Russian 201st military base in Tajikistan puts new drones into service

New unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been put into service in the Russian 201st military base stationed in Tajikistan. The code names are "Zastava", "Granat" and "Leer", the representational office of the base informed.

 

 "New models, delivered on the terms of public contracts under the state defense order, will be used to support the troops and make a more effective use of the artillery. They significantly enhance the combat capabilities of the base in terrain reconnaissance in both daytime and night-time," the statement says.

 

The "Leer" drones, in particular, are designed for conducting reconnaissance, jamming and suppression of radio-electronic devices. "Zastava" and "Granat" have modern video and photo equipment.

 

Some 7 thousand soldiers are stationed at the 201st Gatchina Russian military base. They are housed in three military units in Tajikistan. Its aviation is located at the Russian base of Kant in Kyrgyzstan. Last year, Russia and Tajikistan ratified the treaty on the extension of the presence of military forces for another 25 years until 2049.

 

Indian mini drones deployed to patrol Chinese border

The Northern Command of the Indian Army has recently purchased 49 miniature unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol its border region with China and Pakistan, according to the Mumbai-based Daily News and Analysis.

The Indian Army will deploy the drones to carry out reconnaissance mission over its disputed border areas after 50 soldiers from China's People's Liberation Army were found setting up camp in the remote region of eastern Ladakh, which is also claimed by India, on the night of Apr. 15. The PLA soldiers were located 10 kilometers inside the Line of Actual Control, a de facto border that runs across the Himalayas between China and India. An official border between the two countries was never drawn following a border conflict in 1962.

The drones are the true "game changers" in India's territorial dispute with China, the paper said, adding that a 72,000-strong Mountain Strike Corp has been established in the region to prevent a potential Chinese attack under the permission of the Indian cabinet committee on security. In a demonstration of India's strength, the military-run Indian Defense News also reported that a C-130J cargo plane of the Indian Air Force had landed at Daulat Beg Oldi — the world's highest airstrip — in the Ladakh region. 

The Israel Homeland Security stated that India's 49 drones based in the Leh-Ladakh sector will be unarmed and used mainly for surveillance purposes to keep an eye on Chinese activities and check terrorist infiltration from across Pakistan's Kashmir province bordering India. 

India does not yet have any real experience of operating miniature unmanned aerial vehicle, although it currently operates two types of regular drones, the Searcher-II and Heron, both of which were purchased from Israel.

Australia seeks Triton superdrones for Indian Ocean overwatch

With elections looming and pressure for budget savings, the purchase of up to seven MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft has emerged as rare point of bipartisan agreement between Australia's Labor government and conservative opponents, but both sides are reluctant to discuss their wider strategic aims.

Rising Indian Ocean rivalries as China seeks to safeguard key energy lifelines loom behind an Australian push for a $3 billion fleet of maritime superdrones, which will likely boost intelligence sharing with the United States.

 "There's not a lot of new money in our policy, (but) we are going into Broad Area Maritime Surveillance, the Triton," said conservative defense spokesman David Johnston, who is likely to become defense minister following the September 14 elections.

The Triton, under development by Northrop Grumman, is the size of a small airliner with a 40-metre wingspan. It can cruise at 20,000 meters for up to 30 hours, sweeping a distance greater than Sydney to London with 360-degree radar and sensors including infra-red and optical cameras.

Both the government and opposition say the world's most expensive and advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will be used mainly to combat asylum seekers arriving in fishing boats from Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and which have become a hot political issue in Australia.

"But it is not about detecting leaky boats. You don't need to spend billions of dollars to do that. This is about maritime security and surveillance in the Indian Ocean," a senior Labor insider with close knowledge of defense planning said.

"This is a force multiplier. It's better to think of Triton as a mobile satellite we can steer around the Indian Ocean," said the source, who declined to be identified because of sensitivity around what will be an Asia-first military purchase.

