In an effort to stop smugglers and terrorists from entering the U.S. through underground tunnel systems at the Canada and Mexico borders, the federal government has begun using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles fitted with tunnel detection sensors. The machine of choice for the bird’s eye first responder is the product of the Office of Naval Research: it is the Silver Fox.

Like the majestic Bald Eagle itself watching over America, the Silver Fox has proven to be a reliable autonomous aerial surveillance system capable of atmospheric sensing, radiogradiometer tunnel detection, and hyperspectral, stereoscopic and thermal imagery collection. In simple terms, the Silver Fox is the all seeing eye in the sky.

Adding to a growing list of military designed UAVs including the Predator, Global Hawk, Maverick and Raven, the Silver Fox is just another example of the cutting edge technology being developed in the interest of national security.

Originally developed to spot whales in Naval operating areas to keep them out of harm’s way, the plane has a six-foot long fuselage with detachable eight-foot wings and tail fins. The attached hyperspectral camera would make Ashton Kutcher’s Nikon pics look like Monet’s. Weighing in at a minor 20-pounds, this cutting edge technology soars the skies with the motor of a model plane, and fits nicely in a case that some have called a “giant golf bag.” (Hear that, Tiger?)

Since 2004 under a cooperative agreement with the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, a flight team from Advanced Ceramics Research of Tucson, Ariz., and the ONR, the Silver Fox has impressed the big wigs of national security.

Evolving from a UAV capable of detecting IEDs from their 22 gauge (0.0254 inch diameter) detonation wiring at 1000 ft, at an airspeed of 60 knots, the Silver Fox became an easily accessorized innovation that has led the way in the future capabilities of surveillance.

During tunnel detection, the attached gradiometer, which detects IEDs by broadcasting radio waves and detecting changes in the reflected gradient caused by wires, corresponds with a ground based stimulator capable of reflecting the changes in underground layers. In 2006, several flights over an area in Douglas, Ariz., proved useful to locate the position of a known smuggler’s tunnel between the Unites States and Mexico.

Since then, the technology has advanced to a more dependable means of operation, but don’t get your hopes up about the military finding Osama Bin Laden anytime soon in the mountain tunnels. Intelligence gathering has shown that many tunnels exist but are undetected because technology has not matured enough to identify voids in large geographic areas.

With technology only advancing, soon enough we could be living in a world where the scarcely numbered Border Patrol could set up the Silver Fox in fifteen-minutes, launch it from a catapult or air compressed launcher, and let the GPS guidance do the rest with real-time feedback instantly uploading to a laptop in the Patrol car. With a capability of eight-hour mission durations, the Silver Fox’s highly advanced camera will have illegal gun, drug, human, and hazardous threat smugglers quickly under the knife.

Besides UAVs being the eyes-in-the-sky for advancing Marines and other military uses, police, emergency responders, and commercial real estate and agricultural representatives have their uses. UAVs allow firefighters to survey wildfires without endangering themselves, investors can see construction updates from other locations, and farmers can survey crops.