The Huntsville Times May 17, 2006
Redstone UAVs could be used on border
Technology already used in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Shelby G. Spires
Plans to police America's borders might employ Redstone Arsenal technology that's already used to protect U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
President Bush, during his televised speech Monday, said federal troops would use unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, and advanced sensors to track people trying to cross American borders illegally.
No definite plans have been announced by Army or Pentagon planners to use Redstone technology to watch the borders, though Redstone is involved in several surveillance programs designed to detect enemy troops.
The Army's Tactical UAV Project Office develops and manages several small vehicles the military uses in Iraq and Afghanistan to monitor enemy activity.
Two primary UAVs - Hunter and Shadow - are used by ground commanders to help check on supply routes and keep tabs on enemy movements. Soldiers in Iraq have credited the unmanned systems for preventing some roadside bombs from damaging U.S. convoys.
Soldiers also use a small hand-held UAV, called the Raven, which assists squads of soldiers by using a small video camera. The Raven can fly for up to an hour and peer over hills and large buildings to alert soldiers to the possibility of enemy troops.
Also, the Pentagon has been relying on another Redstone program, called the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment, to monitor enemy activity near the perimeters of American military bases in war zones.
The Army's Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment, or RAID, ties a large balloon-like blimp to a 117-foot tall tower and uses advanced cameras and light sensors to detect intruders.
The Huntsville-based program took 20-year-old surplus Army communication towers and mated them with high-tech sensor equipment. In 2003, Redstone teams tested and proved the sensors would work on large balloons.
RAID has been used to provide security for bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Building an electronic "fence" of sensors could have limitations, said John Pike, a national security expert and executive director of defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org.
Pike said using the National Guard would be only a "stop-gap measure."
If the U.S. government is serious about shutting down the border, it should build a wall "that is too high to climb over or too deep to tunnel under," he said.
"East Germany built a good one, and the Israelis have a good one," Pike said referring to the 12-foot tall Berlin Wall and Israel's 25-foot high Wall of Separation that cordons off the West Bank.
© Copyright 2006, The Huntsville Times
