"The Scary History and Future of Brazil's Booming Drone Market"
By: Lorien Olive & Orlando de Guzman
Fusion
August 24, 2015
Originally published:
http://fusion.net/story/187490/brazil-drone-laad-conference/
Felipe Castro da Silva, an engineer and UAV coordinator with
AEL Sistemas, slipped on a black sports jacket as we began our interview. He
was talking about the Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle—a UAV or, in more
common terminology, drone. A young man with salt and pepper hair, Castro was in
Rio de Janeiro’s sprawling RioCentro Mall to dazzle the 40,000 of attendees of
the Latin American Aero and Defense Exhibition with details of of Brazil’s
newest medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone. We were next.
“This UAV,” he said, “patrolled the Maracanã Stadium during
the 2014 World Cup and will be used again during the 2016 Olympics.” Able to
fly for 30 hours uninterrupted, the Hermes 900 can reach altitudes of up to
30,000 feet and is used mainly for surveillance, reconnaissance, and
communications relay. From the ground, it is nearly undetectable, he said.
During the World Cup, Castro added, the drone was fitted
with a Sky Eye sensor, whose 17 cameras allow security personnel on the ground
to track activity in an area of 100 square kilometers. It also has high
resolution sensors, able to identify license plates and even faces at 30,000
feet. In terms of its capabilities, the Hermes 900 is comparable to its more
notorious American counterpart, the MQ-1 Predator drone.
AEL Sistemas, based in Porto Alegre, became a subsidiary of
the Israeli company Elbit in 2001, at which time it began developing a new
generation of Brazilian surveillance drones using Israeli technology. But the
Hermes 900 was just one example of Brazil’s growing role in the booming global
market for unmanned aerial systems. The LAAD expo’s interior was filled with
them.
While the U.S. military’s use of deadly Predator and Reaper
drones has dominated headlines, the popularity of UAVs among developing
countries has gone largely unreported beyond the pages of defense trade
publications. However, Alejandro Sánchez, research fellow at the Council on
Hemispheric Affairs and one of a handful of researchers tracking the region’s
drone boom, said in a recent phone interview that the relative low cost of UAV
technology has put drones within reach of even the poorest countries in the
Latin America. Indeed, several governments are already developing home-grown
UAVs, including Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, and Mexico, which boasts the most
affordable surveillance drone priced at a mere $600. Or, as Sánchez put it:
“The era of the UAV in Latin America has arrived.”
How Mexico is becoming the drone capital of Latin America
Brazil leads the pack in attracting foreign technology and
investment in unmanned aerial vehicles and systems. Its booming defense budget,
forecasted to expand by US$10 billion to US$41.1 billion in 2020, has brought
leading aeronautics companies to see Brazil as a growth engine for the
industry.
In June 2014, Brazil also became the first Latin American
country to export home-grown UAVs, when São Paulo-based Flight Tech announced
that they won a contract with two undisclosed African countries for a fleet of
FT-100 Horus Mini-UAVs.
Sánchez says one reason for Brazil’s rapid ascension in the
drone revolution can be found in the history of the military dictatorship.
Military rulers built on Brazil’s already formidable industrial prowess by
nationalizing key sectors and investing significant state resources toward the
development of a military industrial complex. Thus, the dictatorship of Brazil
stood out from contemporaries in Chile and Argentina, by cultivating an
international reputation as an exporter of quality weapons and aircraft.
Embraer (Brazil’s state-owned aeronautics company), established by General
Emilio Medici in the 1980s, is currently the 4th largest aircraft manufacturer
in the world, after Airbus, Boeing, and the Canadian company, Bombadier. The
Brazilian military’s also began its precocious experiments in drone technology
in the 1980’s, more than a decade before any other Latin American country.
For many UAV companies, including American ones, the BRIC
countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are appealing sites for research,
development, and production: Brazil and its counterparts offer a highly
unregulated airspace to companies fleeing the strict regulations of the
American FAA. Brazil’s deregulated airspace, the absence of a rigorous permit
system, significantly lowers research and development costs for foreign UAV
producers. By investing in homegrown industry, licensing technology, and
establishing local subsidiaries, foreign manufacturers are transforming the
Brazil into a regional base of drone production for the world market.
According to AI Online, an aerospace and defense magazine,
the sales contracts resulting from the 2015 LAAD show that U.S. companies were
losing significant ground to international competitors. Despite the fact that
the U.S. is home to 86 drone companies (more than double that of any other
country), Israeli companies are currently dominating the global market for UAV
technology. According to a 2013 Frost & Sullivan report Israeli companies
are cornering sales in the developing regions, such as Africa and Asia-Pacific,
with a particularly strong presence in Latin American markets due a legacy of
robust arms trade between Israel and regional governments throughout the
turbulent 1980’s. The U.S. government, meanwhile, continues to heavily regulate
the sale of weapons to foreign buyers, especially those considered enemies or
otherwise untrustworthy.
