Intelligence: May 28, 2003

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The rapid conquest of Baghdad provided a lot of practical experience operating in a large urban area. While that operation went well, it made generals nervous about what would happen if the resistance had been greater. Out of this has come an interest in developing better reconnaissance capabilities for urban areas, and some ideas on how to take over urban communications networks for military use. There's also interest in how to take advantage of air conditioning and electrical systems in large buildings (and structures like malls or stadiums) for reconnaissance. So there will be attempts to get permission from the owners of large structures, and governments in large urban areas, to let the army come in and check out the possibilities. UAVs and cheap, air dropped wireless vidcams can be used in many ways to monitor activity in large urban areas. It's important, because it saves time and lives in wartime, to find out what can be done, and at what cost, now.

 

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