Inside the CIA’s Secret Drone War

In 2001, the White House concluded that it was legal to use armed drones to kill senior al-Qaeda leaders. Within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, then-US President George W Bush signed off on an order which authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to capture and kill al-Qaeda operatives. For some, drones are the greatest weapon ever […]

The Drone Pilot Who Watched Osama Bin Laden Walk Away

Months before the 9/11 terror attacks, U.S. Air Force captain Scott Swanson was controlling a Predator drone over Afghanistan. Swanson and his team were looking for Osama Bin Laden … and they found him. But this was months before the Predator could fire missiles. The drone operators could only watch as the terrorist leader walked […]

U.S. Army Requests Small-Sized Drone

Editor’s Note: About five years ago, DARPA commissioned a program to develop a very small drone. AeroVironment’s “Nano Hummingbird” which looks a lot like its namesake, can actually hover in winds up to 5 mph, has a wingspan of six inches, and weighs in at less than one ounce. The endurance is a bit less […]

Flying Bazooka Drones Are Real?!

Editor’s Note: We’ve touched on some of the amazing aircraft designs which have revolutionized aviation since the Wright Brothers took to the sky on 17 December 1903. We’ve heard of technology similar to what you’ll see here, but to actually watch it in action is pretty cool. A drone carrying a Bazooka to deal with […]

Extended Range MQ-9 Reaper Takes Flight!

Editor’s Note: The U.S. Air Force’s most sought-after Remotely-Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in recent years has been the MQ-9 Reaper. The airframe has been an absolute workhouse, and the operators have been asking for ways to extend its legs and keep it on station for a really long time. General Atomics answered, and the long-winged Reaper […]

Pentagon testing ‘mind-controlled’ drone technology

The Pentagon is attempting what was, until recently, an impossible technological feat—developing a high-bandwidth neural interface that would allow people to beam data from their minds to external devices and back. That’s right—a brain modem. One that could allow a soldier to, for example, control a drone with his mind. This seemingly unlikely piece of technology […]

FAA: Drone Registration Surpasses Manned Aircraft!

Editor’s Note: Drones, especially those carry GoPro and other action cameras, have become increasingly popular in the past couple of years. Admittedly, our video production department has them, and use them to great effect. That being said, the skies are becoming more and more crowded, and the number of incidents involving drones and manned aircraft […]

Somalia’s al-Shabab ‘seizes missile armed drone’

Somali rebel group al-Shabab says it has seized an armed drone after it crashed in Somalia’s southern Gedo region. The unmarked drone, which the group said was armed with six missiles, came down in the hilly Buuraaha Sanda’ar region, about 60km northwest of the town of Baardhere on Sunday evening, in an area controlled by the […]

Did Hackers Take Control of a NASA GlobalHawk?

[Editor’s Note: This isn’t the first time hackers have claimed to take control of government-owned UAVs. The alleged victim in this instance is a GlobalHawk owned by NASA, and though the space agency denies the claim, it does make you wonder about how secure the communications are between the aircraft and its pilots on the […]