How to Become a Mercenary by Barry Davies

Author:Barry Davies
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781510755437
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2020-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Barry Davies

Modern technical surveillance equipment now encompasses nano unmanned aerial vehicles capable of spying from anywhere in the world. The SQ-4 RECON is a new breed of surveillance capability.

Technical Surveillance Equipment

Anything from a pair of binoculars to a satellite can be described as technical surveillance equipment. The military have been using infrared and thermal imaging devices on the battlefield since the early 1970s, and like most equipment, they have evolved.

Infrared energy—often referred to as IR—is electromagnetic radiation that travels in a straight line through space, similar to visible light. The term infrared refers to the frequency of the energy, which is “infra,” or “below,” the red range of the visible spectrum. As the frequency of the electromagnetic energy increases, the length of the waves decreases. Infrared shares many of the properties of visible light, but its different wavelength has several unique characteristics. For instance, materials that are opaque to visible light may be transparent to infrared, and vice versa. Infrared is less subject to scattering and absorption by smoke or dust than visible light and cannot be seen by the human eye.

Low-light image intensifiers electronically increase the amount of light available at night, even that emitted by the stars. Such devices can be used to work at night and have been developed into any number of applications. Military pilots fly and deliver their payload in total darkness using passive night goggles (PNG) and a similar fitment is used by the SAS for carrying out CTRs. One of these lenses on a camera or video allows for covert night filming. Gone are the days when you could hide in the dark: Infrared image intensifiers or thermal vision will find you.

In addition to seeing our enemy, we can now also listen to their conversation. Both landline and mobile phone monitoring have become highly advanced. It is now possible to listen and record most conversations between two people, and you do not even have to be in the same country. Email and faxes can be interrupted and even have the wording changed, and you would never know.

Video cameras and associated accessories have also become more sophisticated. It is now possible to secrete a camera no bigger than a pin head into most items: pens, clocks, ties, or even cuddly toys. Many such cameras have a built-in transmitter capable of sending the pictures to a remote monitor or recorder.

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These days we rely heavily on remote surveillance devices, such as drones and satellites, and while these are improving rapidly, they still do not produce a full picture. It is not easy to carry out normal car and foot surveillance techniques in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, especially for Westerners. However, over the years, some very clever approaches have been made to the subject of surveillance, highly intelligent drones being just one of them. While it is unlikely that any member of a PMC will become involved in the larger drone fraternity, there are now several small drones that are being carried and used for surveillance.

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