Tag: UK Reapers

MoD undertakes PR offensive on drones

Chris Cole
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond holds a Black Hornet drone at RAF Waddington
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond holds a Black Hornet drone at RAF Waddington

The MoD has launched a carefully controlled PR exercise to defend its use of armed drones.  A selected number of journalist were invited to RAF Waddington to view the new Reaper control centre that has been operating UK drones in Afghanistan since last April.   As well as being able to view RAF pilots controlling Reapers, the MoD also put on display the UK’s other five unarmed drones.

As usual whether to call these aircraft ‘drones’ or ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ or ‘remotely piloted aircraft’ seems to have taken up an extraordinary amount of time. Read more →

Afghans launch legal action over British drone strike as experts suggest British drones heading to Africa

Chris Cole
Haji Abdullah, 56, and his son Habibullah, 18, who were both killed by a drone in Helmand province in October 2011
Haji Abdullah, 56, and his son Habibullah, 18, who were both killed by a drone in Helmand province in October 2011

Legal action has been launched against the UK following the deaths of two men in an alleged British drone strike in Afghanistan.  The family of Haji Abdullah (56), and his son Habibullah  (18), say the two men were killed by a drone strike as they drove a tractor on their farm in Nawzad province, Helmand. According to The Times, their relatives watched as a high altitude drone launched a missile which struck the tractor, killing Habibullah almost instantly and leaving his father fatally wounded.  The family also said that they had registered the case with local officials without any response. Read more →

UK MoD releases two presentations on British drones to Drone Wars UK

Chris Cole

We have received today two presentations, delivered by senior military officers at the Unmanned Aerial Systems UK Conference in  June 2012, released in response to our Freedom of Information request.  Regular readers may remember that this conference, due to be held in the centre of Bath, was moved within secure military premises due to planned protests.

The first presentation, ‘Information Dominance and UK Approach to Unmanned Systems’, was given by Air Vice-Marshal Mark Green, Director Joint Air Capability.  See here for the full text which can be read in conjunction with the slides – click image right. Read more →

After five years of British drone strikes, five basic facts we are simply not allowed to know

Chris Cole
Defence Minister Philip Dunne inspects new Reaper Ground Control Station at RAF Waddington Dec 2012
Defence Minister Philip Dunne inspects new Reaper Ground Control Station at RAF Waddington Dec 2012

Five years ago this week the first British drone strike took place somewhere in Afghanistan.  Like the more than 380 British drone strikes since, details of that first strike remain shrouded in secrecy.

Although we don’t know the exact day (all the MoD reported at the time was that it had taken place ‘in the past week’), subsequent MoD reports have dated UK drones strikes back to late May 2008.  The location of the strike, why it occurred and, if anyone was killed, who they were, all remain secret.

In the five years since, the Ministry of Defence has refused to answer many questions about its use of armed drones.  Freedom of Information requests and questions asked by MPs in the House of Commons have been repeatedly refused on security grounds or that to answer would endanger our relationship with another state (no prizes for guessing who that is). Read more →

First British drone strike carried out from UK RAF Waddington

Chris Cole
British Reaper drone controlled from RAF Waddington

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 →

BREAKING NEWS: UK MoD confirms British Reaper drones in Afghanistan being controlled from RAF Waddington

Chris Cole

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 →