[independent.co.uk] The
Government is drawing up plans to use unmanned "drone" aircraft
currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to counter terrorism and aid
police operations in Britain.
The
MoD is carrying out research and development to enable the spy planes,
which are equipped with highly sophisticated monitoring equipment that
allows them to secretly track and photograph suspects without their
knowledge, to be deployed within three years.
The plans have been
backed by the House of Commons Defence Committee but have attracted
criticism from civil liberties campaigners concerned about the
implications of covert surveillance of civilians.
The unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) can obtain clear images while flying at up to
50,000ft. If ministers give the scheme the go-ahead the UK will be
among the first countries to use UAVs to monitor its own citizens.
The
Israeli military operates them over Palestinian cities such as Gaza and
Ramallah, while the US Customs and Border Protection agency flies them
over the Mexican border to detect illegal migrants along specified
routes.
Gareth Crossman, director of policy at the civil rights
watchdog Liberty, said: "The question is not so much about the
technology but what one does with it. We have quite definite laws about
where CCTV can be used but of course with UAVs you have much greater
ability to gather material in private spaces and this would lead to
concern."
He added: "If they are used to simply hover to gain
random information then that would obviously be a matter of worry and a
civil liberty issue."
UAVs are currently restricted to military
installations in Salisbury Plain because of regulations banning them
from using the same airspace as civil aircraft. However, a commercial
consortium led by BAE Systems will provide the safety measures
necessary for the planes to fly over the UK within three years.
The
MPs‘ report says the MoD is "closely involved with the development of
procedures and regulations which allow UAVs to operate in national and
Nato airspace. But the committee indicates that the ministry should do
more."
The BAE Systems consortium is partly funded by a number of
government agencies, but not the MoD, which has an observer status on
the project, called the Astraea programme. The next stage of the
project is due to cost £44m, with private companies providing half of
that.
The committee says: "In the response to our report we
expect the MoD to set out why it supports the Astraea programme only in
an ‚observer role‘ and its future plans with regard to this programme."
The
MPs say full consideration should be given to evidence given to the
committee by a weapons company that meeting the air safety requirements
would open the way for UAVs to be used in disaster relief, crowd
control, anti-terror surveillance, maritime searches and support for
the Coastguard, police, fire and intelligence services.
The UAVs
will give law enforcement agencies huge scope for surveillance. Robert
Emerson, a security analyst who specialises in deciphering aerial
images, said: "Satellite images can be affected by clouds and lack of
light, with UAVs you can avoid that by choosing the height at which you
fly. There is now also Google Earth, but these are often old images out
of date. There is tremendous potential in material gathered by UAVs."
He
added: "There will obviously be implications for privacy, human rights,
etc. That is something the Government will have to address and I
imagine that there will be protests from some quarters. But you
certainly cannot blame police and intelligence services for wanting to
use them."
There are also concerns over safety, however. In April
2006 a UAV used by US Customs and Border Protection crashed in Arizona
when its engine was accidentally turned off by the team piloting it. At
the end of the first investigation into an un-manned aircraft accident,
America’s National Transportation Safety Board issued 22
recommendations and its chairman talked of a "wide range of safety
issues involving the civilian use of unmanned aircraft".
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk
