Drone to Provide Eye in the Sky at World Cup

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on Thursday in Rio with Mexico facing Croatia in the opening match. Due to an expected influx of 10.2 million tourists, as well as the riots and demonstrations that have taken place in Brazil over the last year, the Brazilian government has brought in security measures of every kind: training sessions conducted by the US FBI, ground-based bomb defusal/riot control robots and of course, drones.

Earlier this year, the Brazilian government purchased two Hermes 900 UAVs from Israeli manufacturer Elbit Systems. THe Hermes 900 is a multi-payload (up to 350 kg) UAV with an endurance of over 30 hours and can fly at a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet and is primarily used in reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay.

The drone is highly autonomous, sturdy enough to handle inclement weather conditions, and can be outfitted with all the bells and whistles.

In other words, nobody will be able to see these drones from the ground, but they will be watching.

“What they will do is give the police an extra pair of eyes in the sky and allow them to plan and analyze any situations which occur,” Justin Pringle of Heliguy.com told CNN. “They are a far more cost-effective means of policing, and it saves having a manned helicopter in the air.”

Now, there is a lot of public unease surrounding the idea of government surveillance via drone both in the US and around the world.

The question we are faced with at this point is, politics aside, is the use of drones at an event like the World Cup -in a location like Rio de Janeiro– warranted, if not necessary?

It seems pretty clear that there will be protests (in one form or another) in Brazil once the World Cup begins and the cameras start rolling. It also seems that there is serious potential for a protest to turn into a riot.

And just like that, the conversation has turned from a debate about ‘big brother’ and a citizenry at odds with its government to an issue of the personal safety for millions of people from all over the world.