The U.S. Navy is still testing the Triton and has plans to buy 68, with the first due in service in 2015. Several will be based at Guam, the key U.S. base in the western Pacific, as part of a repositioning of forces in the Asia-Pacific as China's strategic clout expands into the South China Sea and beyond.

Critics of the U.S. "pivot" have warned that sophisticated drone and UAV aircraft could be destabilizing as Asian militaries seek to modernize with new submarines, warships and aircraft, including Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter.

ENERGY SUPPLY

The Indian Ocean has become one of the world's most vital routes for energy and raw material supply, with over 80 percent of China's oil imports transiting through the area. Japan, India and South Korea are also dependent on Indian Ocean routes.

Australia's Labor government, under pressure to make cuts in Australia's $24 billion a year defense budget, has asked the United States for information on the Triton.

But Johnston said a conservative government in Australia, traditionally a close U.S. ally, had already decided on seven to help with border patrols.

"Triton has the endurance to go from Broome (on Australia's northwest coast) or Darwin to Sri Lanka, do a couple of laps, and then come home without stopping," he said.

Both sides are reluctant to mention Chinese ships and submarines as a target of Triton surveillance, as Beijing is Australia's largest trade partner and bristles about Western efforts to contain its growing strategic clout.

Andrew Davies, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Canberra would be using Tritons for more than just border surveillance, and would push their security envelope well into the Indian Ocean.

One Triton, when complemented by Australia's intended purchase of Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, can cover almost seven million square kilometers in one mission, twice the surface area of India.

"Tritons will be contributing to the military surveillance picture, and to the extent that Chinese military expansion is one of the things that needs to be kept an eye on, they will be doing that," said Davies.

He said the Tritons would effectively become the southern arm of a broad allied network that would see Canberra exchanging intelligence with the United States, which already rotates Marines and naval ships through northern Australia.

Johnston, whose conservatives have always favored the tightest possible U.S. alliance, said Australian Tritons would neutralize thoughts in Washington of Canberra's far-flung Cocos-Keeling islands being upgraded as a base for U.S. UAVs in the eastern Indian Ocean, just south of Indonesia.

"Darwin would be much more logical," he said.

China emerging as new force in drone warfare

 

In this Oct. 1, 2009 file photo, a truck loaded with the Chinese made drone, the ASN-207, takes part in a military parade marking China's 60th anniversary held near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Chinese aerospace firms developed dozens of drones, known also as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. Many have appeared at air shows and military parades, including some that bear an uncanny resemblance to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used with deadly effect by the U.S. Air Force and CIA. Analysts say that although China still trails the U.S. and Israel, the industry leaders, its technology is maturing rapidly and on the cusp of widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

 

Determined to kill or capture a murderous Mekong River drug lord, China's security forces considered a tactic they'd never tried before: calling a drone strike on his remote hideaway deep in the hills of Myanmar.

The attack didn't happen — the man was later captured and brought to China for trial — but the fact that authorities were considering such an option cast new light on China's unmanned aerial vehicle program, which has been quietly percolating for years and now appears to be moving into overdrive.

Chinese aerospace firms have developed dozens of drones, known also as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. Many have appeared at air shows and military parades, including some that bear an uncanny resemblance to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used with deadly effect by the U.S. Air Force and CIA. Analysts say that although China still trails the U.S. and Israel, the industry leaders, its technology is maturing rapidly and on the cusp of widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes.

"My sense is that China is moving into large-scale deployments of UAVs," said Ian Easton, co-author of a recent report on Chinese drones for the Project 2049 Institute security think tank.

China's move into large-scale drone deployment displays its military's growing sophistication and could challenge U.S. military dominance in the Asia-Pacific. It also could elevate the threat to neighbors with territorial disputes with Beijing, including Vietnam, Japan, India and the Philippines. China says its drones are capable of carrying bombs and missiles as well as conducting reconnaissance, potentially turning them into offensive weapons in a border conflict.

China's increased use of drones also adds to concerns about the lack of internationally recognized standards for drone attacks. The United States has widely employed drones as a means of eliminating terror suspects in Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.

