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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by ortusdux on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:46PM (#23354643)
Philly, 1985: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing

"There was an armed standoff with police,[5] who lobbed tear gas canisters at the building. The MOVE members fired at them and a gunfight with semi-automatic and automatic firearms ensued.[32] Police went through over ten thousand rounds of ammunition before Commissioner Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed.[32] From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop two one-pound bombs (which the police referred to as "entry devices"[31]) made of FBI-supplied Tovex, a dynamite substitute, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house.[29]"

Police helicopters are modified civilian aircraft and yet they have been used by the police, through improvised means, to bomb people. The drone over Minneapolis is a MQ-9 reaper, aka "predator B", hunter-killer UAV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper

"In 2006, the then–Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley said: "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper."[6]

The MQ-9 is a larger, heavier, and more capable aircraft than the earlier General Atomics MQ-1 Predator; it can be controlled by the same ground systems used to control MQ-1s. The Reaper has a 950-shaft-horsepower (712 kW) turboprop engine (compared to the Predator's 115 hp (86 kW) piston engine). The greater power allows the Reaper to carry 15 times more ordnance payload and cruise at about three times the speed of the MQ-1.[6] "

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by gopalv on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:54PM (#23356002)
> The drone over Minneapolis is a MQ-9 reaper, aka "predator B", hunter-killer UAV.

I'd guess this is a Gorgon Stare drone.

https://longreads.com/2019/06/21/nothing-kept-me-up-at-night...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare#Development

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by Roboprog on Friday May 29, 2020 @09:02PM (#23357467)
Ok, so that’s a real thing, and not just a Charles Stross / Laundry Files reference.

I guess it’s not too surprising that you would want to keep an eye out for rioting.

Missiles would be a whole new level of messed up, though.

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by jki275 on Saturday May 30, 2020 @09:17AM (#23360951)
I think it’s unlikely that CBP has armed aircraft. Might be the same model numbers as things the military uses, but they likely don’t have any reason to have them weapons capable and probably don’t have the weapons even if they weren’t actually demilitarized prior to them obtaining the aircraft.
Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by cinquemb on Friday May 29, 2020 @10:50PM (#23358058)
> Missiles would be a whole new level of messed up, though.

Of course they'll eventually call them "non lethal payloads" :P

The interesting things that could be done when you have a line of sight to these things, a little bit of knowledge of RF modulation and have nothing left to lose…

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by asldfhasdf2 on Sunday May 31, 2020 @09:29AM (#23369462)
from the wikipedia article linked above:

> Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop two one-pound bombs (which the police referred to as "entry devices"[31]) made of FBI-supplied Tovex

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by tomc1985 on Friday May 29, 2020 @09:48PM (#23357739)
Is this the tech that's essentially a bunch of phone camera sensors stitched together?
Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by mattkrause on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:01PM (#23354802)
It's obviously sinister and is a pretty good hint at the end goals, but "Hunter-Killer" is also the project name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAF_Hunter-Killer
Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by outworlder on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:52PM (#23355396)
> Hunter Killer

So Skynet's schedule is coming back on track once again.

https://terminator.fandom.com/wiki/HK-Aerial

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by free_rms on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:47PM (#23356508)
I felt a moment of disgust but then decided I actually like this better than terms like "kinetic defense". At least be honest.
Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by s3cur3 on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:49PM (#23357000)
This is a really important distinction. The media really buried the lede calling it a Predator, which I associate with recon/surveillance only. The fact that it’s MQ-9, capable of carrying all manner of weaponry including 4 air-to-ground missiles and 2 laser-guided bombs (according to the Wikipedia page—who knows what this particular UAV is carrying) really changes my evaluation of how bad this is.