To the casual observer, Britain’s most sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicle looks rather like a large, white model aeroplane.

But its sleek exterior hides the deadly capabilities beneath. It is one of Britain’s most crucial intelligence weapons, and is playing an increasingly vital role on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

These roving eyes in the sky are becoming an indispensable tool for the British military, able to detect snipers or insurgents planting the deadly roadside bombs that have become one of the biggest threats to forces on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as one of the UK’s main weapons in hunting down Taleban or Al Qaeda operatives.

Soon, Britain’s Reapers may also be able to shoot down their targets, rather than simply locate and identify them.

‘Major milestone’

I encountered one of Britain’s Reaper MQ-9 UAVs in Afghanistan last December, shortly after its first operational flight there in October 2007.

The rapid acquisition of three Reapers for the Royal Air Force (RAF) was deemed “a major milestone” by the UK’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, which he said would “significantly enhance” the UK’s surveillance and reconnaissance capability in Afghanistan.

An RAF pilot based in Afghanistan takes care of the take-off and landing, but the UAV itself is flown for most of its mission by RAF pilots operating Reaper remotely via satellite link from a distance of 11,000km (7,000 miles) away, from the US Air Force’s Creech airbase in Nevada.

The pilot and an observer sit at computer screens, seeing what the plane sees through its cameras and sensors. One computer screen shows navigational data, another what the plane sees, while a third screen provides operational data.

Some 44 RAF crew also help fly the American Predator surveillance aircraft from their base in the Nevada desert. Reaper was originally known as Predator B, a larger turbo-prop powered version of the original Predator.

Reaper is not, however, a cheap option. It costs around £5m per plane, but the price of back-up services brings the total bill for three to some £50m. And earlier this year, one of the UK’s three Reapers came down in the Afghan desert thanks to a technical fault, and had to be destroyed to keep its secrets from the enemy.

Future capabilities

For now, Britain’s Reapers are unarmed and used only for reconnaissance, though they are due to be fitted with missiles for attacks – as the US Predators already are – very soon.

The “eyeballs” – the rotating sensors strapped to the nose – offer an extremely high-quality video feed, which can show clearly from 4,600m (15,000ft) what an insurgent is doing.

The video is streamed back live to the controllers’ computer screens as they are flown remotely from the US.

The ground control stations send their commands to Reaper via a fibre-optic link to a satellite relay station in Europe, which bounces them into space and back down to the aircraft.

Last year the RAF requested 10 Reapers, made by General Atomics, which could cost up to £250m with their associated equipment.

Novel role

However, it’s believed the request has been turned down in the current Ministry of Defence (MoD) planning round, though the RAF is sure to continue asking to enlarge its fleet.

The unmanned vehicles may be costly, but they are far less costly in terms of lives if shot down or lost.

Britain suffered one of its worst ever losses of life in September 2006, when a Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft exploded in mid-air over Kandahar in Afghanistan, killing all 14 servicemen on board.

A coroner recently ruled that the current Nimrod fleet was unsafe, something the MoD disputes. However, its replacement – the Nimrod MRA4 – will not be ready for several years, perhaps offering an ever-more vital role for UAVs.

They are also slightly more environmentally friendly. Thanks to their light weight and big wings, they burn just 11kg (25lbs) of fuel per hour, compared with an F-16′s 2,500kg (5,500lb).

In addition to its current “hunter-killer” role, the US Air Force (USAF) plans to equip some of its own Reapers as signals intelligence aircraft – capable of detecting mobile telephone signals, as well as signals emitted by surface-to-air missile batteries – which would bring Reaper’s intelligence capabilities a little closer to those of the Nimrod.

Design revamp for ‘$100 laptop’

The XO2 looks and acts like an electronic book

The wraps have been taken off the new version of the XO laptop designed for schoolchildren in developing countries.

The revamped machine created by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project looks like an e-book and has had its price slashed to $75 per device.

OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte gave a glimpse of the “book like” device at an unveiling event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The first XO2 machines should be ready to deliver to children in 2010.

Mr Negroponte said he hoped the design would also be used by other manufacturers.

Dual use

“This laptop comes from a different point of view.” he said.

The new version loses the green rubbery keyboard, sporting instead a single square display hinged at its centre.

This allows the device to be split into two touch screens that can either mimic a laptop with keyboard or the pages of a book.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve learned the book experience is key,” he said.

The idea is for several children to use the device at once, combining the functions of a laptop, electronic book and electronic board.

“It is a totally new concept for learning devices.” said Prof Negroponte.

It has taken a year to make XP compatible with the XO

The new machine will also be more energy efficient, half the size of the first generation device and lighter to carry.

It will continue to sport the XO logo in a multitude of colours so that children can personalise them.

“The XO2 will be a bit of a Trojan horse,” said Prof Negroponte. Initially it will be promoted as an e-book reader with the capacity to store more than 500 e-books.

“Currently developing nations such as China and Brazil are spending $19 per student per year on books,” he said.

Dual boot

The launch of the XO2 is being seen as an effort by OLPC to revitalise adoption of its machines. Initially, Prof Negroponte set a target of selling 100 million machines by 2008.

So far OLPC has only sold about 600,000 machines. Prof Negroponte said he expected a further 400,000 orders in the next “60 to 90 days”.

Many countries have been reluctant to buy the machines because they did not run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

In mid-May OLPC announced a deal with Microsoft to make Windows available on the XO machine.

Previously the machines used a version of open source Linux operating system.

“There is no question that demand goes up when you offer dual boot,” said Professor Negroponte.

The laptops which originally had a target price of $100 now cost $188 each.

