Brown, Dale - Independent 02 (23 page)

 
          
“This
is a one-tenth scale model of the Sky Lion, the unmanned drones we’re using for
today’s tests,” Hardcastle said. “The real UAV is about thirty feet long with a
twenty-foot wingspan and carries two five-hundred-shaft-horsepower engines. It
has a maximum speed of almost two hundred knots, a minimum speed of zero knots
and can stay aloft for about six hours. It can be launched and recovered from a
station platform, from shore or from a large cutter-class ship— stowed, each
drone can fit in a standard one-car garage. Each carries sensors to help it
carry out is mission. Also a small radar to help it guide itself to intercept,
and a combined telescopic low-light and infrared camera for visual
identification. They can also be outfitted with various payloads ...” He
paused, studying the faces of the Vice President and the others in the room. “.
. . Such as weapons.”

 
          
The
reaction was immediate from Customs Commissioner Crandall. “You want a fleet of
robot planes with guns on board flying around out here with all the other air
traffic?”

 
          
Martindale
held up a hand. “Let him finish, Commissioner. Go on, Admiral.”

 
          
Hardcastle
took a deep breath. He’d survived that one. “To clarify, we would have the
option of placing a variety of payloads aboard the Sky Lion drones. Their
normal configuration would be with sensors only. As with the Sea Lion aircraft,
however, we would maintain armed aircraft and vessels and we would prevent any
vessel or aircraft from entering restricted territory, with force if
necessary.”

 
          
Hardcastle
nodded to the console operators, who quickly set up the next presentation. “We
have a Sky Lion drone tracking a Coast Guard vessel at this very moment. Our
surveillance radars have detected the target... here,” Hardcastle said, using
his pointer. “It’s a Coast Guard forty-foot FCI, fast coastal interceptor,
heading toward south
Florida
.”

 
          
He
motioned to the left screen, which showed a steady crystal- clear picture of the
Caribbean
. “Here on the left screen is the bird’s-
eye view from the Sky Lion drone, along with its flight parameters and status
readouts.” At a signal from Hardcastle, McLanahan hit buttons on his console,
then turned in his seat to face Martindale and the rest of the Cabinet
officials.

 
          
“As
the Admiral has explained, sir,” McLanahan said, “the drones are controlled by
computer, using sensors both on the drones and by radar and data-link commands
from this platform and on shore. I’ve just commanded the Sky Lion drone to
intercept that vessel.”

 
          
The
scene from the drone tilted sharply and soon it was in a fast descent toward
the shimmering blue waters below. “Ten miles,” Hardcastle said. “The drone’s
camera uses slaving signals from the main surveillance radar to aim its camera
at the target. We should be picking it up any second.”

 
          
Suddenly
the screen changed from a standard video image to a black, wavy scene, with
several lighter streaks and splotches running through the image. “I’ve switched
to infrared scan to pick out the boat against the cooler water. The redder the
color, the hotter the infrared return ... and there it is.” In the center of
the image a bright red dot separated from the lighter pinks and yellows of the
warm water, and a digital readout said that it had locked onto the suspected
target. “The drone’? speed is about two hundred miles an hour in the descent.
He’ll start slowing as he gets closer.” The infrared hot dot was getting
larger. Occasionally McLanahan would switch back and forth from IR to normal
video mode until the boat could plainly be seen against the choppy waters.

 
          
“The
drone is about a half-mile away now,” he said, pointing to the data readouts.
“Its airspeed is now thirty knots—only a tilt-rotor type aircraft could decelerate
from two hundred knots to thirty knots so fast, with such a stable platform. As
it moves closer you’ll be able to make out more and more detail of the boat. In
short, we’ve intercepted and identified a smuggling vessel.”

 
          
“Of
course, intercepting vessels in American waters is only one part of the process
to close down the drug smuggling in this area,”

           
Hardcastle said as McLanahan took
his seat. “Stopping these boats in south Florida may slow drug trafficking
nationwide only ten to fifteen percent, and although a ten to fifteen percent
hike in the street price of cocaine or marijuana
might
help decrease the drug consumption, it’s not a guarantee and
it’s not enough. The appetite is there. Dealing with it is a very long-range
matter. Meanwhile, what’s isn’t available can’t be consumed.

 
          
“In
spite of the best efforts of the Customs Service and Coast Guard, more drugs
are still brought in by air than by any other means. Air smuggling is fast, the
smugglers retain control of their product longer, and they are relatively
assured of success every time if they are organized well enough. If we can stop
air smuggling, we can slow the rate of narcotics smuggling into the
United States
by thirty to forty percent.
That’s
significant.”

 
          
Hardcastle
motioned to the screen, which had changed to show thin white lines similar to
previous depictions. “Our plan would use the same entry corridors for air
traffic as with surface vessels. Incoming aircraft would be required to follow
these corridors and stay at carefully specified altitudes. Surveillance radars
along the corridors would track each aircraft to ensure he doesn’t stray from
the corridor or from his assigned altitude. Any deviation from his assigned
routing would be a violation and make him subject to interception.

 
          
“Notice
that these corridors are far from the popular drop sites used by smugglers, the
Keys and the
Everglades
. The
Everglades
and remote areas of the
Florida Keys
would become one of the few restricted
airspaces over land—areas where all aircraft must receive permission before
entering.”

