Scenario: Attack the President with a radio controlled airplane
Scenario
Use a radio-controlled airplane loaded with explosives, a gun or a biological/chemical weapon to attack the Presdient.
Description
If you have been paying attention to the radio controlled airplane industry, you know that in recent years there has been a trend toward greater and greater sophistication. For example:
- Battery-operated video cameras with radio transmitters have shrunk to tiny proportions and are now easy to mount to R/C aircraft. Off-the-shelf units can transmit images 5 miles.
- Large electric airplanes have moved from novelty to mainstream. Flight times greater than 15 minutes are possible, and the planes are nearly silent.
- R/C aircraft have increased in size to the point where you can now buy planes with wingspans up to 12 feet. See, for example, this page.
- Radio control systems have become quite advanced. Eight or more channels can control a variety of accessories, including retractable landing gear and functional bomb bay doors.
You can create a small, fast airplane able to carry a payload of a pound or two, or a large 12-foot wingspan plane capable of carrying a significant payload (for example, 50 pounds of C-4 explosive). Since radio controlled airplanes are made almost exclusively of balsa wood and plastics, with the exception of a few screws and the engine, these planes would be undetectable with radar. An electric model could fly in silently, or a gasoline model could fly in, cut its engine and then glide to the point of impact. By equipping a van with a TV monitor and an antenna, the pilot could sit in the van and, with the plane's video camera, fly straight to the target.
Using radio controlled plane technology, here are three possible attack scenarios on the President:
- At an outdoor event where the president is speaking, an electric radio controlled airplane loaded with 5 pounds of C-4 flies straight into the President from behind or dives from directly overhead.
- While the President's motorcade is in motion, one or more R/C airplanes carrying 50 pounds of C-4 fly into the President's vehicle from the front.
- A radio controlled airplane equipped like a small crop duster flies over the White House lawn spraying five pounds of VX or Sarin as the President is boarding his helicopter or giving a speech.
Damage Potential
Assassinating the President is a coupe de grace from a terrorist standpoint. It shows that the terrorists are in command, demoralizes the government and the nation, and causes the country to go through the destabilizing process of breaking in a new leader on short notice.
Potential Solutions
One obvious solution is to protect the President by ending all outdoor speaking engagements. Even when speaking indoors, this scenario requires that some conscious thought be given to the roof overhead. If, for example, the President is speaking in a high school gymnasium, a large R/C airplane carrying 50 pounds of C-4 could easily puncture the thin metal roof and reach the President.
To protect the President from a R/C attack while he is in the White House or on the White House grounds, it may be necessary to use computerized image/motion sensors in addition to radar to scan the sky. Such a system would take down anything that happens to enter White House airspace, including pigeons.
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