UAVs operational over America?

Are uav's being operated over populated areas in daylight? What would they sound like--a jet engine?
If operational, would it be for testing purposes, or for what?
I've tried to find answers but can't.

I don't really see the point in using UAV's over america, because the whole point of using UAV's, is too see areas too dangerous for people to go. The government could fly a blimp with a hundred cameras poking out of it, and it would'nt matter, because they are allowed to do it here, because its OUR country.

Where did you find this information from?.....(that UAVs are operational in pure daylight) Do you have a link we could take a look at?

No, because they would be useless, the whole point of UAV's is too use them in hostile areas, america is far from hostile, they are also allowed to do it.

Any aircraft being tested by the U.S. Government must over-fly U.S. territory, for the obvious reasons that testing bases are located on American soil. This goes especially for reconnaissance vehicles, as the most efficient and accurate way to test the on board SIGINT, IMGINT and ELINT equipment is to fly over known territory and compare the information the aircraft gathered with the known information about the target. Evidence of recon testing such as this occurred with the Aquatone and Oxcart projects, as well as the times SAC conducted mock bomber attacks on cities such as New York.

So yes, UAV's would overfly U.S. territory for testing purposes, although they would most likely avoid flying over populated areas in case the aircraft crashed.

Just read the replies, FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY I'll say again. It's no use to install a new IR camera, then send the aircraft over Iran only to find that an F/8.0 lens does not have the focus properties required and decreases fuel efficiency too much. So of course recon aircraft will overfly U.S. territory, and yes, in broad daylight to test optical cameras.

Did you see a UAV at a low-altitude from a town/city?

[edit on 21/4/2006 by watch_the_rocks]

Ehh I want to get one of these www2.towerhobbies.com...


did you happen to see one in the sky? it migh've been that

Hey, thanks for info. Don't have many jet aircraft that fly over town so you can hear them, so today after scanning the sky for seeming far off jet, I focused on a small dark angular shape. Didn't seem big, so just curious if uav. Now, if uavs don't have jet engines, then I didn't see one. No, not Predator.

There are UAVs with jet engines. Global Hawk is one of them. As Watch_The_Rocks said, they have to test them over the US.

What Watch_The_Rocks said made sense. Maybe Predator flew over Palmdale at one time. I remember people up and down the valley years ago reporting strange light formations/aircraft in the night sky. (Some said no noise, others said definitely jet aircraft.) Well, not long after that, the stealth bomber was unvailed. And also the Kern River canyon crash, where campers were hustled away at night as the military came in to scour the area.
Thanks for info re engine. Could be I saw a bird same time I heard what sounded jetlike. Anyway, it got me to thinking if anyone has seen or knows about overflights of populated areas.

Sorry for digging this thread from the grave...

There are TONS of UAVS operating in the US. There are an especially high number operating in the deserts of California (primary testing sites). Also, a great number of them are 'jet' powered.

I find one of the most interesting ones is a VTOL like the V-22 that the Coast Guard operates.

Look here

Where's my silver bullet? Some threads never die!

The CG 22...nice looking. Just think of the jobs it could do.

Hey, Spirit Warrior, I've seen pictures of the pilot of an unmanned craft flying the craft from what looked like a room in a building. Question-are helicopters also used as a sort of flying control room, where might be found a pilot/electronics for operating/data collection?

I read that Predators are also used for border control. One of them crashed recently.

Desert, why would you use helicopters?? It's much more comfortable and safe in a room on the ground, than in a helicopter.

Originally posted by The_Time_is_now
No, because they would be useless, the whole point of UAV's is too use them in hostile areas, america is far from hostile, they are also allowed to do it.

Actually, no - the whole point of UAVs is that they can stay on station far far longer than any other aircraft in the USAF inventory - theres no pilot onboard to get tired, make mistakes. The people making the decisions for the UAV can have a rest, take a leak, grab a bite to eat, change shifts and the UAV will still fly on.

Thats why they get used in non-hostile locations - 18 hour surveillance missions.

Originally posted by RichardPrice
whole point of UAVs is that .......

I personally would never say that one aircraft is solely designed to do this one thing this one way at this one time etc etc etc. The purpose of a plane with out a pilot is what ever it is designed for. Now if you make statement with the underlying current of the idea of military action in killing so and so or a spy action in spying on so and so that is what its for.

