[NYTr] US Military Use of Pilotless Drones Soars

Tue Jan 1 23:46:23 EST 2008

AP via Yahoo - Jan 1, 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080102/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/unmanned_killers

Military use of unmanned aircraft soars

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and
sometimes kill insurgents has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the
air, largely in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned. And new Defense
Department figures obtained by The AP show that the Air Force more than
doubled its monthly use of drones between January and October, forcing
it to take pilots out of the air and shift them to remote flying duty
to meet part of the demand.

The dramatic increase in the development and use of drones across the
armed services reflects what will be an even more aggressive effort
over the next 25 years, according to the new report.

The jump in Iraq coincided with the build up of U.S. forces this summer
as the military swelled its ranks to quell the violence in Baghdad. But
Pentagon officials said that even as troops begin to slowly come home
this year, the use of Predators, Global Hawks, Shadows and Ravens will
not likely slow.

"I think right now the demand for the capability that the unmanned
system provides is only increasing," said Army Col. Bob Quackenbush,
deputy director for Army Aviation. "Even as the surge ends, I suspect
the deployment of the unmanned systems will not go down, particularly
for larger systems."

For some Air Force pilots, that means climbing out of the cockpit and
heading to places such as Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where they
can remotely fly the Predators, one of the larger and more
sophisticated unmanned aircraft.

About 120 Air Force pilots were recently transferred to staff the
drones to keep pace with demands, the Air Force said.

Some National Guard members were also called up to staff the flights.
And more will be doing that in the coming months, as the Air Force adds
bases where pilots can remotely fly the aircraft. Locations include
North Dakota, Texas, Arizona and California, and some are already
operating.

One key reason for the increase is that U.S. forces in Iraq grew from
15 combat brigades to 20 over the spring and early summer, boosting
troop totals from roughly 135,000 to more than 165,000. Slowly over the
next six months, five brigades are being pulled out of Iraq that will
not be replaced, as part of a drawdown announced by the administration,
which began in December.

The increased military operations all across Iraq last summer triggered
greater use of the drones and an escalating call for more of the
systems — from the Pentagon's key hunter-killer, the Predator, to the
surveillance Global Hawks and the smaller, cheaper Ravens.

In one recent example of what they can do, a Predator caught sight of
three militants firing mortars at U.S. forces in November in Balad,
Iraq. The drone fired an air-to-ground missile, killing the three,
according to video footage the Air Force released.

Air Force officials said that Predator flights steadily increased last
year, from about 2,000 hours in January to more than 4,300 hours in
October. They are expected to continue to escalate when hours are
calculated for November and December, because the number of combat air
patrols had increased from about 14 per day to 18.

"The demand far exceeds all of the Defense Department's ability to
provide (these) assets," said Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Gurgainous,
deputy director of the Air Force's unmanned aircraft task force. "And
as we buy and field more systems, you will see it continue to go up."

Use of the high-tech surveillance and reconnaissance Global Hawk has
also jumped, as the Air Force moved from two to three systems on the
battlefield.

"I think it has to do with the type of warfare we're engaged in — it's
heavy into intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," Gurgainous
said. "This war requires a lot of hunting high-value targets."

The bulk of the unmanned flight hours belong to the Army's workhorse
drone, the Raven, which weighs just four pounds and is used by smaller
units, such as companies and battalions, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Ravens, which soldiers fling into the air and use for surveillance,
will rack up about 300,000 hours this year — double the time they were
used last year, said Quackenbush.

The Army has a total of 361 unmanned aircraft in Iraq alone — including
Shadows, Hunters and Ravens. And in the first 10 months of 2007, they
flew more than 300,000 hours.

Army officials have fought to maintain control of their unmanned
vehicle usage, saying their unit commanders can quickly launch the
smaller systems, and respond to the immediate needs of soldiers who may
be pursuing insurgents or trying to avoid roadside bombs.

When the Raven's massive numbers are not included, UAV usage across all
the military services jumped from nearly 165,000 flight hours in the
2006 fiscal year, to more than 258,000 for the fiscal year that ended
Sept. 30, 2007.

Those figures, compiled by the Pentagon, include some training flights,
but the overwhelming majority was on the warfront. A majority of the
flights are in Iraq, which has seen the biggest increase. But they are
also used extensively in Afghanistan.

There, for example, the Air Force has hovered around 3,000-3,500 flight
hours for the Predator each month.

Officials said they could not immediately provide a figure for how many
hours of manned aircraft were flown in the wars this past year and said
it was difficult to compare the two at any rate because one flight for
a drone can routinely be 16 to 20 hours. In contrast, manned aircraft
like the F-16, for instance, might spend about five hours on one
sortie, said Air Force Capt. Uriah L. Orland, a spokesman for service
in the Central Command area.

According to a new Pentagon report, the Defense Department plans to
develop an "increasingly sophisticated force of unmanned systems" over
the next 25 years. The effort will confront some current shortfalls,
including plans to improve how well the drones can quickly and
precisely identify and locate targets.

That would also involve increasing the precision of the guided weapons
that are on some of the unmanned aircraft. Those efforts are considered
critical because it enables the military to hunt down and kill
militants without putting troops at risk.

In addition, the Pentagon said it wants to improve the drones'
reconnaissance and surveillance abilities, which are the top priorities
of commanders in the field.