Need a drone? Try Ebay

Filipino Henson Chua is expected to plead guilty to selling a RQ-11A/B “Raven” drone aircraft to a Homeland Security Department agent who was posing as an American representing a Russian arms dealer on Ebay according to the Washington Post;

As part of a plea agreement, Henson Chua was to plead guilty Wednesday in Florida to the illegal import of defense material for selling the Raven. He faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely get less under federal guidelines.

No word in the court papers on how Chua got the drone in the first place.

Yeah, I think it’s probably most important to figure out how he got the thing in the first place. Not that it’s dangerous, other then the fact that it contains a bunch of technology other countries don’t have. Some information on the Raven;

More than 3,000 RQ-11As were produced before 2006. The RQ-11A Raven UAV weighs about 1.9kg (4.2lb). It has a flight endurance of 80 minutes and an effective operational radius of about 10km (6.2 miles). Raven has a flying speed of 45km/h to 95km/h (28mph to 60mph) at typical operating altitude between 30m and 300m (100ft to 1,000ft). RQ-11A Raven provides flexibility, with remote control or control through ground station. It allows completely autonomous missions using GPS waypoint navigation. CCD colour video and an infrared camera constitute the standard mission payloads.

The Raven B system is an enhanced version of the battle-proven Raven A. It is a lightweight system designed for rapid deployment and high mobility for both military and commercial applications. The Raven B is the most advanced SUAS deployed with the US armed forces.

RQ-11B has a wingspan of 4.5ft and a weight of 4.2lb. Launched by hand, Raven provides aerial observation, day or night, at line-of-sight ranges of 10km or more. It can deliver real-time colour or infrared imagery to ground control and remote viewing stations, as well as IR laser illumination of ground targets.

Category: Military issues