First Made-in-Colombia Drone to Track Drug Smugglers
First Made-in-Colombia Drone to Track Drug Smugglers
By Andrew Willis Oct 31, 2014 10:29 AM CT
Colombia will unveil its first domestically made drone today as a nation reliant on U.S. weaponry nurtures its own arms industry.
The prototype, on show at a defense fair in Bogota, has a range of 150 kilometers (93 miles) and a carrying capacity of 100 kilograms (220 pounds), with future models set to hit the market in about two years, according to the Colombian Air Force.
Colombia, the only country in the Americas with a major internal conflict, received $230 million in U.S. military aid last year, down from $600 million a decade earlier, according to the Center for International Policy, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. Even if the government signs a peace deal with Marxist rebel groups, the drone will be needed, according to Air Force engineer Alejandro Vargas, who was involved with the aircraft’s development.
“Initially it will carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations,” Vargas said in an interview yesterday. “It can be used to monitor meteorological and volcanic activity, as well as oil pipelines and the drugs trade.”
More:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-31/first-made-in-colombia-drone-to-track-drug-smugglers.html