4/1/2023 0 Comments Drone definition![]() ![]() and should make public the number of civilians killed as a result of drone attacks, and the measures in place to prevent such casualties”.Ī further question is the extent to which operators become trigger happy with remote controlled armaments, situated as they are in complete safety, distant from the conflict zone. ![]() In a report to the UN he has said the US government (and by implication the UK government) “should specify the bases for decisions to kill rather than capture particular individuals …. He has repeatedly tried to get the US to explain how they justifies the use of drones to target and kill individuals under international law. Thes UN’s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, has said that the use of drones is not combat as much as ‘targeted killing’. There have recently been reports that Watchkeeper may be armed in the future. Testing is taking place at Aberporth in Wales and Watchkeeper is due to enter service in 2010. The first ten will be built in Israel and then production will transfer to a specially built facility in Leicester. The UK is purchasing 54 Watchkeeper drones and ground stations at a cost of £860m. In March 2009, the Daily Telegraph reported that British drones had been used ten times in armed strikes.Īs well as armed drones, the UK has several types of surveillance drones, most notably Watchkeeper, a drone jointly produced by Israeli company Ebit and Thales UK. The MoD confirmed in June 2008 that a British Reaper UAV had fired its weapons for the first time, but refused to give any details. The UK began using armed drones in Afghanistan in Oct 2007 after purchasing three Reapers from General Atomics in 2007 at a cost of £6m each. The UK has several different types of armed and surveillance drones in Iraq and Afghanistan and others in the production or development stage. Analysis by an American think tank The Brookings Institution on drone attacks in Pakistan has shown that for every militant leader killed, 10 civilians also have died. CIA Director Leon Panetta has recently said that drones are “the only game in town.” The CIA have been using drones in Pakistan and other countries to assassinate “terrorist leaders.” While this programme was initiated by the Bush Administration, it has increased under Obama and there have been 41 known drone strikes in Pakistan since Obama became President. ![]() It plans to increase this number to 50 by 2011. Using drones, the USAF Air Force has increased the number of combat air patrols it can fly by 600 percent over the past six years indeed at any time there are at least 36 American armed UAVS over Afghanistan and Iraq. The US has two separate ‘squadron’ of armed drones – one run by the US Air Force and one run by the CIA. While armed drones were first used in the Balkans war, their use has dramatically escalated in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the CIA’s undeclared war in Pakistan. One person ‘flies’ the drone, another operates and monitors the cameras and sensors, while a third person is in contact with the “customers”, ground troops and commanders in the war zone. Ground crews launch drones from the conflict zone, then operation is handed over to controllers at video screens in specially designed trailers in the Nevada desert. While the British and US Reaper and Predator drones are physically in Afghanistan and Iraq, control is via satellite from Nellis and Creech USAF base outside Las Vegas, Nevada. The use of drones has grown quickly in recent years because unlike manned aircraft they can stay aloft for many hours (Zephyr a British drone under development has just broken the world record by flying for over 82 hours nonstop) they are much cheaper than military aircraft and they are flown remotely so there is no danger to the flight crew. While there are dozens of different types of drones, they basically fall into two categories: those that are used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes and those that are armed with missiles and bombs. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), also known as drones, are aircraft either controlled by ‘pilots’ from the ground or increasingly, autonomously following a pre-programmed mission. What are Drones? Reaper drone firing missile This article, written by Chris Cole and Jim Wright, was originally published in January 2010 ![]()
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