PSS Technology: ¿Safety or New World Order?

Aside from the privacy concerns associated with persistent aerial surveillance, there are also worries related to transparency: In Baltimore, Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS) technology was flown over the city without elected officials (including the mayor), the state’s attorney, or members of the public being informed first. And in Miami-Dade county, the mayor wasn’t aware of Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) persistent aerial surveillance plans. 

Military equipment has a tendency to make its way from foreign battlefields into the hands of domestic law enforcement. This is a trend that can be useful in investigating crimes, but policies that protect privacy should be in place before snooping airplanes take to the sky, and the public as well as local officials should be informed about the surveillance tools police are using. Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS), the Ohio-based company that made the sensor system deployed in Baltimore, uses technology originally designed for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This kind of technology has prompted privacy concerns in others cities, with Baltimore being perhaps the most notable.

UAVs keep dropping drugs and porn into prisons

A new report from USA Today found that UAVs have been used more than a dozen times to fly contraband into federal prisons over the last five years, as scattered reports suggest the smuggling operations have proven popular.

Local news reports from not just the United States but around the world have brought other instances to light over the past few years. In 2014, police in Australia said a UAV was employed for a planned drug smuggling operation. Later that year, there was another incident in South Carolina, where a UAV crashed while attempting to deliver weed.

And the list goes on: in 2015, a UAV-delivered drug package sparked a fight in an Ohio facility. That year, in yet another incident, two people were arrested for trying to smuggle contraband using a UAV. The paper writes that Justice Department documents showed attempts to smuggle cellphones, drugs, and porn into the federal facilities, although the tally almost certainly undercounts possibly successful attempts, as well as smuggling done in state facilities.

Understandably, officials are now wondering what to do about the problem. In April, the United Kingdom announced a new squad dedicated to combating the issue. The US Bureau of Prisons, meanwhile, has posted requests for technology that could be used to stop UAVs near facilities. While it’s likely impossible to get a full count of incidents, it does seem clear that the smuggling operations can sometimes be lucrative. Prosecutors in one recent case said a smuggler had been making $6,000 per drop.

Raytheon to provide MTS-B for the Reaper

Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Medium Altitude Unmanned Aircraft Systems office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded Raytheon a $50.2 million contract to provide the Multispectral Targeting System (MTS)-B for the Reaper  UAV.

The contract calls for Raytheon to provide MTS-B turret units, 37 MTS HD electronics units, containers, spare parts, and support equipment. The MTS-B provides electro-optical, infrared, laser designation, and laser illumination packaged in one sensor package. The MTS-B uses a digital architecture to provide long-range surveillance, high-altitude target acquisition, tracking, rangefinding, and laser designation for the Hellfire missile and for all tri-service and NATO laser-guided munitions, Raytheon officials say.

A turreted or forward-looking pod combining several sensors, the MTS has visible-light and infrared full-motion video cameras for long-range surveillance. The systems offer multiple wavelength sensors; near-infrared and color TV cameras; target illuminators; eyesafe laser rangefinders; image merging; spot trackers; and other avionics. The system’s Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod also is used with Paveway, JSOW, and HARM munitions. The MTS sensors carry the military designations of AAS-52, AAS-53, ASQ-228, DAS-1 and DAS-2.