nuclear-news

USA military industry wants dangerous nuclear powered drones

 “It’s a pretty terrifying prospect. Drones are much less safe than other aircraft and tend to crash a lot. There is a major push by this industry to increase the use of drones and both the public and Government are struggling to keep up with the implications.”

Years of development work on nuclear powered drones, NZ Herald, Apr 4, 2012 Drones have become a key weapon of the Obama Administration and US intelligence services and the military uses them in several countries, including Pakistan and Yemen.
They are operated by “pilots” thousands of kilometres away and sometimes remain in the air for days. A new generation of nuclear-powered drones would be capable of flying for months on end without refuelling.

The plans were developed by the US Government’s main nuclear research
and development agency, Sandia National Laboratories, and by defence
contractor Northrup Grumman. The drones would have more power for
onboard surveillance, communications and weapons.

A summary of the research was published by a think-tank, the
Federation of American Scientists, and was confirmed to the Guardian
by Sandia.

The Guardian said the project was shelved because of concerns that
public opinion would not accept the potential dangers of either a
crash or of the technology falling into the hands of unfriendly
nations or terrorists.

According to Wired’s Danger Room blog, “The lab gave up on nuclear
drones due to political pressures, perceived or otherwise.”….. Chris
Coles of Drone Wars UK told the Guardian: “It’s a pretty terrifying prospect. Drones are much less safe than other aircraft and tend to crash a lot. There is a major push by this industry to increase the use of drones and both the public and Government are struggling to keep up with the implications.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10796546

April 4, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war