>>I agree. Interestingly, so does that fire-brand Buchannan, who wrote an article today chastising the Republican hawks for going against Bush and Powell.
>
>>Bush and Powell want to build that coallition you mention, the hawks want to start bombing Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Gaza, most Eastern Arab countries, or anyone in a turban. The hawks are best ignored.
>
>Thanks for that perspective. This is the most hopeful thing I have heard since 9-11.
>
>BTW, the military has pilotless vehicles that can fly all over Iraq. I think some have even made it to Afghanistan. Are you sure that there are no civilian model planes with the range to fly all around a city? I mean it's a lot easier to launch an RC plane from a van than to steal a crop duster. A lot less obvious too.
>
>Peter

The Global Hawk is the world's most advanced high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aerial vehicle. http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/globalhawk/geewhiz.html
What this site doesn't mention is the stealth technology that renders them invisible to radar, and a paint scheme that makes them optically invisible even in the daytime.

This website also mentions its predecessors. There are some smaller pilotless drones launched from forward military units, or off the decks of ships, that are powered by very large model airplane engines, are noisy, have a wingspan of 12 ft, a range of over 100 miles and can loiter aloft up to 18,000 feet for 12 hours. These are very cheap, but they can be seen and heard, and even shot down. Most of their weight is fuel and they have TV cameras transmitting live images of battle fields from as low as the remote pilots dare fly them. At 18,000ft, even with zoom, you will only get overall battle field conditions. To zoom in on a convoy of SUVs carrying Ben Laden they would probably have to fly under 5,000 ft, making them detectable by both eye and ear. These kind of craft do not have a payload that would make delivery of biologicals practicle.
JLK

 





 

 













On 23 April 2001, Global Hawk flew non-stop from Edwards Air Force Base, California to Edinburgh Air Force Base, South Australia, where it was based for nearly two months undergoing a series of demonstration flights. Global Hawk returned to the US on 7 June 2001.