"China is following the precedent set by the U.S. The thinking is that, 'If the U.S. can do it, so can we. They're a big country with security interests and so are we'," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow at the arms transfers program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, or SIPRI.

"The justification for an attack would be that Beijing too has a responsibility for the safety of its citizens. There needs to be agreement on what the limits are," he said.

Though China claims its military posture is entirely defensive, its navy and civilian maritime services have engaged in repeated standoffs with ships from other nations in the South China and East China seas. India, meanwhile, says Chinese troops have set up camp almost 20 kilometers (12 miles) into Indian-claimed territory.

It isn't yet known exactly what China's latest drones are capable of, because, like most Chinese equipment, they remain untested in battle.

The military and associated aerospace firms have offered little information, although in an interview last month with the official Xinhua News Agency, Yang Baikui, chief designer at plane maker COSIC, said Chinese drones were closing the gap but still needed to progress in half a dozen major areas, from airframe design to digital linkups.

Executives at COSIC and drone makers ASN, Avic, and the 611 Institute declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press, citing their military links. The Defense Ministry's latest report on the status of the military released in mid-April made no mention of drones, and spokesman Yang Yujun made only the barest acknowledgement of their existence in response to a question.

"Drones are a new high-tech form of weaponry employed and used by many militaries around the world," Yang said. "China's armed forces are developing weaponry and equipment for the purpose of upholding territorial integrity, national security and world peace. It will pose no threat to any country."

Drones are already patrolling China's borders, and a navy drone was deployed to the western province of Sichuan to provide aerial surveillance following last month's deadly earthquake there.

They may also soon be appearing over China's maritime claims, including Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands that China considers its own. That could sharpen tensions in an area where Chinese and Japanese patrol boats already confront each other on a regular basis and Japan frequently scrambles fighters to tail Chinese manned aircraft.

Retired Maj. Gen. Peng Guoqian told state media in January that drones were already being used to photograph and conduct surveillance over the islands, called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan.

The Pentagon says Chinese drones could boost the effectiveness of long-range radar in monitoring activity and locating targets in the western Pacific far from the Chinese coast. Their missions could include guiding home an anti-ship ballistic missile known in military circles as a "carrier killer," the Pentagon said in its 2012 report on China's military.

Reports about the search for notorious river bandit Naw Kham, wanted for the 2011 murders of 13 Chinese sailors, offer some clues about China's plans for drones.

The head of the Chinese Public Security Ministry's anti-narcotics bureau, Liu Yuejin, was quoted by state media as saying a plan had been floated to target Naw Kham's fortified camp with a drone loaded with 20 kilograms of TNT. The type of drone wasn't mentioned.

The plan was dropped by higher-ups in favor of taking Naw Kham alive, but the revelation served as a statement of Chinese intentions and capabilities.

China began developing drones in the 1960s and is believed to have used them for reconnaissance during its brief 1979 invasion of Vietnam. The program was aided by the adaptation of foreign civilian or dual-use UAVs for military purposes, then took a leap forward with the purchase of Harpy drones from Israel. Later, U.S. opposition to Israeli upgrades on the Harpys spurred China to build its own version.

China's gains are aided by the industry's relatively low costs and short production schedule and boosted by the assembly of the country's homebuilt Beidou navigation satellite system and improved high-speed data links.

China's military is expected to field hundreds, if not thousands, of drones, although the overall size of the fleet is difficult to estimate and the U.S. will ultimately have many more.

Chinese UAVs range from simple propeller-driven models to the high-concept, stealthy Dark Sword, featuring a joined wing and tail assembly similar to the U.S. Avenger.

More than 90 percent of the Chinese drones now in service are variants on the simpler ASN-209 surveillance drone seen in navy drills and which are now being produced under license by Egypt.

Others include the Wing Loong, or Pterodactyl, which bears a striking resemblance to the U.S. Reaper and carries a brace of missiles. Chinese media reports and air show staff say it has been exported to countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, possibly the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, at just a fraction of the Reaper's price tag of $30 million each.