Embraer’s capacity to build more highly-sophisticated drone
prototypes has greatly expanded in recent years due to healthy infusions of
technology and capital. AEL Sistemas, Embraer’s joint venture with Avibras and
Elbit, has rolled out not only the Hermes drones, but also the Harpia UAV, a
surveillance drone designed to compete with the popular Heron model made by
Elbit’s Israeli rival, IAI.
Not to be outdone, following this year’s LAAD, IAI acquired
minority holding in the Avionics Services in 2014, as part of its strategic
investment in the Brazilian defense market. Together, the two companies are
developing the Caçador (Portuguese for hunter), a long endurance UAV designed
for the rigors of patrolling Brazil’s vast Amazon rain forest.
Mega-events like the World Cup and Olympics have also been a
bonanza for Israeli UAV makers and their Brazilian partners. All told, Brazil
spent between US$850 and US$900 billion on high-tech security equipment for the
2014 World Cup, and at least US$350 million went toward a multi-stage contract
to purchase fourteen IAI drones and accompanying equipment. And last October,
IAI announced that it had won a $2.2 billion contract for security at the 2016
Rio Olympics.
Not everyone is happy, however, with the increasingly cozy
relationship between Israeli and Brazilian UAV companies. Only last month, the
Rousseff administration publicly denied the existence of the Olympics security
contract with IAI after labor and left-wing social movements raised complaints
about the company’s troubling history of dealing arms to Central American
paramilitary and counterinsurgency groups, including IAI’s founder Al
Schwimmer’s role as middleman in the infamous Iran-Contra Affair. If the
contract does materialize, however, IAI would join other major private-sector
telecom and security companies that make up the Consorcio Brasil Seguro– the
consortium responsible for security at mega events—in their effort to maximize
the surveillance capacity of the existing drone fleet.
The possible uses of UAVs are endless, Alejandro Sánchez
reminded us during our phone interview. Indeed, drones are already being put to
use for many civilian purposes, including scouting for archaeological remains
in the Amazon, irrigating crops in the arid northeast region, and surveying
infrastructure in far-flung Brazilian states.
The Brazilian military and law enforcement have also
embraced UAVs as versatile and cost-efficient mechanisms for surveillance. The
use of drones for patrolling the country’s border, which spans nearly 10,500
miles and touches every South American country except Chile and Ecuador, has
received massive national media attention. And Rousseff’s government has
repeatedly held up UAVs as critical for national security, as well as Brazil’s
growing aspirations to regional military dominance. Thus far, Brazil has tread
lightly with its use of drones in surveillance, anti-smuggling, and
counter-terrorism missions that cross its borders, especially for missions that
involve the sensitive tri-border region where Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
meet. As a gesture of transparency and good will, Rousseff has insisted on
adding code-of-conduct provisos to any bilateral agreement for drone
surveillance. These agreements set basic standards for prior notification of
cross-border flights, types of surveillance carried out, and data-sharing
between Brazil and the neighboring country in question.
Such gestures seem to be paying off. Following the 2008
expulsion of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency from Bolivia’s coca-growing
regions under allegations of espionage, Bolivian President inked an agreement with
the Brazilian Air Force to begin cross-border UAV patrols. Hailed by both
governments as a victory in regional cooperation in the on-going war on drugs,
Bolivian law enforcement credited Brazil’s Heron I drones with spotting 240
jungle cocaine labs which narcotics agents were able to later destroy during a
single month in 2012.
While the use of drones for border security and regional
surveillance is a cause celebre for the Brazilian government, information about
the use of UAVs in urban areas is much harder to come by. It is difficult to
tell whether this is because the military is reluctant to use potentially
invasive surveillance technology in densely populated areas or whether they are
concealing the activities of urban UAV programs.
Nonetheless, there is some evidence that the use of drones
is gaining traction among law enforcement agencies responsible for urban
security. As early as 2012, Rio’s elite military police force, known by the
acronym BOPE, began using UAVs for surveillance, according to the online trade
magazine Piloto Policial. In the days before the World Cup opening in June
2014, Bloomberg News also reported the first confirmed instance of a UAV used
in urban special operations, when the Israeli-made Heron drone’s heat sensors
helped the federal police track a top drug kingpin, Little P, into the heart of
Rio’s Complexo da Mare favela.
