spy drones

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Iran: Shooting Down Drone Sends 'Clear Message' to US

General says US drone shot down in Iranian airspace

(Newser) - An ominous development in the Middle East: Iran says it shot down an American "spy drone" Thursday, allegedly after the aircraft entered Iranian airspace. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the drone was shot down over the Kouhmobarak district in the southern province of Hormozgan, near the Strait of Hormuz,...

Trump Nixes Obama-Era Order on Drone Strike Deaths

Administration says move gets rid of 'superfluous' mandates

(Newser) - The CIA has since 2016 been obligated to put out yearly summaries of how many drone strikes the US has carried out, as well as how many civilian deaths outside of war zones that those strikes caused. But NBC News reports no such report came last year, as was required...

$21M US Drone Crashes in Iraq, Guy Gets a Selfie

Spy drone conducting surveillance went down due to 'technical complications'

(Newser) - Pictures started circulating online this week of what looked like a US Army drone sitting in the middle of the Iraqi desert, and yesterday the Pentagon confirmed that's indeed what it is, the Verge reports. A US Central Command spokesman told BuzzFeed that an MQ-1 surveillance drone crashed on...

Secret US Spy Program Tracks Cellphone Users

Planes carrying 'dirtboxes' trick phones into sending identifying data and location

(Newser) - The extent to which the US government spies on US soil continues to unfold. The latest revelation: Using Cessna aircraft over at least five metropolitan-area airports, the Justice Department oversees (albeit to an unknown extent) a program that indiscriminately accesses large amounts of cellphone data, including identifying information and people'...

S. Korea Finds North's Crashed 'Toy' Drones

But the 'rudimentary aircraft' can still 'find a blind spot': experts

(Newser) - A pair of crashed drones found in South Korea came from the North, Seoul officials say, and they weren't exactly state-of-the-art, with one defense expert telling the Wall Street Journal that they "both look like rudimentary model aircraft." Both drones turned up near the countries' border. One...

Military's Coffee Alternative: Shocks to the Brain?

Air Force testing electric stimulation for drone operators

(Newser) - When you're spending hours tracking the activity of spy drones, it can be hard to stay alert, even if you've got Red Bull. Now, the military is testing a caffeine alternative, and it involves the unlikely tactic of shocking drone operators' brains, the Boston Globe reports. The results...

Agencies Borrowing Drones More Than We Thought

Customs and Border Protection has loaned them out almost 700 times

(Newser) - Domestic law enforcement agencies have flown a lot more drone missions than they let on, according to newly uncovered data. Customs and Border Patrol lent out drones from its fleet for almost 700 surveillance missions from 2010 to 2012, the agency has revealed, in response to Freedom of Information Act...

Iran Rolls Out 'Biggest Drone Yet'

Spy, combat drone has huge range, minister claims

(Newser) - Iran unveiled a new aircraft yesterday that it says is the biggest drone yet to be developed in the country, capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours. Iran's defense minister Hossein Dehghan said the reconnaissance and combat drone Fotros has a range of 1,250 miles. That...

Private Drones Could Fly Over US by 2015: FAA

But agency roadmap doesn't set out privacy rules

(Newser) - The FAA has unveiled a roadmap for introducing private drones operated by companies, universities, and even individual hobbyists to US skies by 2015—but the road might be a bumpy one. The agency, behind schedule on a deadline set by Congress, says it is working on very complicated regulations that...

CIA Too Busy With Drones to Spy: Report

Hagel panel says agency isn't gathering enough intel

(Newser) - US spy agencies have neglected intelligence gathering operations in strategically critical places like China, the Middle East, and elsewhere, because they've been too busy flying drone strikes and conducting quasi-combat operations, a classified report warned President Obama last year. The panel, headed by Chuck Hagel and former Sen. David...

Artist's Clothing Line Protects Wearers From ... Drones?

Items reflect heat, making it tough for enemy craft to zero in

(Newser) - A New York artist is standing against spy drones—with his own clothing line. Shiny silver " Stealth Wear " contains fibers that reflect heat, making it tough for drones to spot the wearer using thermal surveillance, the Daily Beast reports. Among the offerings are a hoodie, a burqa, and...

Iran Airs Footage It Says Is From Captured US Drone

West hikes sanctions against Tehran

(Newser) - Iranian TV has unveiled footage it says came from a US drone it obtained in 2011, Reuters reports. The footage shows a US base in Afghanistan, among other material, officials say. "After we decrypted the data ... we realized that this aircraft had made a lot of flights inside regional...

Niger (Yes, Next to Mali) to Host US Drones

Deal opens possibility of US military presence

(Newser) - Niger's president has agreed to let the US use the country—which borders Mali—as a base for surveillance drones, a source tells Reuters . The drones would be used to spy on militants with al-Qaeda ties in Mali and the Sahara as a whole, according to the insider, who...

Hamid Karzai: US Is Giving Us a Drone Fleet

But division remains over Afghanistan troop withdrawal

(Newser) - In his first public comments since his visit to Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced yesterday that the US is giving Afghanistan a fleet of unarmed aerial spy drones, the New York Times reports. A pleased Karzai said his meetings with President Obama gave him most of what he wanted;...

Drowning in Drone Video, Military Asks ESPN for Help

Air Force trying to figure out how to sort through its video

(Newser) - The Air Force has more video footage from drone missions than it knows what to do with, so it's turning to the experts in video analysis: ESPN. These days, drones fly a lot of what the Air Force calls "pattern of life" surveillance missions, recording compounds for days...

Iran Now Claims It Pulled Spy Data From Drone

Airs footage of drone, but US still denies it was captured

(Newser) - Fresh claims from Iran, and more denial from the US: Iran today announced it has "fully extracted" data from the drone it reports having captured , and says that data proves the drone was spying on Iranian military and petroleum terminals where the country transfers its oil, Reuters reports. In...

Iran: We Captured US Drone US: No, You Didn't

US says all ScanEagles 'fully accounted for' after Iranian report

(Newser) - Iranian state TV is claiming that the country's Revolutionary Guard captured a US drone after it entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf—a report the US moved quickly to squash, reports the AP , with a Navy spokesman saying that all US drones are "fully accounted for."...

Hezbollah: That Was Our Drone Over Israel

Group's leader says parts came from Iran

(Newser) - Hezbollah confirmed today what many Mideast observers already guessed: It sent up the spy drone over Israel that was shot down last weekend, and it got help in doing so from Iran, reports the BBC . The unmanned craft may have been destroyed by Israeli jets, but Hezbollah's leader boasted...

Embassy Attack Was Planned: Report
 Libya Attack 
 Was Planned: 
 Report 
UPDATED
Sep 12, 2012 2:24 PM CDT

Libya Attack Was Planned: Report

US may send drones to look for militants responsible, anonymous officials say

(Newser) - The attack on the US consulate in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens wasn't the spontaneous act of violence it initially appeared to be—it was planned. Or at least, that's what the Obama administration suspects. Whereas yesterday's riots in Egypt appeared spontaneous, attackers in Libya showed...

Terrorists Could Hijack Drones: Researchers

Worrisome, since drones could be flying over US soon

(Newser) - Another reason to be wary of increasing reliance on unmanned drones in the US: They could be easily hijacked by terrorists. A University of Texas researcher illustrated that fact in a series of test flights recently, showing that GPS "spoofing" could cause a drone to veer off its course...

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