UAV drones deployed for surveillance operations in the Deep South

Miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) drones have been deployed for use in surveillance operations in the restive three southernmost provinces. 

          Colonel Banpot Poonpien, spokesman of the Fourth Army Region, told Isranews agency that the mini UAVs have been extensively used in intelligence gathering and surveillance operations.  

          For instance in the operations to provide protection to train services, a UAV which is equipped with a powerful camera would be launched to survey the railroad ahead of an arriving train whether there are any suspicious activities near the railroad.  The camera will take pictures of the railroad and transmit the images back to the receiving monitor which will analyse the images.  If there is something suspicious, foot soldiers will be sent to find out.

          The Thai army has started deploying UAV drones two years ago.  Altogether 120 Raven RQ11B drones worth 1,920 million baht were tbought from the United States by then Army Commander-in-Chief General Prayut Chan-ocha.  Some of these drones have been deployed for use in the Deep South.

          Raven RQ11B drone weighs only 1.9 kgs and can be airborne for 60 minutes using power from a battery.  It can fly up to 1,000 feet altitude and can fly for a distance of 10 kilometres.  Infared camera can be equipped.

          However, it was reported that the army had cooperated with the Office of the National Research Committee to develop their own drones and other military equipments such as bomb demolition robots.