Military officials in the UAE and Uzbekistan declined to comment on the reports.

Another combat drone being offered for export, the CH-4, has space for four missiles and is said to be able to fly continuously for 30 hours.

Even more ambitious is the Xiang Long BZK-005, similar to the U.S. Global Hawk. It has a reported 6,437-kilometer (4,000-mile) range and is roughly the size of a medium-size fighter jet. Deployment may be some time off, however, and a 2011 crash points to rumored problems with the guidance system.

Further developments could see China competing with world's two major drone producers, the United States and Israel, for markets in close ally Pakistan, Myanmar and other developing nations. Customers might even include Russia, which is the world's No. 2 arms exporter but has had little success making UAVs.

There are some indications China may already be exporting know-how to Pakistan, given design similarities between Chinese drones and Pakistan's Shahpar UAV, said Huw Williams, an expert on drones at Jane's Defence Weekly. However, Williams said China will likely struggle to find customers for its larger drones, given limited demand and the large number of countries developing such systems of their own.

"They're very interested in getting into this market," SIPRI's Wezeman said. "Another few years and they will have caught up."

Armed RAF Afghan Drones Now Flown From UK

RAF pilots have operated drone missions over Afghanistan from British soil.

The missions were flown by members of XIII Squadron, based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

Up until this week, all such missions in the Afghan conflict had been conducted at Creech air force base in Nevada.

The UK currently has five Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - also known as remotely piloted air systems (RPAS).

Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed in 2010 that the fleet of Reaper aircraft would expand.

Delivery of the new aircraft is expected this summer.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed the commencement of operations from Lincolnshire in a short statement.

It said: "XIII Sqn have commenced supporting ISAF and Afghan ground troops in Afghanistan with armed intelligence and surveillance missions, which are remotely piloted from RAF Waddington."

Since 2007, British drones have flown some 45,000 hours in the Afghan conflict and fired around 350 weapons.

Their primary use is for surveillance, but they do carry precision guided missiles or Hellfire missiles on board for use when necessary.

The Waddington-based squadron numbers around 100 personnel who are specifically trained to fly the aircraft.

The drones take off and land under the guidance of pilots on the ground in Afghanistan but the pilots in Lincolnshire take over once they’ve reached a suitable height. They tend to fly at an altitude of between 15,000 to 20,000 feet.

The British Government insists it only flies its fleet of UAVs in Afghanistan - a country that it has an legal remit to be in.

But drones are controversial, largely because of their use in Pakistan and Yemen by the US government and a protest march is planned outside RAF Waddington this Saturday.

The pilots in Lincolnshire are operating in conjunction with British and American colleagues still based in Nevada - this is largely based on a shift pattern to reflect the time difference and to allow for 24 hour operations.

The MoD will only confirm one incident of civilian casualties involving its aircraft, when innocent people were killed by the blast of a missile that also killed two insurgents.

Israel Planning for Drone-only Air Force

Israel's air force is on track to developing drones that within four to five decades would carry out nearly every battlefield operation executed today by piloted aircraft, a high-ranking Israeli officer told The Associated Press Sunday.

The officer, who works in the field of unmanned aerial vehicle intelligence, said Israel is speeding up research and development of such unmanned technologies for air, ground and naval forces.

"There is a process happening now of transferring tasks from manned to unmanned vehicles," the officer said, speaking anonymously because of the classified nature of his work. "This trend will continue to become stronger."

Isaac Ben-Israel, a former Israeli air force general, said however there was no way drones could entirely overtake manned airplanes. He said there are just some things drones can't do, like carry heavy payloads needed for major assaults on targets like underground bunkers.

"The direction is drones playing a bigger and bigger role in the air force," he said. "In a decade or two they should be able to carry out a third or half of all missions. But there are still certain things you cannot do without a piloted plane."

