Drones

Panetta: US ‘certainly had forces in place’ that could have reached Americans under attack in Benghazi

By Leon Panetta, Department of Defense

From Leon Panetta, Department of Defense:  Excerpt from a Pentagon press conference by Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey.

What the US Risks by Relying on Drones

By Kurt Volker

 As documented in the recent Post series “The Permanent War,” the United States increasingly relies on drone strikes as a principal and permanent component in fighting global terrorism. This is effective at killing terrorist leadership and is relatively painless politically at home, as it does not require massive military engagements or put U.S. soldiers or […]

What the U.S. risks by relying on drones

By Kurt Volker, Washington Post

From Kurt Volker, Washington Post:  [A]s necessary as some drone strikes have been — and will be in the future — over-reliance on drones raises problems.

Poland joins NATO’s AGS drone system

By Poland's Ministry of Defense

From Poland’s Ministry of Defense:  Minister of National Defence Tomasz Siemoniak declared Poland’s participation in AGS – NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system at NATO ministerial in Brussels in October.

Britain doubling its number of Reaper drones and activating 1st base in UK

By Telegraph

From Telegraph:  The deployment of the five armed Reaper aircraft, which are used for surveillance and combat operations, will double the number that Britain has available.

CIA seeks to expand drone fleet, officials say

By Greg Miller, Washington Post

From Greg Miller, Washington Post:  The CIA is urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones, a move that would extend the spy service’s decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force, U.S. officials said.

Drone War AWOL From Presidential Campaign

By James Joyner

A new study released this week by researchers at Stanford and NYU has found that American drone strikes in Pakistan are killing far more civilians than advertised, taking out few high value targets, and have become the primary recruiting tool for the terrorist groups the policy is aimed at combating. The report, “Living Under Drones: […]

Video of allegedly Iranian UAVs captured by Syrian rebel

By Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room

Poland wants to replace old Su-22 bombers with armed drones

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  Poland is planning to replace its obsolete Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-22 strike aircraft with an unmanned strike aircraft (UCAV) system, Deputy Defense Minister Waldemar Skrzypczak told TVN24 television on Tuesday.