Less than a week ago, the UK MoD announced that British Reaper drones over Afghanistan are now being controlled directly from the UK.
This morning a number of British defence journalists are reporting that the first British drone strike from UK soil was carried out yesterday (30 April) from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. No details about the strike have officially been released, nor are they likely to be given the secrecy surrounding the use of British drones. [UPDATE BELOW] Read more
Six hundred people came from all around the country to take part in a large demonstration against drones at RAF Waddington, the new home of the UK drone warfare. The demo, organised by the Drone Campaign Network, Stop the War Coalition, CND and War on Want received huge media coverage in the light of the confirmation by the Ministry of Defence that drone operations had started from RAF Waddington. After the march from Lincoln, a rally was held at Helen John’s peace camp at the perimeter of the base, and speaker after speaker emphasised that this was just the beginning of efforts to stop the drone wars. Read more
The UK MoD has today confirmed that British drones over Afghanistan are now being controlled from the UK.
For the first time UK forces can remotely control armed drones over Afghanistan while sitting in air conditioned trailers at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. The growing use of unmanned drones to simply and easily launch lethal attacks at great distances – over 3,000 miles in the case of Waddington and Afghanistan – with no risk or political consequences should be a cause of extreme concern. Read more
Over the past three years Drone Wars UK has tried to highlight why the growing use of armed drones and the concept of remote, so-called ‘risk-free’ warfare, is a perilous military escalation which endangers global peace and security. In the run-up to the Ground the Drones demo at RAF Waddington on April 27 we want to recap these reason and urge you, if you can to please join us at the event. Read more
It wasn’t that long ago that an article about the use of drones in the mainstream press was a rare occurrence. Now so much is happening that it is difficult to keep up with all the news about drones. Over the past two weeks important developments have taken place on a number of fronts so we thought a general news round-up would be helpful. Read more
A group of protesters gathered at the entrance to RAF Waddington yesterday (Oct 26th) to stand against the growing use of drones.
Inside the RAF were ceremonially ‘standing up’ 13 Squadron, its new drone unit. 13 Squadron has been reformed to operate an additional five new armed Reaper drones ordered in 2010 by David Cameron. RAF 39 Squadron will continue to operate RAF Reaper drones from Creech AFB in Nevada for the time being but eventually it is expected that all ten will be controlled from RAF Waddington. Read more