Is UAV effective in jungle areas? What can the UAVs see? Tree tops?
Thailand to deploy recon dronesAFP
30 Jun05
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15776170%255E31477,00.htmlPATTANI, Thailand: Thailand announced plans this week to fly spy drones over its Muslim-majority south and raise its security budget to cope with a deadly insurgency which claimed another six lives.
As police announced the latest deaths and attacks on teachers' homes, Interior Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya admitted security forces in the region were not adequately equipped or trained to handle the violence.
"Everyone is working very hard but they have limitations so I will provide more training and more equipment, and in particular a larger budget," he told reporters.
Government spokesman Chalermdej Jombunud said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had ordered the defence ministry to manufacture 10 unmanned drones with an operating radius of 3km for use over the south.
"They are to be used in the southern mission and will be equipped with the latest camera for spying on the movements of militants in inacessible (jungle) areas," Chalermdej said.
As well as the separatists, authorities and analysts say smugglers, organized criminals, corrupt politicians and security forces are also to blame for the bloodshed.