Israel is a pioneer in drone technology. Its military was the first to make widespread use of drones in its 1982 invasion of Lebanon and Israeli companies are considered world leaders and export unmanned aircraft to a number of armies, including U.S.-led forces that have used them in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The unmanned aircraft have been a major part of Israel's arsenal in battling Gaza rocket launchers over the years. Drones were seen as crucial by giving soldiers eyes in the air, keeping watch over rooftops and alleyways in congested urban areas and notifying troops of threats or obstacles in their path. Israel insists its drones only perform surveillance missions but Palestinian witnesses have long claimed that Israeli drones fire missiles in Gaza.

The officer claimed Israel is second only to the United States in the range of unmanned aerial systems its produces. He said he was "aware" that American drones are capable of firing missiles, but refused to say whether Israeli drones could do the same.

The officer cited one technology recently unveiled: the unmanned Hermes 900 aircraft, developed by the Israeli military manufacturer Elbit Systems Ltd. and recently rolled out for Israeli military use.

It features double the performance capabilities of the previous generation of the same unmanned aircraft, the Hermes 450. It can carry up to 350 kilograms, features advanced systems of surveillance and reconnaissance and offers support to forces on the ground and at sea, according to a description of the technology on Elbit's website.

Israel is also looking to develop small tactical satellites that warplanes could launch into the earth's orbit, the officer said.

Unlike satellites in permanent orbit which are more easily monitored by other leading armies in the world, the tactical satellites Israel hopes to develop would be cheaper to build and less susceptible to interception because they would be launched during wartime and there would be less time for foreign armies to track their orbit, Israeli military officials said.

 © Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Iran Unveils Home-Made Missile Launching Hovercraft

Iran has unveiled a highly advanced home-made hovercraft which can launch missiles and serve as launch pad for drones.

The vessel was unveiled in a ceremony attended by the Iranian Defense Minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, today.

The newly unveiled hovercraft has been designed and developed by Iranian experts in two models for combat and transportation missions and the combat model, called 'Tondar" (Thunderbolt), was unveiled by Vahidi today.

Addressing the ceremony, Vahidi said that Tondar can be equipped with different types of weapons produced by the Iranian defense industries, including rockets, guns and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

The minister said that Tondar can be used for "coastal patrolling, as a command vessel, offensive reconnaissance operations, mid-range amphibious missions, asymmetric defense, as a personnel and equipment carrier for logistical support for islands and coastal areas or as a sea ambulance for relief and rescue missions".

He further added that the new hovercraft will increase the combat and reconnaissance capabilities as well as the mobility of the Iranian Armed Forces.

The Iranian Armed Forces have recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipments, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills.

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor, specially at a time of heightened threats by the US.

Iran successfully tests Koker-1 VTOL drone

Iran has successfully tested its first vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone, dubbed "Koker-1", and will officially unveil it on the Kish Island in the next calendar month of Azar (Nov. 22-Dec. 20), the Mehr News Agency reported.

The drone reportedly uses ultra-advanced technology and has been manufactured in Iran for the first time.

The "Koker-1" drone does not require runways at all and can take off and land vertically, experts say.

It is capable to fly continuously for three hours within a radius of 170 kilometers at 12,000 feet height in different climatic conditions.

According to earlier reports, Iranian experts have also built another radar-evading drone, named "Liko", with the capacity of carrying 100 kg of cargo for 100 kilometers.

"Liko" is also capable of non-stop flights for three hours. The 53-kg UAV can fly at an altitude of 16,000 feet and requires the shortest landing runway length.

Iran's first indigenous long-range drone "Karrar" was unveiled in August 2010.

"Karrar" is capable of carrying a military payload of rockets to carry out bombing missions against ground targets, flying long distances at a very high speed, and gathering information.

Watch a Robotic Navy Boat Shoot Missiles for the First Time Ever

Killer robots have officially gone out to sea. For the first time, the Navy has fired missiles from a remote-controlled boat, as shown in the video above.

