Military spy cameras to be tested over Maui

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KIHEI, Maui — Say cheese, Maui! The military is about to turn its spy cameras on you.

Don't worry, though. It's only a test.

The U.S. Air Force has chosen the Valley Isle for proposed testing of laser technology that aims to collect information on enemy forces from unmanned aircraft.

A draft environmental assessment describes 50 test flights over the next year by a manned Twin Otter airplane carrying an invisible "eye-safe" laser imaging system designed to "covertly illuminate nighttime scenes."

According to the document, the aircraft will fly over Maui two to four hours at a time, day and night, taking pictures primarily around the Maui Research & Technology Park in Kihei, where Air Force contractor Textron Systems Inc. maintains an office.

But other potential picture spots are noted, including Ma'alaea and Kahului harbors, a water tank on Haleakala Ranch, the Hawaiian Sugar & Commercial Co. sugar mill in Pu'unene, a wastewater plant in Kahului and the World War II bunkers off Mokulele Highway.

Michelle Hedrick, an engineer with the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, said Maui was tabbed for the experiment in part to allow for refining the promising technology in the island's moist atmosphere.

Hedrick described the laser tests as an interim but important step in improving the accuracy of the military's nighttime imaging technology.

Remote-controlled aerial vehicles are playing an increasing role in the U.S. war arsenal. In Iraq, they provided key reconnaissance and fired on and destroyed about a dozen military targets.

Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4880 or thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.