Growing reliance on drones to cost Pentagon $3.4bn
WASHINGTON, Feb 6: When a US Predator drone brought down a top Al Qaeda leader last week, it underscored the war-fighting power of unmanned aircraft which are being eyed for even greater use in Afghanistan. They would consume at least $3.4 billion in the Pentagon’s proposed budget for 2009.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates will be travelling to a meeting of Nato defence ministers this week to discuss military needs in Afghanistan, which include more such eyes-in-the sky. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said on Tuesday that the demand for intelligence-gathering aircraft there, as well as in Iraq, ‘’has never been higher.’’
According to military officials and budget documents, the Pentagon’s spending proposal would buy more of the larger, costlier and deadlier Air Force Predators and Reapers than in the current budget year. The hunter-killer drones are armed with missiles and can relay photos and video rapidly to troops on the ground.Early last week, Abu Laith Al Libi, a major Al Qaeda leader, was killed when a Predator fired on a suspected terrorist safe house in Waziristan. Predators, used by the Air Force and the CIA, are armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles. Officials have not confirmed whose Predator struck Al Libi, although all signs point to the CIA’s.
Overall, the Defence Department is asking for $2.6 billion in its base budget for a variety of drones for the Air Force, Army and Marines. Also, the Navy is looking for at least $800 million for continuing research and development, particularly regarding drones that can take off and land vertically from its ships.
The Pentagon also has a pending request for $460 million in emergency war funding for unmanned aircraft that has not been approved by Congress. That money is not included in the 2009 budget proposal but in a supplemental request for purchase this year. The 2008 budget included about $2.3 billion for drones.
“’The secretary is doing everything within his power to make sure that the commanders on the ground have as many intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets as humanly possible,” Morrell told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.
He said Gates, who will leave on Wednesday for a Nato meeting in Lithuania, will urge defence ministers there to do all they can to meet the needs of the military in Afghanistan. Gen John Craddock, the top Nato commander and chief of US European Command, told The Associated Press last week that the military was looking for more surveillance and other intelligence-gathering systems to help aid the fight in Afghanistan.—AP
