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Are unmanned drones safe in US airspace?

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    Exclusive look at series of experiments that warn drones could be hijacked

  • Duration 4:23
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Congress has given the FAA until 2015 to come up with rules to allow unmanned drones to fly freely in US airspace.

But according to one noted researcher on GPS navigation that could present an enormous security problem for the homeland.

And he is urging the federal government to either come up with a fix or scrap the idea altogether.

Fox News was given exclusive access to a series of experiments some for the government itself that found.

Drones can be hijacked.

Three.

This drone is similar to thousands of others that will soon be buzzing over US soil.

-- flight path diligently guided by GPS.

But watch what happens when Todd Humphries and his team from the University of Texas.

Bunch -- few keystrokes into this computer -- -- -- The drone goes wildly off course now receiving instructions not from GPS but from a transmitted that since false signals to the drones navigation system.

A so called spoof -- The -- -- so dramatic a safety pilot with the radio control has to save the drone from crashing spoofing a GPS receiver on the UAV really is just another way of hijacking a plane if that -- shocking it's because it is.

With this experimental Humphries has illuminated a gaping hole in the government's plan to open up US air space to GPS guided drones.

And five and ten years we've got 30000 of these drones and having the national airspace each one of these could be a potential missiles to use -- use against us.

Until now GPS guided drones have been limited mostly to the battlefield in places like Iraq Afghanistan and Yemen or patrolling our southern border.

Earlier this year congress ordered the FAA to come up with rules to allow drones to -- broadly over US oil by 2015.

They could be used for law enforcement monitoring transmission pipelines for utilities even pilot Leslie delivering packages across the country.

The founder of FedEx is said he wants a fleet of cargo plane size drones in the air as soon as possible.

The reason why this is have such concern is because as these drones become more and more integrated in US airspace there won't be a controller with a joystick backing them up.

Don't rely almost exclusively on a GPS radio to get from point a to point BR radio that can be -- What if you could take over a -- that's up there just delivering FedEx packages and use that as your messiah it's the same mentality and I'm sure the 9/11 attackers had.

The government is acutely aware of the problem.

Last week at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico officials from the FAA and Department of Homeland Security watched his Humphries team repeatedly took control of -- drones.

DHS is attempting to address the problems -- with patriots watch him patriot -- programs.

But so far the effort is in its infancy we captured the drone.

Humphrey says if he can hijack a drone so could a terrorist group with the right resources I'm worried about them.

Crashing into other planes -- more about the crashing into buildings last December Iran claimed that it took control of this US drone forcing it from the sky is Humphreys thinks the Iranians simply confused by jamming the GPS which put the drone and automatic landing mode.

Spoofing takes it to an entirely new level the aircraft can be controlled precisely made to do what ever the hijacker -- it is.

In fact spoofing is so potentially dangerous that for the Austin experiments the drone had to be hard wired to this Cooper should -- false GPS signals went out over the air.

Humphries cautions that unless the government can eliminate this vulnerability it should put on hold any plans to open US skies to unmanned aerial vehicles.

It just shows that the kind of mentality that we got after 9/11 where we reinforce the cockpit door to prevent people hijacking planes what we've.

Need to adopt that mentality as far as the navigation systems for these UA -- Otherwise serious Humphries the government may only give terrorists another tempting target to go after.

A story copy.

Attention -- house homeland security committee chairman Peter King who was scheduled a hearing into the matter for July the nineteenth.

Professor Humphries will be one of the key witnesses we will of course have a full report for you here on special report.

Bad up.

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