UAVs for Arctic, maritime and border surveillance--and emergency response

By the way that's the US side of our border. Surely our government should be exploring possibilities for civilian uses of UAVs (like the Americans) , even if the CF are the operator:

1) Ready To Respond (AW&ST, June 9, 2008, both excerpts subscriber only):

Pressure for greater access to U.S. airspace for unmanned aircraft keeps growing. The weight is bearing down on the FAA, and increasingly is being applied by other government agencies wanting airspace access for training, environment monitoring, law enforcement and disaster response.

...NOAA has conducted several UAS ["s" is for systems] demonstrations, and in January announced three regional testbed projects totaling $3 million. They include...using larger unmanned aircraft to observe sea ice and track seals as the Arctic climate warms...

2) U.S. border patrol Predators head out to sea as Coast Guard looks at joint program:

...
CBP says its main maritime UAS requirement is to detect fast boats smuggling drugs and people into the U.S., usually at night, while the Coast Guard’s missions range from search and rescue to pollution prevention. The two Homeland Security agencies are working on a joint concept of operations for the maritime Predator...

Meanwhile, the agency [CBP] is preparing to move one of its four Predators from Sierra Vista to North Dakota for patrol duties along the U.S.-Canada border. Once environmental requirements are met, the Predator B will be based at Grand Forks AFB where the North Dakota Air National Guard is switching from flying F-16 fighters to Predator As.

“Everything is ready to deploy. We expect it this summer [but] the exact date is yet to be determined,” says Kostelnik, a retired Air Force general and former NASA official. The hold-up is for completion of environmental studies, says CBP, adding it already has authorization from the FAA to fly the night surveillance missions along the northern border...

More on the CF and UAVs from Babbling, and on Canada's broader UAV program here. Plus more on civil maritime surveillance generally here.