Look out, Canadians… Skynet is now online.
The US Border Patrol is preparing to deploy a ‘Predator B’ unmanned drone aircraft along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, presumably to detect drug growing and smuggling operations along the US-Canadian border.
Also known as the MQ-9 Reaper, the drone is a second generation version of the original Predator that the US military has been using in some capacity since 1995. Still enjoying the fruits of a post-9/11 spending spree, the Border Patrol now has at least five of its Predator toys patrolling the US-Mexico border. It launched its first US-Canadian mission along the Dakota-Manitoba border in February as part of the Border Patrol’s “Northern Border Air Wing,” a high-tech surveillance plan called for by the 9/11 commission.
Make no mistake, these drones are not toys. The Reaper has a wing span of 66 feet and can weigh up to five tons when fully armed and loaded. Part of that weight is the 3,000+ lbs of missiles and bombs that it is equipped to carry. Whereas the original Predators were designed primarily for surveillance, Reapers are lauded by the military for their role as “true hunter-killers.”
Of course, without human pilots, these drones are only as good as the electronics and software that keep them airborne, as evidenced by the 2006 drone crash in Arizona. Let’s hope that these new Reapers aren’t running Windows Vista.
Originally posted on The Fresh Scent