 
          
Hardcastle
motioned to the left large-screen monitor, where another drone was in flight.
“This scene is from another drone we have orbiting nearby. Air interdiction
requires different techniques than sea interdiction, so we’re using a different
drone for this job.” He held up another model, but of a completely different
aircraft than the Sky Lion. “This is called Seagull, although it hardly looks
like a gull. Damned if I know how it got its name. It’s a fixed-wing drone,
with a big delta main wing, canards—these smaller wings near the nose— for
increased maneuverability, a three-hundred-horsepower, constant-speed pusher
prop and a payload of almost seven hundred pounds. It can fly at speeds close
to four hundred miles an hour down to about eighty and can stay aloft for
better than ten hours. The aircraft has a forty-foot wingspan and is twenty
feet long. Like the Sky Lion, it can be launched and recovered from the sea
platforms, from shore or from special recovery ships.”

 
          
“What
about general aviation?” Coultrane pressed. “You’d be forcing non-commercial
aircraft into the corridors. They’re often the worst trained pilots but they’d
be in the most congested airspace.”

           
“Mr. Secretary, it would be no more
dangerous than a civilian plane transiting a terminal control area over a major
city or a high- density airway,” Hardcastle told him.

 
          
Coultrane
shook his head, clearly not convinced.

 
          
Hardcastle
hurried on. “The problem of aircraft veering off from their intended landing
point at the last minute and evading surveillance radar is at least mitigated
with this system. Aircraft are tracked all the way to landing along these
corridors—each corridor terminates at a port of entry, such as Miami
International, Opa-Locka,
Ft.
Lauderdale
or
Tampa
. If a plane tries to run away he can be
tracked and an intercept set up, again using the Seagull drones or manned
aircraft.”

 
          
Hardcastle
received a hand signal from McLanahan. “We’ve set up a special demonstration of
this capability, Mr. Vice President,” McLanahan said. “At this moment we’re
tracking a smuggler trying to cross into the
United States
from the southern
Bahamas
island chain. We’ve kept the Seagull drone
in the vicinity of the target ever since first detection.” He motioned to the
right large-screen TV, which showed the V-22C Sea Lion aircraft lifting off the
landing pad four stories overhead.

 
          
“With
Brad Elliott in command,” Hardcastle picked it up from McLanahan, “we’ve
scrambled the Sea Lion to pursue. On a normal intercept the Sea Lion would
carry a ground assault team, usually two officers armed with rifles and
sidearms.” The Sea Lion could briefly be glimpsed out the huge panoramic storm
windows as it raced away from Hammerhead One after its quarry, its rotors
slowly transitioning from vertical-lift to aircraft configuration as it picked
up speed.

 
          
The
center screen showed an enlargement of the main control- console digital-radar
scope. “Major McLanahan is designating the target now, and the drone will move
to intercept and identify.” The scene from the drone, showing on the left
screen, suddenly veered sharply right and descended at a tremendous rate as the
drone raced after its new target.

 
          
“The
drone’s on-board radar has locked-on at eleven miles,” Hardcastle said. “It has
a two-hundred-forty-knot overtake, which will eat up the distance between them
in less than three minutes.”

 
          
The
target aircraft emerged seconds later in the center of the Seagull drone’s
camera eye, a beige twin-engined aircraft. Gradually the aircraft loomed larger
and larger as the drone closed in.

 
          
“Three
miles,” Hardcastle said. “With the telescopic camera, it looks like a Beech
Baron, about eight or nine years old. Using its radar, the drone will now
automatically move in close enough to read the aircraft’s registration number.”

 
          
Moments
later the drone had pulled in right on the target’s right rear quarter; the
radar rangefinder indicated it was only a hundred feet away, with zero knots
closure. “The drone is now flying in formation with the target,” Hardcastle
said. “It will match all but the most violent maneuvers and stay within about a
hundred feet.”

 
          
The
scene shifted slowly as McLanahan began manipulating a joystick to scan along
the plane’s fuselage, and soon the center of the scene was filled with a series
of small black letters and numbers.

 
          
“You
can read the registration numbers now,” McLanahan said, manipulating the camera
controls. “This individual has an N-num- ber, indicating that this is an
American-registered aircraft. It has small numbers, which is illegal—they’re
supposed to be twelve inches high. Notice the number 8 and the letter O. This
registration number has been altered; the 8 used to be a 3, and the O used to
be a C.

 
          
“It’s
a common trick to confuse agents in the air and on the ground,” Hardcastle
said. “When we do a hot-list check this aircraft will come up with a clean rap
sheet. A more intensive registration check will reveal that the number is
bogus, but many times an agent will break off a pursuit when the computer
reports ‘no wants, no warrants.’ ”

 
          
The
scene moved away from the numbers to the entire aircraft, and then slowly the
full left side of the aircraft could be seen. “The drone is now moving around
the aircraft off to its left, in full view of the pilot. Notice that the drone
has moved out farther away from the suspect. This is because the drone’s radar
is not being used to track the suspect—the drone is using steering signals from
our tracking radars to keep up with the suspect.

 
          
A
moment later, the drone was ahead of the aircraft, with its camera focused on
the aircraft’s cockpit. The pilot could be seen in the shot, wearing a baseball
cap, sunglasses, and a thick black mustache. As the camera zoomed in, the Vice
President gave a short gasp of surprise.