To find out more about the urban applications of UAVs, we
caught up with Maurílio Nunes, a Major in Rio’s military police (BOPE)
following his energetic presentation to fellow Rio law enforcement officers in
attendance at LAAD. Nunes wore the all-black uniform of the military police,
his shoulder emblazoned with the ominous BOPE emblem—a grimacing skull pierced
by a dagger and two pistols crossed behind it. When we asked him about the use
of drones for urban security operations, he responded that BOPE is committed to
finding cost-effective ways to combat urban crime and civil unrest, and that
drones would be a cheaper and safer alternative to helicopter surveillance of
urban “conflict areas.” Despite indications to the contrary, however, he
claimed that BOPE was not currently using or testing drones in urban areas. He
cited legal restrictions on martial use of UAVs in populated areas. However,
our research revealed that under current Brazilian law (AIC N 21/10, September
23, 2010) no such restrictions on UAVs exist, a conclusion confirmed by
Alejandro Sánchez. Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Authority is racing to
propose regulations ahead of the 2016 Olympics, but these new restrictions will
apply to only commercial drones, and not police or military UAVs.
Standing in front of a large yellow sign that prominently
displayed Rio’s iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer alongside the Hermes 900
as it glided over Maracanã Stadium during the 2014 World Cup, Felipe Castro
concluded the list of the UAVs benefits by noting its substantial 350 kilogram
payload. When asked, he acknowledged that the drone could theoretically be
equipped with arms, but quickly followed up by saying that the Brazilian Air
Force currently has no plans to weaponize UAVs.
Nevertheless, the very same tight-knit bond among military,
research institutions, and private industry that makes Brazil so enticing to
foreign UAV companies, is also the product of a violent legacy of military
authoritarianism. In particular, the secrecy surrounding past military
aggressions against freedom of press and expression fuels concerns about the
potential abuse of drone technology in Brazil.
In an historic hearing before the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights in 2013, Santiago Cantón, Argentine lawyer and executive
director of Robert F. Kennedy Partners for Human Rights, testified that Latin
American governments, and Brazil in particular, are being disproportionately
targeted for the development and testing of drones for martial (rather than
commercial) use. Cantón, and other experts on the human rights implications of
UAVs, argued that the Brazilian military’s abysmal track record for
transparency and accountability made the intensive development of drones for
martial use a matter of great concern for the average citizen.
For his part, Alejandro Sánchez says that regulation, especially
in terms of government accountability and the privacy of civilians, is one of
the biggest uncertainties in the future of drones in Latin America. This is
especially critical, he added, when Latin American governments make the leap
toward weaponized UAVs. Presently, there are no international laws or treaties
that govern the use or proliferation of armed drones. Only the broad terms of
the Geneva Convention offer some guidance, but its language does not reflect
advances in technology. Sánchez points out that groups such as the Campaign to
Stop Killer Robots are pursuing an international convention that would place
pre-emptive restrictions on lethal UAV technologies, especially those with
autonomous capabilities.
Ultimately, he predicts that “it’s likely not a matter of
if, but when Latin American militaries will begin arming drones.”
One sign that weaponized UAVs may soon be a reality is an
April article by Defense Web that South African drone company Desert Wolf would
be courting Brazilian manufacturers at the 2015 LAAD in order to secure a
regional base for production of their SKUNK riot control copter. As Tim Pool
reported, the SKUNK UAV is equipped with non-lethal weapons such as pepper
balls, paintballs, blinding lasers, and rubber bullets, and is touted by Desert
Wolf’s managing director, Hennie Kieser, as a humane alternative to riot police
because it removes human risk factors like error, fear, and anger from
high-pressure scenes of civil unrest.
In an email exchange following the 2015 LAAD, Kieser told us
that the SKUNK generated “huge excitement” among conference attendees. He added
that while Desert Wolf continues to look for the best fit for its Brazilian
manufacturing facility, they did receive an order for a fleet of ten SKUNK riot
control copters, which will be delivered to their client in Rio once one
additional feature has been installed. Kieser did not respond to follow-up
requests for the name of the client and the additional feature.
Kieser has cited the 2012 Marikana massacre, a bloody clash
between South African riot police and union members over labor conditions in a
platinum mine, as inspiration for the creation of the SKUNK. Desert Wolf
provided surveillance UAVs to the mining company during a chaotic confrontation
that left 41 mine workers dead at the hands of security forces. Survivors of
the Marikana massacre, along with international labor organizations and Noel
Sharkey of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control campaign group,
have publicly rejected Desert Wolf’s claim that the SKUNK drone would lead to
more humane outcomes in the future.
Video credits:
Camera/Producer: Orlando de Guzman
Editor: Lorien Olive
Reporter: Tim Pool
Researcher: Lorien Olive
Music: Warner Library
