"I'm afraid there's been an incident in Florida — involving a drone."
Alex felt the adrenaline hit her gut like a fist.
"How bad?"
"Significantly bad, Alex," Tom said, "I've sent Steve to pick up Dr. Barnaby; they should be here shortly." He prepared the conference room audio-video installation for projection of video from a DVD player, finishing just in time for Dr. Barnaby's arrival.
Alex had trouble recognizing Dr. Barnaby. His hair was in disarray; the top button of his shirt was undone; a loose, crooked tie hung disorderly, and his eyes glazed over. He looked pale, fragile, and twenty years older. A thoughtful Steve sat him at the table and offered him a cup of coffee, murmuring to him in a low, reassuring tone of voice.
"Good morning, sir. We're ready to start," Tom said.
Dr. Barnaby waved his hand in approval. Tom pressed the "play" button on the remote.
The TV started with a breaking news bulletin.
"We interrupt our program today to report a serious incident that happened just an hour ago, in Florida's Okaloosa County, on the highway between Gulf Breeze and Destin." The images on the screen behind the popular news announcer showed many emergency response vehicles, several were trying to extinguish the fire, others were evacuating the wounded, and some were cleaning up what seemed to be the scene of a serious traffic accident.
"A military drone hit a tourist commuter bus carrying thirty-three people onboard, plus the driver," the female reporter continued, while the images were showing the wreckage in detail. "Nineteen passengers from the bus were pronounced dead at the scene. Fourteen more and the driver are en route to area hospitals; some of them were airlifted. We will return with details about their conditions as soon as we have that information."
Alex felt a knot in her throat, which kept her from breathing. She struggled to hold back tears.
"A car traveling behind the bus," the reporter continued, "was too close to avoid an impact with the exploding bus. The car had New Jersey plates. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, and the driver was airlifted to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola. More details to follow.
"A witness told us that the drone came from the Gulf of Mexico flying low, and headed straight for the bus. Apparently, the bus driver tried to stop. As he was braking heavily, and the bus was slowing, the drone hit, turning the bus and its passengers into a roaring ball of fire. Stay tuned for details and interviews. We will return shortly. You are watching News of the Hour with Stephanie Wainwright."
The TV screen went dark and silent. Alex realized she had been holding her breath. She looked at Dr. Barnaby. Tears were silently falling on his cheeks.
"Dr. Barnaby," Tom called for his attention in a strong, assertive way. "We need your help to understand how these drones operate." Pause, no answer. "We need you, sir, you have to help us," Tom insisted in a somewhat softer voice. "Everyone needs you right now, your wife, your employees, the families of the wounded—"
"I'm here. What do you need to know?" Dr. Barnaby recomposed.
"Can a drone go astray? How can that happen — under what circumstances?"
"There are various degrees of autonomy to these drones, depending on the model. All of them, however, are remotely guided or assisted by an operating team situated at a nearby base. That operating team is probably being questioned right now."
"How do these drones work? Please give us as much detail as you can," Tom continued.
"Drones are more than just robotic, unmanned aircraft. They are complex weapons. They are versatile and highly autonomous; they can be in flight for many hours. They were built to be used 24 hours a day. These unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV come in various sizes, depending on application and purpose, in addition to the missiles or other equipment they need to carry. Some are combat ready, the UCAVs, and can carry up to 16 Hellfire missiles. We're now working on a new model, able to carry up to 20 Hellfires, and some other smaller weapons on top of that.
"Other drones, much smaller, are not intended for weapons deployment. They can be surveillance drones, cruising over a border or another targeted area. These would mainly be equipped with high-resolution cameras and landmark recognition software. Other non-combat drones can be relief drones or communications drones, portable repeaters of wireless signal or range expanders, to deploy above flooded areas or at the scenes of various natural disasters. They are used to enhance communications capabilities in the absence of infrastructure."
Everyone listened carefully, taking notes.
"Do we know which type this drone was?" Tom asked.
"Not sure. By the location, I would have to assume it was a surveillance drone, watching the territorial waters along the Gulf Coast. By the size of the damage, I have to infer that it was at least a partially armed drone. An unarmed UAV would have caused less damage. It would have still caused an explosion, due to the fuel it carries, but less than what I've seen. Oh, God," he said, covering his eyes, remembering the horrific scene he had just viewed on TV.
"Why do you say it might have been partially armed?" Tom asked.
"If this drone would have been fully armed, it would have pulverized the entire area. No survivors, plus a huge gaping hole in the highway. I'll need the details about the drone, model, weapons, and fuel levels, to tell you more."
"How about the crew?" Alex inquired.
"Ah, yes. These drones have a remote crew of operators, usually two. These crews can change midflight. For example, if the drone took off from somewhere in Alabama, the takeoff crew would have been local. If it goes to Miami, then the landing crew would be different from the takeoff crew. Somewhere along the way, the drone changes hands from one crew to the next. These operators are highly trained pilots, in perfect health and physical shape. They are, in fact, fully licensed pilots. The drone transmits video information from its cameras, direct or via satellite link. The operator crews see those images on their screens, and they are able to fly the drone and take subsequent actions, based on the images displayed from the drone's cameras."
"So they are not autonomous?" Tom asked.
"No, the UAVs are unmanned, but not autonomous. They don't do what they want. They have to be guided, controlled into taking any action. Our latest research looks at increasing the degree of autonomy by enhancing their landmark recognition software to include target recognition, by loading target images for them to 'hunt.' This research is due in field testing, maybe before the end of this year. With today's disaster, I don't think we'll be able to proceed with it anymore. It will create a public relations nightmare, the moment people hear that these drones have the 'power' to hunt and kill targets on their own — which they will probably never have. They will always have to be guided by the ground team. Target recognition and auto target lock is meant to speed the process of finding and locking onto a target, thus quickly removing the drone out of the danger zone. It also prevents the drone from crashing, if it hits a thunderstorm or interference area, and it loses connection with the ground operations team. That's all there is to it."
"Dr. Barnaby, what consequences could NanoLance face due to this incident?" Tom asked. "What's to be expected?"
"We are a defense contractor, one of the contractors of record for the manufacturing of these drones for the majority of the branches of the US military. We are not the biggest drone manufacturer in the United States. There are a few other companies supplying a greater number of UAVs than we are. Some drones are also imported from foreign manufacturers with the purpose of studying and comparing performance in field-testing, war games, and simulations. Even NanoLance purchased some foreign drones with the help of the Air Force. They rerouted a few they had ordered for war games to our research facility."