Drones

Army Contractor Lost Three $500K drones. Although only for a brief period (eight months?) an Army contracting firm lost three (maybe four) drones before they were found. The three flying cameras were only worth 1/2 million dollars a piece; so not to worry. Read more in a news report by Motherboard, August 5, 2015. NOTE: In the midst of a war (and retrograde activities) this is really not that hard to do - losing sight of equipment. Constant mission changes, personnel replacements (both military and contractor), and unit rotations provide for constant chaos in the midst of a counterinsurgency campaign. I can recall once entering a locked up room in a storage building in Iraq in 2006 and coming across a small WASP drone that nobody could account for. It was in its original shipping box and had been at this location for a few years - never used. So we had a guy put it together, get smart on it, and sent it out to an SFODA to use during the remainder of their tour.

Drone Strike in North Waziristan. Two Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone attack has killed some militants in a border area in Pakistan. Two missiles hit a militant hideout of the Haqqani Network. North Waziristan has been a refuge and sanctuary for groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), al-Qaeda, and Taliban insurgents. (ABC News, Aug 7, 2015).

A Smarter, Deadlier UAV. The U.S. Air Force is looking to upgrade its drone fleet with improvements to situational awareness, automation, weapons, and more. Read more in a news report by Defense News, August 5, 2015.