Drones: Live Saver or Live Threat
Joaquin Colon
DeVry University
Professor Linda Record
Several years ago who could it thought a plane could flight with no pilot behind the controllers and no crew on board. Well is happening now and if you do not start to pay a little more attention to them they will probably cough you off guard. These artifacts are in order to become a real threat to all US citizens as early as 2015 when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could give the green light for the use in US soil. If you didn’t know about this is because probably you are spending too much time watching American Idol or the new episode of Game of Thrones. So yes my friends it is happening right before our eyes and if we don’t do something about it in this moment it could mean the end of the privacy life that most of us have been working so hard for many years to protect and this is why.
Coming from a military background, I have always been interested in military weapons and equipment. Looking back centuries and centuries I have seen how the ambition of been a head of the enemy have transformed not just the way we approach a battle, also the weapons and equipment we use to do so. One of the first wars recorded in history took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BC between Sumer and Elam using as weaponry simple bows and swords (Mark, 2009).
From that moment forward warfare have been in constant evolution coming to today’s high tech
Equipment that in some cases seem to come from a sci-fi movie. One of those that catch my attention in the last few years is the drones. For those who do not know what is a drone most commonly known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), are defined by the U.S. Department of Defense as powered aerial vehicles sustained in flight by aerodynamic lift over most of their
flight path and guided without an onboard crew. They may be expendable or recoverable and can fly autonomously or piloted remotely. There are dozens of different types of drones but most of them follow into two categories: those that are used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes and those that are armed with missiles and bombs (Cole C., Wright J., 2010). I bet most of you are thinking this is one of the greatest ideas ever saving hundreds of human lives (pilots), and for the most part I agree with you. No money spend can compare with a human live, drones are been the weapon of choice in the later US anti-terrorism war in Iraq and Afghanistan, being the perfect allied for the troops on the ground aiding them with Intel about enemy position, equipment, and size of insurgents.
But is that the only use for these drones? No, these aircraft could be use and are been used for a wide range of industries here at home. Today, only government agencies, some public universities, and a handful of private companies hold the few hundred FAA permits to fly private drones. But the Federal Aviation Administration is set to further open skies to commercial drones by 2015 and expects to see perhaps 7,500 in the air by 2020—most of which will likely be small machines resembling model airplanes (Handwerk, 2013). I do not know if you have seen the Amazon video in which they promoted a new service called Amazon PrimeAir, this pretty much consist in a service in which 30 minutes after you complete a purchase, a small drone take your delivery right in front of your door. Pretty cool right, the service is not active at this moment because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still working on regulation in respect of these drones. Other industries in which are already in used are for hurricane hunting,
3-D mapping, protecting wildlife, down on the farm, and search and rescue. But these are only a few of the industries using or planning to use these drones. The potential of a booming domestic drone industry for commercial purposes has entrepreneurs seeing dollar signs. A far stretch from the military strikes that most people
