WebProNews

Tag: drone policy

  • FAA Picks Six Sites For Drone Testing

    FAA Picks Six Sites For Drone Testing

    Back in early December, Amazon unveiled its vision for the future of package delivery. Within the next decade the company hopes to have a full fleet of unmanned drones that can deliver packages in a fraction of the time it takes traditional delivery trucks to drop off packages.

    Amazon did admit that its drone program is years away from implementation, citing federal aviation laws a a short-term barrier to delivery drones. Now it appears that laws pertaining to commercial drones will be finalized sooner than many thought possible.

    The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week has announced the selection of six test site operators that will research unmanned aircraft systems (UAS, drones) at sites across the U.S. The research conducted at these sites will help the FAA formulate future laws pertaining to commercial drones.

    The six operators selected are all public and include the University of Alaska, Griffiss International Airport, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, the North Dakota Department of Commerce, and the state of Nevada. The operators were all selected based on their experience with aviation, risk assessments, and their test site geography and climate.

    These drone tests will be meant to help the FAA form safety and certification standards for such devices. According to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the tests will eventually guide companies in “how best to ensure the safe introduction of this advanced technology into our nation’s skies.”

    “Safety continues to be our first priority as we move forward with integrating unmanned aircraft systems into U.S. airspace,” said Michael Huerta, FAA Administrator. “We have successfully brought new technology into the nation’s aviation system for more than 50 years, and I have no doubt we will do the same with unmanned aircraft.”

  • Navy SEALs Somalia Assault Raises Strategic Questions

    Yesterday, Navy SEAL Team Six raided an al-Shabaab HQ in Barawe, Somalia. Although none of the SEALs were killed in the assault, a series of conflicting reports about the raid’s target were released, some of which claiming the individual was captured while others were claiming he died in the firefight. The raid was aborted as a failure.

    Despite conflicting reports, the SEAL team leader decided that the fighting was too hot, and after 20 minutes of gunfire, the SEAL team swam away. Somali intelligence officials have claimed, according to CBS News, that the SEAL team was targeting the leader of the al-Shabaab Islamist faction in Somalia, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr AKA Ahmed Godane; however, an al-Shabaab official by the name of Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said via audio message that the raid had failed in its goal.

    The strike in Somalia by Navy SEAL Team Six was a part of a coordinated response to the Nairobi Westgate Mall attacks. The failed raid was part of a two-pronged response, with the second staged in Libya just hours after SEAL Team Six pulled out. The Libyan strike was targeting an al Qaeda leader associated with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

    The Libyan raid, unlike the Somali one, was considered a huge success. Navy SEAL teams surrounded a house in Tripoli containing Anu Abas al-Liby, the al-Qaeda leader who claimed responsibility for the Embassy bombings. Liby had previously been indicted for his role in the bombings.

    The CS Monitor noted an interesting dichotomy: until recently, the Obama administration’s primary method of fighting terror abroad was authorized drone strikes. Having conducted hundreds of drone strikes during his presidency, Obama sought to decrease their frequency. Whereas 2010 saw 117 drone strikes in Pakistan alone, this year has seen only 46 Pakistani strikes while Yemen only endured 10 strikes this year. With these recent Navy SEAL raids, is the Obama administration changing tactics in the War on Terror?

    Obama recently acknowledged the deep resentment felt by the international community with regard to U.S. drone policy: “To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance,” Obama said in a speech at the National Defense University. “For the same human progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power – or risk abusing it.”

    [Image via a KTN YouTube news report of the raids]