The OLPC project believes the price tag for the new devices will be achieved thanks to falling prices for flat panel screens, the most costly of all laptop components.

At the MIT event, Prof Negroponte announced the resumption of the Get-One-Give-One programme to allow people in wealthy nations to buy two XO laptops and donate one to a child in a developing country.

The programme will be open to people in North America and Europe and start in August or September.

Prof Negroponte said the previous programme enabled OLPC to distribute 30,000 additional laptops to children in Rwanda, Mongolia and Haiti.

Plans for a super-database containing the details of all phone calls and e-mails sent in the UK have been heavily criticised by experts.

The government is considering the changes as part of its ongoing fight against serious crime and terrorism.

Assistant Information Commissioner Jonathan Bamford has warned that the UK could be “sleepwalking into a surveillance society”.

Others have questioned how such a database could be made secure.

Public confidence

“While the public is “sleepwalking” into a surveillance society, the government seems to have its eyes wide open although, unfortunately, to everything except security,” said Jamie Cowper, data protection expert at data protection firm PGP Corporation.

“The bottom line is – information of this nature should only be held if – and only if – it can be demonstrated that an appropriate system of checks and balances is in place and the security of the information being stored is of paramount concern,” he added.

Public confidence in the governments’ ability to look after data has been dented in recent months with high profile failures, including the loss of a CD carrying all the personal details of every child benefit claimant.

The latest plans being mulled by the Home Office will form part of the proposed Communications Bill, which is due to be considered by MPs later this year.

It is, said a Home Office spokesman, crucial “to ensure that public authorities have access to communications data essential for counter-terrorism and investigation of crime purposes.”

Risks

The more people who have access to it the more risks there would be Chris Mayers, Citrix Systems

It would extend the powers of RIPA (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) which currently allows hundreds of government agencies access to communications data.

Some believe such legislation, which requires government authorities to request information from communication providers, is more than adequate for law enforcement purposes.

“The fight against terrorism doesn’t require a centralised database,” said Chris Mayers, chief security architect at Citrix Systems, an applications delivery firm.

“Such a database would face threats from both outside and inside. The more people who have access to it the more risks there would be,” he said.

Big Brother

The Internet Service Providers’ Association said it was seeking more information about the proposals.

“In particular we want to know more about the Government’s intentions regarding “modifying the procedures for acquiring communications data,” said a spokesman.

In the run-up to RIPA being approved by parliament, human rights campaigner Privacy International argued that such an act would be a dangerous first step towards a “Big Brother” society.

According to Gus Hosein, a senior fellow at Privacy International, the latest proposals could be even more controversial.

“The idea that ISPs need to collect data and send it en masse to central government is, without doubt, illegal,” he said.

While you can understand why police like this, the very fact that the backdoor is there and that a bunch of these USB keys are out there pretty much guarantees that those with nefarious intent also have such keys.

The second you build in a back door, no matter how noble the reason, you can rest assured that they will be used by hackers and criminals. Several sources have now stated that trusting Microsoft’s statements about how “secure” vista is like hiring a chocolate firegard to stop you from burning yourself.

The USB key doesn’t simply contain backdoor keys but actually includes a bunch of standard tools, not access to a “backdoor.” The confusion following the initial story was due to the original article claiming that the device “can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer’s Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.” In saying so, it appeared that the device must have access to a backdoor to decrypt the password — but an update claims that it’s merely “password security auditing technologies.”

The BBC Technology department reports:

Adobe opens up Flash on mobiles

Watching TV on a mobile can be a frustrating experience

Adobe has announced a plan to try to get its Flash player installed on more mobile devices and set-top boxes.

Dubbed Open Screen the initiative lifts restrictions on how its multimedia handling software can be used.

Adobe will stop charging licencing fees for mobile versions of Flash and plans to publish information about the inner workings of the code.

In taking this step Adobe hopes to repeat on mobiles the success its Flash technology has enjoyed on the web.

Video deal

Adobe estimates that its Flash player is installed on more than 98% of net-connected desktop computers.

The Open Screen plan will build on Flash Lite – Adobe’s version of its multimedia player designed for mobile gadgets – that is already on millions of handhelds.

The ultimate aim of Open Screen is to make it much easier for TV and film makers to send their content to mobiles and on other devices such as set-top boxes.

It aims to do this by creating one flexible player technology that can run on any small-form device but only demands that developers write code once for it.

At the moment trying to get games or video on to different devices can be frustrating because of the plethora of hardware and software quirks on each gadget.

Adobe’s four-step plan involves ending license fees; removing restrictions on the use of files in SWF and FLV format; publishing detailed information about the program interfaces for its Flash player and opening up information about its Flash streaming technology.

The move is the latest in a series that are aiming to open up Flash and get more devleopers working with it.

It is also part of the larger plan for Adobe Air – an overarching code development system that aims to bridge the gap between web and desktop applications.

Adobe said it was working with Arm, SonyEricsson, Nokia, LG and other gadget makers on the Open Screen initiative as well as content partners such as the BBC, MTV and NBC.

Adobe faces competition from Microsoft which is trying to get Silverlight – its answer to Air – on to mobiles too.

Gizmodo reports: Dell will take advantage of a licensing option in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate that lets PC makers provide XP under the Vista license, which Microsoft calls a “downgrade” license. (Enterprises with site licenses have these same rights with any version of Vista.) In essence, the user is buying a Vista license that it can apply to XP, and Microsoft can still claim a Vista sale.

An interesting devlopment it is and I will be keeping a pretty close eye on vista figures for the coming months.