predict when a supercell storm will turn into a tornado. That in turn could enhance early warning systems and save lives, particularly in the tornado alley that passes through Oklahoma. In May, an EF5 tornado – the most powerful on the scale – ripped through the town of Moore, killing 23 people.

Emergency responders, too, are waiting impatiently for the FAA to give drones the green light. Jon Hansen was assistant chief of the Oklahoma City fire department at the time of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah federal building that killed 168 people.

“We were outgunned and outmatched that day,” Hansen said. “People died in the debris and we didn’t know they were even there. What if we could have put a UAV in there, located the folks and got to them a little quicker? In today’s times, this is something we just have to have.” 

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Legal Victory for N.S.A., Justin Bieber's New Movie; The Year in Drones - NYT

» Legal Victory for N.S.A., Justin Bieber's New Movie; The Year in Drones
27/12/13 19:23 from Uploads by TheNewYorkTimes
Legal Victory for N.S.A., Justin Bieber's New Movie; The Year in Drones Also on the Minute, Justin Bieber's new movie and looking back at drones in 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/12/27/multimedia/100000002623471/times-mi...

Published on Dec 27, 2013

Also on the Minute, Justin Bieber's new movie and looking back at drones in 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/12/...