WingsofFury said:
Would this be a good location to use the term open air buffet?
And after deciding not to feed the bears, this story from Canada.com is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provision of the Copyright Act.
Canada deploys unmanned drones in Arctic military exercise By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News August 4, 2011 5:02 PM
Canada is deploying unmanned surveillance aircraft to the High Arctic for the first time, as part of the largest military exercise ever in the Far North.
Catapult-launched Boeing ScanEagle unarmed drones similar to those used by the Canadian army for surveillance in Afghanistan are to assist in a major air disaster scenario in an extremely remote area near Resolute, which is about 3,000 kilometres north of Ottawa. They will also assist in a major maritime disaster exercise being overseen by the Canadian Coast Guard in waters between Canada and Greenland.
"It's precedent setting. There will be small UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in the High Arctic," Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in an interview. "They are a harbinger of things to come.
"This will be eyes-on. We can link satellite capability to UAVs to help find people and crash sites. UAVs proved invaluable in Afghanistan and have a great value in applications in the North."
Operation Nanook, which is to last more than three weeks, begins Friday when three Canadian naval vessels led by the frigate, HMCS St. John's, set out from Newfoundland for Baffin Bay where they will rendezvous with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.
About 1,100 sailors, soldiers and air personnel, including Special Forces and aboriginal forces known as Canadian Rangers, will join about 200 sailors from the coast guard — who have long experience in Arctic waters — for the exercise. The drones will provide data to two companies of infantry from Alberta and Quebec who will be assisting with the air and maritime search-and-rescue operations. Other Canadian military participants include CF-18 Hornet fighter jets and manned surveillance and transport aircraft and helicopters.
Also participating across Canada's vast northern archipelago in what the government calls the "whole of government approach" will be Mounties and officials from Transport Canada, Public Safety Canada, Environment Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs.
"To be robust and ready. That is what the Arctic experience is all about," MacKay said. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is "very engaged on this file" and as "part of his strong commitment to the Arctic" will visit the North during Op Nanook, the defence minister said.
Three Danish navy ships and an icebreaker from the U.S. Coast Guard have accepted invitations from Canada to take part in the exercise.
While there might be outstanding territorial disputes between Canada and its Arctic neighbours, MacKay and Lt.-Gen. Walter Semianiw, who runs Canada Command, which has military responsibility for all land and waters claimed by Ottawa, said it was in every polar country's interest to co-operate and collaborate on issues such as search and rescue and the environment.
"Friends agree to disagree on a lot of things," Semianiw said. "It does not in any way limit us or prevent us from doing what we need to do. We co-operate in the North . . . Interestingly, it is only reporters who usually who make this an issue, not us in our discussions."
The general asked, rhetorically, "If there is such vociferousness about the North, why it is that the eight countries of the Arctic Council have agreed to come to Canada in October to actually practise search and rescue throughout the North" in a "table top exercise" that is to be held in Whitehorse.
Underlining the spirit of Arctic co-operation rather than competition that exists, Semianiw said he would be travelling to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia for meetings this fall.
"This is beyond search and rescue," the general said. "We are going to be talking about military co-operation in the North."
Testing responses to air or maritime disasters in the North, as Canada was doing this summer, was a high priority because "there is a very real need and the environment is changing in the Arctic because of the opening of the Arctic ice," MacKay said.
Several hundred jumbo jets bound for Canada and the U.S. from Asia, Europe and the Middle East transit the Canadian Arctic every day. As Arctic ice recedes more cruise ships have also been going farther north in recent years.
"For practical reasons we do this with international partners (but) this is a Canadian-led operation," MacKay said. "We invited the Americans and the Danes to enhance our inter-operability . . .
"Some parts (of the exercise) will be done jointly. The search and rescue of a crash site will be separated to clearly enhance our sovereignty by our ability to respond to that type of crisis."
Elaborating on the same theme, Semianiw added: "By me (Canada) inviting others nations to come and participate in my exercise, I am expressing my sovereignty. By them accepting, they are also acknowledging my sovereign right over my territory."
The ScanEagle drones that will be assisting the military and the coast guard with the air and maritime disaster and rescue scenarios can be equipped with various cameras including infra-red lenses. They have a wing span of three metres, weigh only 20 kilograms, but can stay aloft for 20 hours or more, flying at a cruising speed of about 170 kilometres per hour.
"We'd like to see how we can begin to use UAVs in the North and as part of the domestic scenario," Semianiw said. "UAVs over urban areas have a number of limitations, in the North perhaps less. We want to see whether or not we can use them up there and how they are going to work."
If the drones operate well in the cold, windy conditions that are common in the North, it was possible that they might one day be positioned there, so that they "could go out before even people arrive to give us eyes and ears about what is going on on the ground," Semianiw said.
"Why do we do this? To learn from the experience. Exercising is an expression of how you want to improve. Strengths, weaknesses. After this we are going to do lessons learned to determine how we need to change the plan."
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