MovieChat Forums > Body of Lies (2008) Discussion > Drones, spy planes, or sats? or all ?

Drones, spy planes, or sats? or all ?

posted 15 years ago by bagodonuts22
7 replies | jump to latest

i kept seeing images, as we all did that resemble tight zooming and frontal imaging as if it were all from a satellite but when he saw the "eye" in the sky it resembled a drone, which was very easily seen. Do you think the CIA had multiple survailance objects to use? at the very end of the movie when leo was buying fruit, it zoomed out and said sat 1, sat2, and thing like that, so i don't think the imaging, at the end atleast was drone, it seemed to be topographic satellite imagery. Is that the case ? also the 4 truck scene while taking leo, wouldnt the drone have moved its coordinates? its not hovering, and the image was static, so it seems that the monitor itself is coming from a stationary object such as a satellite. I do know that drones and spyplanes do exist ,but i don't think they would be low enough for the eye to see. I mean, if google maps can do it, i'm sure a satellite can do it, no need for an easily seen, easily caught drone to be 30,000 feet in the air reflecting off the sun correct?

[–] TheMorningStar2 15 years ago

It was probably coming from both. However, at one point, one of the characters does spot a UAV hovering above them, so, at the very least, one of those was observing them throughout the movie.

[–] hankmcn 15 years ago

As with the recently released news that the Taliban had intercepted drone info using an over the counter program I also found it fascinating that something as basic as a man made sandstorm defeated the latest in spy sats or drones when the transfer between vehicles was being made.

We forget that these countries were reading and writing and solving math problems a long time ago.

[–] TheMorningStar2 15 years ago

I'm sure those drones have thermal imaging systems which, if used, could have easily seen through the dust cloud. However, probably for the sake of drama, it was not used in the film.

[–] hankmcn 15 years ago

thermal would show the movement of bodies but if you moved a few people from vehicle to vehicle how do you know which one is your man? If they think of ways to fool the spy cam they would think of that too.

[–] ahaygood 15 years ago

It depends on how aware they are. They have to learn about these things often times the hard way. They change their tactics because they've been burned on the stove top.

[–] Pegasuspizza 15 years ago

Drones can stay over the same specific area ( target) for hours.
The "Sat 1" referrence is based on the fact that the images taken by the Drone, are up linked to orbiting communications satellites, which then send the signal back to people that are monitoring the data, back in the U.S.

[–] razvan-24 12 years ago

They used both satellite and drone feeds, depending on needs (width of field or specific areas).
In the last minute of film, as the image zooms out, in the lower part of the screen it says "UAV MQ-1B 096". The drone then changes lenses and zooms further out, then the image switches to a wider field and on the screen now says "SAT KH11-12", which hints at a Keyhole-series spy satellite.

What's interesting and a possible mistake from the filmmakers, the GPS coordinates from the UAV image (N 34 00 19 E 43 59 56) seem to be in Iraq, not Jordan.

Excellent movie, in my opinion.