As Sri Lankan authorities continue to modernise, the use of drone technology has been greatly beneficial for an array of crucial tasks including anti-narcotic operations and dengue prevention. Simply, a drone is an unmanned aircraft, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), that operates autonomously and is used for a range of purposes including military, commercial, and humanitarian use. While the larger models, such as the American General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator which has a wingspan of 15 m and a weight of 500-plus kilogrammes, are mainly used for military purposes, this article looks at the policing, commercial, and humanitarian aspects for which drone technology is used. Such drones are usually much smaller in size, weighing only a few kilogrammes. Some drones that are used for image capturing are even toy-like in appearance. Surveillance of illegal activity Sri Lanka has now begun to deploy drones for anti-narcotic purposes to detect drug rackets across the island. Drones owned by the Sri Lanka Army are being used to weed out illegal cannabis cultivations hidden in the dense jungles and shrub lands, particularly in the Sabaragamuwa, Uva, and Southern Provinces, with the Thanamalvila region being the most popular hotspot for such activities. “We use drones to cover acres and acres of land area. We cannot do this on foot or by vehicle as it would require an immense amount of manpower in addition to facing the reality of navigating through thick jungle,” Military Spokesman Brigadier Chandana Wickremesinghe told The Sunday Morning. In addition, the use of these drones, which are battery-powered, for such surveillances and detection is far more economical than using a manned aircraft which would result in a hefty fuel bill at the end of each fly-over. “We assist the Police and the Special Task Force (STF) in their detection and raids. The drones are sent over suspected areas to identify illegal cannabis cultivation. The advantage is that a large area can be scanned in a short period of time with minimum manpower. It is extremely cost-effective and efficient,” Brigadier Wickremesinghe said, adding that illegal liquor distilleries such as those making moonshine too are found this way. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Sri Lanka Air Force too utilises drones as a policing tool. Air Force Spokesman Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe told The Sunday Morning that drones are used to find illegal sand mining rackets. “Based off information on the ground, we deploy our drones in various locations to locate illegal sand mining operations so that the authorities on the ground can then carry out raids and apprehend the suspects,” he said. He said the same method is used for operations to detect illegal deforestation and logging as well. The Air Force Spokesman noted that these drones were larger than the conventional commercial drones used by civilians for recreational purposes. “These are not the same drones as those used by civilians to take pictures and videos. These are a bit larger than that and are far more sophisticated with better camera optics and more powerful zoom capabilities,” he said. However, speaking with their intelligence unit, he declined to reveal further specifications of the drones for security reasons, noting that the details of the drones are kept confidential. Dengue and traffic control Apart from policing, Air Force drones are also used for functions such as traffic monitoring. The drones are used to identify congested areas, after which that information is relayed to the police traffic control units so that they divert traffic accordingly. Furthermore, he said that Air Force drones are also used in an effort to curb and eradicate mosquito breeding grounds. He said that following a request by the Western Province Governor, the Air Force had teamed up with the National Dengue Control Unit for this purpose. “On the request of the Western Province Governor, we deployed drones to locate dengue mosquito breeding sites. We were given various locations by the (National) Dengue Prevention Unit and the drones were used to isolate areas that have garbage and rooftops with water collection points.” He said that several areas in Colombo and its outskirts were surveyed in such a manner. “Wellawatte and Biyagama were two such areas. We then handed over the footage to the Dengue Prevention Unit of the (Colombo) Municipal Council.” He said that drones helped identify areas where garbage was being collected unwarrantedly, which were not visible to ground teams. “Most of them do the survey on the ground by foot, so they don’t have access to some places such as rooftops. They give us the location and we use the drones to snap pictures and videos and then hand over that footage. They then use the footage to carry out cleaning campaigns.” Agricultural development Moving towards the commercial application of drones, Sri Lanka has also begun using drone technology for agricultural purposes. The National Youth Services Council (NYSC) has initiated an agriculture project in July this year where drones were used to plant seeds. NYSC Deputy Director of Media Anil Siriwardana said that the project has been successfully initiated. “We use GPS technology and drones for seed distribution further and faster,” he said, noting that during the pilot project, they covered an area of four acres. He said that more such projects would be carried out by the Council in the future. “The pilot project was conducted in Eraminiyaya and we expect to conduct more projects in cultivation, under the (National) Youth (Services) Council.”