Bloomberg
03 November 2014
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Eye-in-the-Sky Blimp Boosts Singapore’s Spying Ability
Eye-in-the-Sky Blimp Boosts Singapore’s Spying Ability
A missing airplane and a rise in piracy attacks off the coast of Singapore has prompted the city-state to boost surveillance efforts with a radar-equipped blimp over its skyline.
An unmanned helium-filled balloon the length of an Olympic-size pool will be held down by fortified ropes to float 600 meters (2,000 feet) above ground — more than twice the height of Singapore’s tallest building, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on its website.
“Both aviation and maritime domains have to be closely monitored in the light of the more recent developments, for instance the MH370,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “So it is paramount for the governments to review the existing capabilities and build new capabilities.”
…“Privacy has basically gone out the window,” said Bernard Loo, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, referring to existing technologies including security cameras, Google Earth and Global Positioning System trackers. “There’s nothing private any longer. Everything is essentially going to be out in the open.”
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Last updated on 03/11/2014
