"Non-Lethal" Hunter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Tests, 1997.

The video is of 1997 US tests of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or "drone") equipped to disperse chemicals. The tests involved a smoke payload and were conducted at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and sponsored by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.

The tape is one of two videos requested by the Sunshine Project under the Freedom of Information Act in January 2003. After extensive correspondence, the first tape was finally released on July 23, 2004 by the US Army's Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

A second tape has, since early February 2004, been held up by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, which has led Marine Corps efforts to develop UAVs to carry "non-lethal" chemical payloads.

The tape represents one of the first public glimpses inside JNLWD's "non-lethal" UAV program. The Sunshine Project is pressing the Department of Defense to make available complete documentation of its "non-lethal" chemical UAV research, among other chemical and biological programs that raise questions about US treaty compliance.

This five minute video came on a VHS tape. Video quality is poor on the original; but better than this digital file. To make the file smaller, the soundtrack, which might be described as martial disco music, has been deleted.  A higher quality streaming file will be prepared as soon as possible.

Warning: The video is 14.5 megabytes. It is not advisable to try to view this video over a modem connection. It is in avi video format.