Switchblade - Miniature Killer Drone - coming to local police and military
Jan 15
posted by Michael Smith in
2012
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The company that makes these minature spy and kill drones is not only selling to the US military but also to local police forces. Should future police want to spy or assassinate leaders of demonstrations or other government opposition they will have a powerful and hard to detect weapon to do so. The drones fly almost silently, weigh under 6 lb and can explode on contact with the target without killing lots of other people nearby.
AeroVironment describes the Switchblade as the warfighter's “magic bullet”. It can rapidly provide a powerful, but expendable miniature flying Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) package on a Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) target within minutes. This miniature, remotely-piloted or autonomous platform can either glide or propel itself via quiet electric propulsion, providing real-time GPS coordinates and video for information gathering, targeting, or feature/object recognition. The vehicle’s small size and quiet motor make it difficult to detect, recognize, and track even at very close range. The Switchblade is fully scalable and can be launched from a variety of air and ground platforms.
The Switchblade's payload and launcher, weighing less than six pounds total, can be carried in a backpack by a single soldier. The mini UAV, which sends streaming video and GPS coordinates back to its operator, can be transformed from an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAV into a mini bomb striking a target beyond the line of sight.
The battery-powered vehicle has a very low visual, acoustic and thermal signature. AeroVironment says the the weapon can also be deployed from submarines, ground vehicles and a manned, as well as unmanned, aircraft.
From http://defense-update.com/products/l/switchblade_31122010.html
In the January 4 Huff Post, attorney and author John Whitehead reported on the militarization of local police. Some police forces are now equipped with spy drones. Whitehead reports that a drone manufacturer, AeroVironment Inc., plans to sell 18,000 drones to police departments throughout the country. The company is also advertising a small drone, the “Switchblade,” which can track a person, land on the person and explode.
How long before Americans will be spied upon or murdered as extremists at the discretion of local police?
Recognizing the privacy danger, if not the murder danger, the American Civil Liberties Union has issued a report, “Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance.”https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/protectingprivacyfromaerialsurveillance.pdf
