Houston SWAT Operators Get Their Own Airborne Weapons Platform

William Grigg, Lew Rockwell

10/30/2011

“I’m tickled to death,” giggled Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Officer in Texas. The source of McDaniel’s childish glee was his department’s latest lethal toy, a $300,000 ShadowHawk UAV weapons platform purchased by way of a Homeland Security grant. “It’s so simple in its design and the objectives, you just wonder why anyone would choose not to have it,” McDaniel continues — and since the Feds are literally giving them away, why would any “local” police department turn one down?

According to Michael Buscher, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vanguard Defense Industries, the MCSO is the first local law enforcement agency to buy one of the ShadowHawk drones.

“The aircraft has the capability to have a number of different systems on board,” he points out. “Mostly, for law enforcement, we focus on what we call less lethal systems” — including tasers and a “stun baton” that fires high-impact beanbag rounds. “You have a stun baton where you can actually engage somebody at altitude with the aircraft,” Buscher explains. “A stun baton would essentially disable a suspect.” The vehicle is also equipped with forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, that can be used to detect “heat from a gun or a suspect’s body.”

And now… the rest of the story. …..