An Airborne Radar System for Desert Locust Control

All elements for a complete and self-contained airborne radar system have now been developed and extensively flight tested, separately and together, in seven countries. The system is capable, in principle, of systematically seeking, locating and maintaining contact with most airborne locust populations; and, under recession conditions, of undertaking immediate control. Against widespread and heavy infestations, the same system would be capable of detection and quantitative assessment of targets, and of quantitative assessment of results of control. The first element is an airborne Doppler radar navigation system, with precision wind-finding facility, able to seek, locate and explore in detail the semi-permanent zones of wind convergence, towards which incontrovertible evidence collected over 30 years has shown airborne locusts move, and in which they accumulate. The second element is the Cranfield airborne insect-detecting radar for quantitative assessment. Finally, the targets assessed as appropriate would be attacked forthwith, in flight by air-to-air spraying methods refined from those already quantitatively tested and employed in large-scale control operations during the 1950s and 1960s.