Drones

France Offers Heron for NATO UAV program

By Pierre Tran, Defense News

From Pierre Tran, Defense News:  France is offering the Heron TP as its contribution in kind to the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance program, but technical and financial problems related to adapting the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV to French standards are holding up a deal with Dassault and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

Europe’s first experimental stealth combat drone is rolled out

By David Cenciotti, the Aviationist

From David Cenciotti, the Aviationist:  On Jan. 20, the nEUROn, the technology demonstrator for a European UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), was officially presented by Charles Edelstenne, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation

Pakistan blockage of NATO convoys ‘may last weeks’

By the BBC

From the BBC:  Pakistan may continue its blocking of Nato convoys into Afghanistan for several weeks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has told the BBC.

Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills up to 28

By Shams Momand, Reuters

From Shams Momand, Reuters:  NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations deeper into crisis.

Fleet of U.S. drones now based in Turkey

By Greg Jaffe, Checkpoint Washington

From Greg Jaffe, Checkpoint Washington:  The U.S. military has begun flying unarmed Predator drones out of a Turkish air base as part of a joint Turkish-American counterterrorism operation in northern Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

Gaddafi almost escaped after rebels failed to heed warning from British and Qatari special forces

By Ben Farmer, the Telegraph

From Ben Farmer, the Telegraph:  More than 6,000 miles away, deep in the lunar landscape of the Nevada desert, American specialists trained to their computer screens spotted unusual activity at around 7.30am in District Two.

U.S. Debated Cyberwarfare in Attack Plan on Libya

By Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, the New York Times

From Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, the New York Times:  Just before the American-led strikes against Libya in March, the Obama administration intensely debated whether to open the mission with a new kind of warfare: a cyberoffensive to disrupt and even disable the Qaddafi government’s air-defense system, which threatened allied warplanes.

NATO Commander Says Resilience of Qaddafi Loyalists Is Surprising

By Eric Schmitt, the New York Times

From Eric Schmitt, the New York Times:  The commander of NATO’s air campaign in Libya has said that hundreds of organized fighters loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi pose a “resilient and fierce” threat in the two remaining pro-Qaddafi strongholds, and are exploiting the urban settings to complicate the alliance’s mission to protect civilians.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan poses challenge for Obama

By Paul Richter, the Los Angeles Times

Why the future of air power belongs to unmanned systems

By the Economist

From the Economist:  American officers, with their passion for acronyms, prefer not to call the machine that killed al-Awlaki a drone. They have a point. In nature, drone bees are poor, useless things that produce no honey and have no sting.