The U.S. Secret Service will be testing a small drone during President Donald Trump’s visit to his golf club in New Jersey in order to examine new ways to provide protection.
In a document the Department of Homeland Security released Wednesday, the agency said it plans to use a small tethered unmanned aircraft system vehicle during Trump’s 17 day visit to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., while the White House undergoes a renovation.
The Daily Caller News Foundation received a statement from the U.S. Secret Service about the new drone protection system:
The United States Secret Service is responsible for creating secure environments for statutorily protected people, places and events. This is a no fail mission that requires the Secret Service to constantly assess how we can effectively evaluate threats and mitigate vulnerabilities.
They continued:
In an effort to expand upon our current use of traditional manned aircraft platforms to provide overhead situational awareness, the U.S. Secret Service is developing a program to incorporate the use of several types of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and tethered systems. These systems will serve as valuable tools the Secret Service will use to further our protective mission.
The drone has electro-optical and infrared cameras to look for potential threats and is on a microfilament tether that provides power to the craft. The drone will fly 300 to 400 feet in the sky, according to the DHS statement.
The FAA estimates that by 2021 there will be over 442,000 small drones in the U.S.
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