| Preventing terrorists from using UA | - Terrorism |
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Rockets fired from a turbine powered model aircraft. |
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Israeli Air Force F-16s from Ramon Air Base, Israel Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday shot down a suspicious unmanned object which was flying over the Dimona nuclear reactor in southern Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. 20 December 2010 The IDF informed that the unmanned object had an engine and was flying in closed airspace. The large balloon was downed as Israel feared it could be an attack on the Dimona nuclear reactor of which its airspace is restricted and well protected by the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The suspicious object was detected over the Dead Sea by IAF radar stations on Thursday afternoon. Scrambled fighter jets were sent to the area to identify and intercept the unmanned object. After determining that it was a balloon, IAF commander Ido Nehushtan ordered to shoot it down. Nehushtan decided to fire at the object as there were serious concerns that it might have been sent over the reactor to gather intelligence on the activities performed there or that the balloon may be carrying explosives. For several hours, IAF was not sure if the incident was a real threat or not. The investigation later revealed, however, that the object may have simply been a weather balloon. The Dimona nuclear reactor, which is being protected by both the IAF as well as surface-to-air missile systems, has reportedly manufactured approximately 200 nuclear weapons. In October, IAF intercepted an ultra-light aircraft that accidentally flew into the restricted area. The Israeli aircraft was escorted by fighter jets to a nearby landing strip. During the 1967 Middle East war, an Israeli surface-to-air missile shot down a crippled Israeli fighter-bomber that strayed into the restricted zone, killing its pilot in the process.
- from http://hstoday.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2825&Itemid=152 by Joe Charlaff Wednesday, 9 April 2008 Terror network showing signs of preparing for escalation of attacks At the inception of the second Lebanon war in July 2006, Hizbullah rained down nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel using Iranian Katyusha rockets (RAAD 40) with a payload of 45 lb each, and a range of approximately 45 miles. Although the Israel air force succeeded in taking out most of the group's long range rockets, made and supplied by Iran, the ground forces were unsuccessful in halting the short range rocket fire that paralyzed most of the northern part of Israel. Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has publicly admitted that his organization is rearming and secretly transporting arms to south Lebanon - in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701. Since last August huge quantities of arms, including Russian-made antitank missiles, short- and long-range rockets, small arms, mines and ammunition have been smuggled into Lebanon from Syria and Iran. According to senior Israeli defense officials, the Lebanon-based militant group has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of 300 kilometers (185 miles) which now threaten most of Israel. This enables the guerrillas to strike anywhere in Israel's heavily populated centers, and reach as far south as Dimona, where Israel's nuclear reactor is located. According to globalsecurity.org Iran has a supplied a number of UAV's capable of carrying surveillance equipment as well as explosives, to Hezbollah in recent years. The defense officials did not specify how many of the new rockets Hizbullah has obtained, but said that overall, Hizbullah now has substantially more rockets in its arsenal than the 14,000 it had before the conflict - likely more than double that number. According to a reliable source of information in Beirut, who must remain anonymous, the Iranian budget for Hizbullah is not public knowledge, but it is estimated to run from hundreds of millions to $1 billion, not counting the money that Iran gave Hizbullah to rebuild after the 2006 war. While Iranian missile supplies to Hizbullah, either by sea or overland via Syria, are well known, according to the officials, there were also indications that some of the rockets in Hizbullah's arsenal - including a 220-millimeter rocket used in a deadly attack on a railway site in Haifa - were built in Syria. At a recent briefing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a senior military intelligence officer told members that Hizbullah is rearming and preparing for a new escalation as a result of an anticipated operation against Israel along the northern border. He said that a great deal of activity had been identified and that the group is growing stronger on all levels, improving its systems, its units, and is receiving a substantial quantity of weapons and increasing its medium and long range missile capability. Fears have mounted in the defense establishment that Hizbullah may fly an explosives-packed drone into Israel in retaliation for Israel's alleged assassination of Imad Mughiyeh in Damascus early this year. During the Lebanon war in 2006 Hizbullah launched four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) at Israel. All were Iranian-made, have a known range of 93 miles, can reach approx 180 mph, and carry 99 lbs of high grade explosive. The rearming of Hizbullah could have far reaching implications for the US who have a presence in the Middle East. According to Dr. Ely Karmon, senior researcher at the Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) at the Inter Disciplinary Center at Herzliya, the moment Hizbullah feels it is strong enough it could take control in Lebanon ousting Siniora's pro- Western government. The Lebanese army would be no match for the terror group who now number some 30, 000 fighters. The US supports the present Lebanese government, and at present is showing its support with the presence of the USS Cole. Hizbullah could misread the US military presence as an imminent threat. The assassination of Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyeh on February 12, has put the Islamist party on high alert. Hassan Nasrallah used Mugniyeh's death to escalate his rhetoric, proclaiming an "open war" against Israel. If Hizbullah is convinced that a military confrontation with Israel and the United States is inevitable, the group may opt for a pre-emptive strike against Israel, or a final push to topple Siniora's government which would seriously test the US show of support. Joe Charlaff writes on security issues from Jerusalem. He wrote, " Hardening the Holy Land ," in the October 2007 issue of HSToday. He also writes for Monitor, which is part of Jane’s Defense Weekly group of publications in London .
Since UAVs can fairly easily be adapted to carry a bomb, or, be used for unauthorised surveillance purposes, measures need to be taken to make it as difficult as possible for unauthorised people to misuse Unmanned Aircraft. Categorisation Since payload can be interchanged for fuel, using payload to determine categories can be misleading. Consequently, we suggest the categories are simply based on Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) in Kg.
LEVEL I and higher
LEVEL II and higher
LEVEL III
The " Ground Station" could come in a variety of formats:
To secure the Ground Station against unauthorised use: LEVEL I and higher
LEVEL II and higher
Level III
LEVEL II and higher
LEVEL II and higher Command and control uplink data:
Action is taken on detection of a significant increase in BER: switch to a different channel, or operate more autonomously, while monitoring current channel for a decrease in noise level to enable resymption of data uplink using the original channel. LEVEL III
The potential use of UAVs by terrorists and criminals has to be prevented both by design and by the ongoing application of well thought through operating principles that deny access by unauthorised users to any UA. From http://english.aljazeera.net and http://www.armscontrol.ru/UAV/em040711.htm
Above and seven images below from presentation by Kemal Burak Codur on " UAVs as a threat to armed forces and a survey of countermeasures" at the UAV 2007 Conference in Paris.
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