Eyes in the sky for Olympics

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-4  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

UNMANNED drones will patrol the skies above the Olympic sailing venue of Qingdao City, in the country's first known use of the spy craft.

One of the unmanned scouts made its debut at a drill yesterday in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province. They will watch for suspicious activities and transmit photos and videos back to command stations.

During the drill, two armed police personnel remotely piloted the meter-long reconnaissance aircraft near to a third-floor window in a building more than 50 meters away, and watched activities inside the room on a screen at their ground station.

At a cost of almost 1 million yuan (US$147,000) each, the aircraft can cover several square kilometers and stay in the air for an hour, said Dai Sujin, head of the armed police forces of Shandong.

Besides the unmanned drones, another 35 kinds of anti-terrorist weapons were on show in mock hijackings and bomb attacks.

"They are expected to be used by the security forces during the Beijing Olympics," Dai said.

Robots that can lift explosives of up to 16 kilograms were also on display yesterday. They work by remote control and can move and destroy explosives.

China has placed a high emphasis on security in the run-up to the Games. An anti-terrorist force of nearly 100,000 commandos, police and army troops is on high alert.