A pair of high-tech drones will hover above the Boston Marathon starting line when the annual event takes place later this month.
Four years after the terrorist bombing that resulted in three deaths and more than 250 injuries at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, authorities continue to beef up security. On April 17, police will have two drones tethered to the ground floating above the race start in Hopkinton, Mass. to keep an eye on things.
The drones, according to the Boston Herald, were developed by CyPhy Works in nearby Danvers, Mass. Called Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) drones, they are attached to the ground by thin tethers and have cameras with powerful zoom lenses and can see via electro-optical and infrared.
"The wire provides power so it can stay up for days, and days, and days, it doesn't have to come down," CyPhy Works vice president of product and software Perry Stoll told the Herald. "It can send unhackable, secure communication up and down the tether as well. It's perfect for public safety and security where it has to be up for a while."
Security preparations have been ongoing for six months leading up to the Patriot's Day race.
Days after the 2013 bombing, the two perpetrators shot and killed an MIT police officer and later engaged police in a deadly gun battle that resulted in the death of one of the bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, escaped but was captured by police later in the day.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was handed a death sentence in 2015.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.