Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Commercial UAV Used for Anti-whaling Surveillance

The Sea Shepard anti-whaling ship is reported to have launched a miniature robot aircraft ("Drone puts sting in whale war", MERYL NAIDOO, Hobart Mercury, December 26, 2011 12.00am). Speculation on the DIY Drones Website suggests this from company Attopilot. The largest UAV they sell is the Jackaroo, with a 1.5M wingspan. This only has a 25km range, but if flown over the ship to its ceiling of 3.5km, would provide a view out to 200km. This is far beyond the range of the ship's radar. There is no indication of what sensors are carried, but presumably it is a camera.

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