Wed, Jan 04, 2012
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Using Electric Drones For
Aerial Surveillance
An anti-whaling activist group has started using a UAV to
supplement manned helicopter flights in its efforts to stop
Japanese whaling in the Antarctic ocean.
Osprey Deployed Aboard Sea
Shepherd
Members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society say they have
been using a hand-launched electric drone with a range of about 180
miles to spot Japanese whaling factory ships. They take advantage
of the drone's small size and its video and still image
transmission capabilities and GPS tracking to find the whaling
vessels while remaining undetected.
The Japanese say the whales they take are for scientific
research, but environmental activists have long opposed the
practice. The New Zealand Herald reports that the
activists take an "anything goes" approach, using tactics including
ramming the whaling vessels with their ships in an effort to
prevent the taking of whales.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson says he
hopes the use of the UAV will help end whaling completely. The
groups' stated goal is to bankrupt the Japanese whaling industry,
and Watson says tracking the ships with the UAV makes it easier for
them to disrupt the operations.
The UAV employed by the environmental group aboard its ship MV
Steve Irwin is an Osprey built by Hangar 18 in Wichita, KS. The
company says on its website that the Osprey is ideally suited as a
video downlink platform/vertical photography vehicle or as a UAV
trainer. The $20,000 aircraft was donated to Sea Shepherd by New
Jersey-based Bayshore Recycling, according to a news release
on the group's website. The recycling company reportedly also
has paid for the UAV operator training. (Image provided by Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society)
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