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back to article BAE in South Coast mouse-click drone spy plan

BAE Systems, the multinational arms mammoth, has announced a new vision for a south coast of England patrolled by fleets of autonomous robot sky-eyes. The plan, called the South Coast Partnership, would see self-piloting drone aircraft deployed above the white cliffs of Dover in just five years. “From 2012 fully autonomous …

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  1. Dan

    i for one

    cannot wait to see this unfold in the media, doubtless it'll be a complete mess - cost overruns, crashes, a plethora of companies all over the world being involved, then dropping out, limited but overly touted 'successes'. great stuff.

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  2. Bob Appleyard

    Coastline?

    Surely this would be far more useful in monitoring inside the UK, rather than simply the coast?

    I mean, you've only got a bit of smuggling on the coast. Whereas you could pick up anything if you really started monitoring citizens properly.

    All this pussy footing to a police state is annoying me. Shouldn't be bothering with half measures.

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  3. James Pickett
    Thumb Down

    Mission

    "complete a full mission"

    Which is? How long before these things are armed? The lizard army awaits...

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  4. druck Silver badge
    Stop

    NO

    I strongly object to some poorly trained muppet on the ground flying around their Orwellian spy toys, and putting at risk the lives of those involved in general and commercial aviation.

    Even in controlled airspace, we don't want to put an additional workload on our overstretched and overstressed air traffic controllers. Outside controlled airspace it is purely the responsibility of trained pilots to ensure everyone's safety, and not being in the cockpit drastically reduces that imperative.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good Lord, what on earth for?

    Spy planes patrolling the south coast of England? WIll they be looking for sheep shaggers? Or dolphin diddlers? Presumably there would not otherwise be anything to investigate.

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  6. Rick Brasche

    @Dan

    it's BAE, not EDS...so it might not be all that bad

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  7. Glenn Gilbert

    Won't they bump into things?

    So they fly along the coast where all the light aircraft fly? I do hope they're fairly soft when they eventually fly into another aircraft.

    I wonder if one could seize control of one and land it on top of BAe's HQ?

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  8. lglethal Silver badge
    Joke

    And i for one...

    Welcome our new autonomous flying overlords...

    Mine's the brown leather, thanks...

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Whats the cost

    of these vs just training pilots to fly regular aircraft, and I mean the whole cost not just the droid it's self, but R&D, command and control and making sure they don't ram a real airplane full of actual people.

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  10. Paul
    Thumb Up

    Pull!

    Bagging one of these will be more fun than clay pigeon shooting. How many pieces will they shatter into?

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Vera Lynn was right, but I'll never enjoy the song the same way again...

    Blighty’s

    Low-capability

    Unmanned

    Expensive

    Big-brother

    Internal

    Reconasance

    DroneS

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