NYPD Has Anti-Aircraft Capability
September 26th, 2011Update: Barret .50 Caliber Rifle [???]
lol
Via: New York Post:
Police sources told The Post that the weapon that Kelly was referring to involves a Barret .50 caliber rifle, which can be mounted on almost any police chopper.
—End Update—
Via: New York Daily News:
Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the NYPD now has the capability to take down a plane if necessary.
In a “60 Minutes” interview that airs on CBS Sunday night, Kelly said the department’s counterterrorism unit is prepared to thwart an oncoming plane if it’s deemed a threat.
“Well, it’s something that’s on our radar screen,” Kelly told Scott Pelley of the news show. “I mean in an extreme situation, you would have some means to take down a plane.”
He did not elaborate on what methods the NYPD would use but a police source said, “NYPD Aviation has weapons that caould be deployed with that capability.”
Kelly discussed the precautions made before the General Assembly meeting at the United Nations this week, just days after a threat was made to attack the city on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
I do believe that after ALL these years of hand-wringing and strident talk about the ongoing para-miltarization of civil “law enforcement” agencies in the USSA, the Rubicon has finally been crossed.
The only way I see the NYCADC (Air Defense Corps) reliably dropping an aircraft the size of a commercial jet — in one of the most vertical urban environments on the planet — is air-to-air engagement. Which most likely means helicopter mounted Sidewinder missiles (or similar) with air-to-ground capability.
Naturally, the whole idea is being sold as a defensive maneuver. As preparation against an offensive methodology that was effective TEN YEARS AGO. Behind the curve, as ever.
And if an airliner IS used in such a manner again, which seems rather unlikely at this point, where EXACTLY will the flaming fuselage go once they’ve blown the aircraft out of the sky?
In other words, blowing a plane out of the sky over a place like the greater NYC/NJ conurbation is basically a non-starter. Said “defense” strategy is just as likely to kill a trainload of people as the alternative. Or perhaps more, depending on where the flaming carcass eventually goes to ground.
It all smacks of the usual Hegelian subterfuge.
The real intention seems not to defend, but to continue the process I mentioned at the outset: effectively transforming local, regional and state authorities into de facto branches of the military.
Much like you’ll find in most EU nations across the Pond. Gendarmerie. Carabinieri. Bundespolizei. Etc.
And once you have such heavy metal fruit hanging in the sky, it requires justification.
Mark my words; one of these days the authorities will find themselves pursuing a high-value target marked for elimination, and what better means have the NYCADA to solve the problem than a Sidewinder or a “smart bomb” up the tailpipe?
lets hope none of these end up trickling into organized crime hands via the infamous nypd. im imagining a replay of the april 6, 1994 assassination in rwanda only this time in jersey city or one of the outer burrows. maybe in 5-10 years a president will actually hit the jonas bros. w/ a predator drone, *grin*
or better yet we could just bring the pakistan drone bombings back to the homeland and up the war on drugs some more? they already burn grow houses w/ people/animals inside on a regular basis, this would be safer from a law enforcement pov.