Today I discovered something new regarding something I have mentioned many times before.

I mentioned many years ago that a former co-worker of mine had joined the National Intelligence Agency in South Africa. Later, in a discussion about UFOs he told me that the “hot button” in airforces around the world lay in the development of pilotless aerial weapons. He even claimed that South Africa was building an unmanned aerial vehicle which could fly 3,000 Km and drop nuclear bombs and return for another run. He said the South African interest in these weapons was because they were reusable. He said to me that South Africa was not far behind the top three countries in the world who are interested in unmanned vehicles, namely: USA, Germany and Israel.

I’m currently on a short holiday, the first I’ve taken in years. I decided to go to the South African National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg. While browsing through books there, I bought the last copy of this book: “SMART Weapons” – Sub-titled: “Top Secret History of Remote Controlled Airborne Weapons” by: Hugh McDaid and David Oliver. Foreword by: Admiral Barton Strong and Introduction by: General Kenneth Israel – who is the Director of: DARO – Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office for the US Dept of Defence.

For those interested in unmanned aerial vehicles – get this book – it will blow your mind. I have not read it yet. I have only browsed through it, but this is by far the best information I have ever come across on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). I doubt this book contains all of it – but the cover of this book confirms the TOP SECRET nature of this subject as I have mentioned to people many times over the years.

This book also mentions and has a photograph of a pretty good South African UAV. But most of it is about American UAVS. According to this book, UAVs go back to – you won’t believe this… World War I. And it has photographs of them… I like to think that I’m relatively knowledgeable about history, especially WWII, but I must tell you this book contains so much stuff which I have never seen before – complete with photos.

On Page 90, it mentions a UAV which looks like a flying saucer. It says: “The short-range Sikorsky Cypher environmental-monitoring UAV resembles the original flying saucers first seen in sci-fi B-movies in the 1950’s. Its life is provided by a number of short blades which rotate at high speed within the circular body of the aircraft, in a similar way to those in the domestic FlyMo lawn mower. UAV designers are nothing if not innovative.”

Try this link for some UAV and Sikorsky Cypher UAV pics: http://images.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http…br>
Some of the concepts in the book are amazing. There are lots of helicopter UAVs. There is amazing stuff… showing how the Germans attached a fighter plane to a bomber which was actually a UAV… and the fighter plane physically “controlled” the much bigger bomber until it was let go… The Japanese also built UAVs in WWII.

There is a whole history of these amazing vehicles… and the list of American and NASA vehicles is staggering…

One of my favourite displays at the South African National Museum of Military History is a German Molch one-man submarine. The Germans apparently produced a series of midget submarines before the end of the war. As with the UAVs, it is something I have not got much info on, and it is a completely fascinating subject which again, nobody seems to touch on. The Molch was armed with two torpedos…. and had a range of 80Km on electric batteries!! Impressive for 1944-45 huh?

Interestingly… if UAVs are the hot button in the world’s airforces… then where are all the Unmanned, remote-controlled ships and submarines??? I have never heard of them… and yet, I would think, they should exist. If developing remote-controlled vehicles is easy for aerial use… then remote-controlled ships and submarines must exist… and yet I have never heard of them… But they must be there…

So… keep your eyes and ears open…. Engineers are secretly up to some really bizarre stuff out there… Lucky bastards!!! I’d give my right arm to be involved in that sort of stuff… It must be awesome…
Jan