Terrorism Notes

@ General Atomics, which makes the Predator recon drone, has proposed a system that could be developed from the Predator technology for use on civilian passenger jets. If either the pilot or copilot threw a switch in the cockpit, control of the aircraft would irrevocably pass to a ground station that could fly the plane to a safe landing.
@ Iridium Satellite LLC (the company that took over the Iridium satellite telephone network) has proposed a new system under which every civilian aircraft will continuously transmit its cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder data to a ground station. In this way, crash investigators won't need to find the black boxes, but simply check the data downloads. The company says that the technology is readily available and could be installed quickly.

@ Bin Laden Associates, a Saudi holding company (owned by relatives of Osama bin Laden who have disowned him) has made a bid to purchase Pakistan International Airlines.

@ The 11 September attacks have pushed India and Israel to accelerate their military agreements, including arms deals, technology transfers, intelligence exchanges, and joint weapons development.--Stephen V Cole