3 ms·

Are drones patrolling the area from above?

tgrass 14y ago
There's a conspicuous blimp that flies about sixty miles to the north. I'm not sure of drones. I camp out there a lot and have never seen them. [edit] it's an aerostat, not a blimp: Fort Huachuca is about fifteen miles to the north and "is home to a radar-equipped aerostat, one of a series maintained for the Drug Enforcement Administration by Lockheed Martin. The aerostat is based northeast of Garden Canyon and, when extended, supports the DEA drug interdiction mission by detecting low-flying aircraft attempting to penetrate the United States." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca
- blhack 14y ago
  Well...the drones aren't exactly huge, and they're flying really high up in the air, so it's doubtful that you'd see them.
  - hexagonal 14y ago
    The MQ-1 has a wingspan of two dozen feet, and a service ceiling of 26,000 feet. (ten thousand feet lower than a 747) It's also got a pretty tinny piston engine, with a fairly distinctive sound. Think more "cessna with missiles" than "RC plane". EDIT: Just checked the wikipedia pages for both: MQ-1 Predator Cessna 172 Wingspan 8.22m 11m Gross weight 1,020kg 1,111kg Service ceil. 25,000ft 13,500ft Cruise speed 90kn 122kn
- gregpilling 14y ago
  The blimp is out of Ft Huachuca and it is equipped with cameras, and there is a drone unit stationed there also. I sold some test equipment there in 1999 to TRW, now named something else.
blhack 14y ago
There is also a really tall tethered balloon around there somewhere. Well...at least there is on the map, :-P, I've never seen it in real life.
base698 14y ago
Does it really matter? It's kind of a big data problem at the best case. How do you detect who is a smuggler and who is a just lost in the desert? Do you send patrols to stop every single person? My intuition is that's cost prohibitive and an arms race with the cartels. They'll just get more sophisticated and buy off the drone operators.

There's a conspicuous blimp that flies about sixty miles to the north. I'm not sure of drones. I camp out there a lot and have never seen them. [edit] it's an aerostat, not a blimp: Fort Huachuca is about fifteen miles to the north and "is home to a radar-equipped aerostat, one of a series maintained for the Drug Enforcement Administration by Lockheed Martin. The aerostat is based northeast of Garden Canyon and, when extended, supports the DEA drug interdiction mission by detecting low-flying aircraft attempting to penetrate the United States." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca

blhack 14y ago
Well...the drones aren't exactly huge, and they're flying really high up in the air, so it's doubtful that you'd see them.
- hexagonal 14y ago
  The MQ-1 has a wingspan of two dozen feet, and a service ceiling of 26,000 feet. (ten thousand feet lower than a 747) It's also got a pretty tinny piston engine, with a fairly distinctive sound. Think more "cessna with missiles" than "RC plane". EDIT: Just checked the wikipedia pages for both: MQ-1 Predator Cessna 172 Wingspan 8.22m 11m Gross weight 1,020kg 1,111kg Service ceil. 25,000ft 13,500ft Cruise speed 90kn 122kn
gregpilling 14y ago
The blimp is out of Ft Huachuca and it is equipped with cameras, and there is a drone unit stationed there also. I sold some test equipment there in 1999 to TRW, now named something else.

blhack 14y ago

There is also a really tall tethered balloon around there somewhere. Well...at least there is on the map, :-P, I've never seen it in real life.

base698 14y ago

Does it really matter? It's kind of a big data problem at the best case. How do you detect who is a smuggler and who is a just lost in the desert? Do you send patrols to stop every single person? My intuition is that's cost prohibitive and an arms race with the cartels. They'll just get more sophisticated and buy off the drone operators.