Just figured I'd share that since it jumped out at me as a flaw in trying to make an argument for either when you use a general term like UAV and not UCAV and try and nail down its purpose. Otherwise both of you could argue till the end of time as you have not even defined what your question or opinion is.

The 174th in Syracuse NY will be transitioning from F-16s after 25 years to the Reaper in 2010. They will undoubtedly fly training missions in the US.

Reaper

Newspaper Story


The 174th has flown the following aircraft since its incepting in 1947:
P-47, F-84, F-94, F-86, A-10, F-16

I live near a military base that is one of the few designated bases for uav's. I live out in the country ( maybe 25 homes in close area) and they are using the land across the road for testing . I have seen some strange things at night. If you type in 'military uav space program 2008', it will take you to a few sites. The first one is pretty good. The uav's also detect the chemicals in the air besides having a camera in all of them. They are 'spy eyes' also.They carry cargo,supplies etc... and also, of course, are able to attack the enemy. Sometimes I think they have made some to be invisible to the human eye, maybe in day time, because I hear them but can't see them. I guess it wouldn't be hard for them to do something like that. One night, I saw two good sized round-ball shaped things soaring through the air side by side, going pretty fast. They landed somewhere across the road in the field. There were people out there with flashlights, so I guess they were testing them out. It is just farm land over there.

Very interesting, darkbluesky. The future/science fiction is here.
I'm having trouble adjusting to craft that big flying in the sky without a pilot on board. I mean, rc hobby craft have been around ages, but this is entirely a new aeronautical development. Talk about eyes in the skies, better than the usual helicopter or satellite.

Ah, yes, sovietman, I see your point. If a pilot can sit thousands of miles away, I guess data can be transmitted to that location, too. I guess I'm thinking of reconnaissance planes, with all their electronics on board.

reply to post by imysbbad


imysbbad I searched what you suggested. Very interesting. Interesting what you've seen. I think I associated helicopters having something to do with uav's, because of what I observed one night. Completely terrestrial (at least it took off from a runway )
An overhead huge (by the sound) helicopter (with one white light and one red strobe) was following two craft, each with only one red, nonblinking light in the front. The craft were otherwise completely blacked out, no other lights, couldn't even tell there was anything there, until they were backlit by moonlight. Even then it was dark object. They did not look like the usual uav's, but I got to thinking that maybe that's what they were. And somehow the heli was involved. Monitoring them? Merely acting as their navigation lights, so other aircraft would avoid them? I don't know.
Were they on their way to another place, or going somewhere and returning--dont' know. Just saw them depart.

Too bad I didn't have any night vision goggles!

reply to post by desert


desert: I know I would love to have some night vision goggles!! I also think that they have different shapes or styles of uav's that they don"t let anyone see what they look like . There are pics of several different kinds already but I just think they have to have some secret. I read somewhere once that there was a certain kind of paint the gov't used and it would make the plane (or 'copter) invisible at night? Several times outside at night I will see a shadow on the ground by me and it was something that was above me that made it, but never see it.

Hey, Spirit Warrior, I've seen pictures of the pilot of an unmanned craft flying the craft from what looked like a room in a building. Question-are helicopters also used as a sort of flying control room, where might be found a pilot/electronics for operating/data collection?

I'm not sure I understand your question... the control rooms are called ground control stations. They can be located anywhere in the world and fly vehicles with satcom relays. If they don't have satcom, they must be near the theatre of operation as well as within line of site. They usually fly those with an S band freq. We have also developed the capability to fly these A/C from laptops in combat areas. SOCOM can call in and control these UAVs from the ground. I'm not sure I would want to fly one from a helo, but it could be done.

To reply to another post... UAVs are designed for many purposes. The main advantage of the UAV is sortie time. No pilot saves a ton of weight from removing all the life support and interface devices. This adds room for more fuel, ordinance and sensor packages. The great thing about UAVs is the multi faceted platforms. They are mostly for recon, yet recently, certain models were approved for weaponization. This all boils down to no risk for human pilots, no sortie fatigue for pilots and incredibly long sortie capability. The draw back is that you don't have true eyes on target, however, the FLIR and LIDAR systems are absolutely incredible. As good if not better than eyes on. UAVs are the future of battlefield air dominance and reconnaissance. We will also see them in border patrol, fire fighting and law enforcement in the near future.


[edit on 2-2-2008 by Spirit Warrior]