Month: January 2011

USAF to test new ‘suicide’ micro-drones

Chris Cole

The USAF is to test three ‘suicide’ micro-drones in April 2011 as part of a rapid acquisition programme to equip US special forces in 2012 with a new weapons systems aimed at  “quickly locating, tracking, and engaging time sensitive, fleeting targets, or enemy.”  For ‘engaging’ read ‘killing’.

According to Defence Update, the drones to be tested come from Aerovironment, IAT and Textron Defense Systems and include a new ‘Point and Toss’ mini-drone from IAT and the Switchblade developed by Aerovironment.

British troops learn drone war in Israel as Reaper replacement battle starts

Chris Cole

‘UK Troops Use ‘War Crime Drones’ In Israel was a rather surprising headline this week from the sensational Sun Sky News.  Behind the headline was the news that British troops are being trained by Israeli company Elbit to use Hermes and its Watchkeeper drones replacement in Israel.

 As is well known the UK is currently renting Hermes drones for use in Afghanistan until the new Watchkeeper drones, built under a joint UK-Elbit venture, can be deployed next year.  (see British Drones the Israeli Connection)

In 2008 the UK government insisted that trials for the Watchkeeper should not be undertaken in the occupied territories but was seemingly happy enough for the testing to take place in Israel. Amnesty International was quoted in the Sky News article as saying “It would seem wholly inappropriate for UK forces to be trained in the use of drones by a country with a track record of applying this technology in grave abuses of people’s human rights.”  Quite. No one could disagree with that (except perhaps commentators on  The Jersualem Post version of the story)?

Meanwhile the battle to replace the British Reaper drone is sparking into life.  EADS, which is developing the Talarion drone, urged decision makers to ‘make a choice’ with regard to the future armed UAV.   Two drones, BAE’s Mantis and EADS Talarion are the main contenders but there are also other possible candidates which could be developed to fulfil the Scavenger requirement to be in service around 2015-2018.  The joint UK-France treaty signed late 2010 seems to imply that these two main programmes will somehow be merged but it seems progress is slow and frustrating for EADS.

Brian Terrell of ‘Creech 14’ speaks about forthcoming verdict on drone protest

Chris Cole

Background from Las Vegas Sun / 14 Sept 2010:

Judge delays decision in ‘Creech 14’ drone trial: Decision expected in January on trespassing case

The real question at the heart of the trial — whether the U.S. should be using drones controlled at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada on bombing missions to other countries — never came up. Instead, Judge William Jansen tried to keep the trial centered on one issue — were the 14 people who protested on April 9, 2009, at Creech breaking the law by trespassing?

After Jansen oversaw the four-hour bench trial Tuesday, he came to a conclusion: The so-called “Creech 14” case needed much more thought. “This case has a lot more consequences than a trespass case,” Jansen said. “… I want to make sure my decision is the correct decision.” Jansen told the packed courtroom that he needed to take about two to three months before he would render a written decision on the case. He set the date for that decision to be at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 27, 2011.   <continued here>

Who are the victims of UK drone attacks?

Chris Cole

Its been pointed out to me (thanks CW) that when in Afghanistan last month David Cameron said  that more than 124 insurgents had been killed by British drones over the past 29 months.   This was something of a surprise as until now no information has been released about British drone casualties.  I wondered if the Telegraph reporter had been confused but today an MoD press officer confirmed the figure to me.

Despite having these bald figures there are still many questions to be answered about how British drones operate in Afghanistan.  Were any of those killed by drones the victims of ‘targeting killing’?  Does the MoD know the identity of the ‘more than 124 insurgents’ ?  Have there been civilians killed by drones or are victims deemed to have been insurgents because they have been killed? 

I have applied to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) for further information but am not holding my breath.  My last FoI request (Nov 2009)  on drones was refused as it was “likely to prejudice the defence of the British Island” and is still trundling through appeals procedures….. 

Request for information about victims of British UAV attacks under FoIA

On 7th December 2010 while in Afghanistan the Prime Minister stated that more than 124 insurgents had been killed by UK Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the 29 months they had been in operation. This figure was confirmed to me as being correct at that date (7th December) by a Ministry of Defence press officer on 11th January 2011.

I would like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for information about the circumstances of the killing of these individuals.

In addition I would like to ask whether all those killed by British UAVs were directly participating in hostilities at the time they were killed and how many of the identities of those, identified by the Prime Minister as insurgents, are known to the MoD?

Finally can you confirm whether any other individuals, not classified as insurgents, have been killed by British UAVs?

New Year deaths as US forces addicted to ‘crack-like’ Drones

Chris Cole

2011 started where 2010 left off with continued drone attacks in Pakistan.  On 27/28th December 42 people were killed in drone strikes while 19 people were killed in three separate drone attacks in North Waziristan on New Year’s Day  and between 4 and 6 people were killed in an attack on a vehicle near the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan.   Most reports labelled all those killed as ‘militants’ but as Jason Ditz of antiwar.com says

“Officials term everyone killed a “suspected militant” but concede that they don’t know any of the identities of the slain and that civilians are almost certain to be amongst the toll. With virtually no media allowed into the region, identifying the victims of US attacks is virtually impossible.” 

The New Year also began with a lot of coverage of Gorgon Stare  – despite missing its ‘end-of-2010’  deployment deadline – mainly thanks to a large article in the Washington Post.   As we have previously reported Gorgon Stare  is a new surveillance capability that allows a wide area of ground to be videoed  while also enabling individuals to be tracked within that wide area. 

The amount of video from drone surveillance is already  overwhelming analysts yet the military continues to demands more.  The Post article quotes Army Col. Steven A. Beckman, former intelligence chief for coalition forces in Sothern Afghanistan as calling drone video coverage “the crack cocaine of our ground forces.”

Flight international reports that one Gorgon Stare ‘pod’ will be deployed in Afghanistan before April 2011, one in 2012 and one in 2014.

Finally a new year curiosity was the reported shooting down of two ‘western spy drones’ by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.  Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the air force wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards made the claim but gave no further details and there were  quick denials from the US that any of its drones had been shot down.