The firing came as part of a test off the Maryland coast on Wednesday. Six of Rafael’s anti-armor Spike missiles got fired off a moving inflatable hulled watercraft, aiming for a floating target about two miles away. The missile firings and the boat’s controls were all handled remotely by Navy personnel on shore at the Navy’s Patuxent River base.

It’s the “first significant step forward in weaponizing surface unmanned combat capability,” Mark Moses, the Navy’s program manager for the armed drone boat project, tells Danger Room. Sure, the U.S. military has no shortage of armed robotic planes and — soon — helicopters. But it doesn’t have weaponized drones that patrol the seas, either above it or below it. The Navy’s early experiments with robotic submarines  are for spying and mine clearance , not for attack. Until this week’s tests at Pax River, the Navy didn’t have a robotic surface vessel capable of firing a weapon — the fulfillment of a goal the Navy set for itself in 2007 .

The Navy’s been tricking out this 11-meter inflatable boat for the past several years at its base in Newport, Rhode Island, to do just that. Mounted on the boat is a dual-pod missile launcher and an Mk-49 mounting system, all made by Rafael and fully automated, which the Navy’s calling a “Precision Engagement Module.” The Navy seems the module as the sort of thing that could protect U.S. coastline without danger to sailors or coastguardsmen, or prevent pirates or Iranian sailors from maneuvering  their small, fast boats between targets that Navy Destroyers can’t risk hitting.

The Precision Engagement Module “could be used in a number of applications including harbor security, defensive operations against fast attach craft and swam scenarios, which is of primary concern for the Navy,” says Moses. “However, it is probably most effective when targets try and hide among commercial vessels –for example, congested waterways.”

In three days’ worth of tests at Pax River this week, the Navy shot off the long-range version variant of the Spike, a 30-pound missile with an effective range of about 2 and a half miles. The video above shows six of the remote firings — and while they looked to our untrained eyes like near misses, the Navy says that’s a trick of the camera angle, and they actually hit their targets.

All this is just a demonstration; it’ll be years and many more tests before the Navy decides if it wants to purchase a fleet of remote-controlled, missile-packing boats. But “the increase in attention and effort for water borne technological advancements coincides with the drawing down of U.S. military resources in the land locked campaign in Afghanistan,” Mark notes, “and a strategic refocusing to problem regions where unconventional maritime threats must be accounted for.” In other words: put the robo-boat off Iranian or Somali waters, and let sailors at a safe distance aim and fire its missiles, much like the Air Forces drone pilots do.

A dangerous new world of drones

A model of China's "Dark Sword" UAV. According to Jane's Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis, the drone remains only a model, but offers an example of where China may go with its drone technology.

A decade ago, the United States had a virtual monopoly on drones.

Not anymore. According to data compiled by the New America Foundation, more than 70 countries now own some type of drone, though just a small number of those nations possess armed drone aircraft.

The explosion in drone technology promises to change the way nations conduct war and threatens to begin a new arms race as governments scramble to counterbalance their adversaries.

Late last month, China announced that it would use surveillance drones to monitor a group of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea that are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

In August 2010, Iran unveiled what it claimed was its first armed drone. And on Tuesday, the country's military chief, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, disclosed details of a new long-range drone that he said can fly 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), which puts Tel Aviv easily in range.

Study: Drone strikes kill, maim and traumatize too many civilians

But without an international framework governing the use of drone attacks, the United States is setting a dangerous precedent for other nations with its aggressive and secretive drone programs in Pakistan and Yemen, which are aimed at suspected members of al Qaeda and their allies.

There has been virtually no substantive public discussion about drone attacks among policymakers at the international level.

Just as the U.S. government justifies its drone strikes with the argument that it is at war with al Qaeda and its affiliates, one could imagine that India in the not too distant future might launch such attacks against suspected terrorists in Kashmir, or China might strike Uighur separatists in western China, or Iran might attack Baluchi nationalists along its border with Pakistan.

This moment may almost be here. China took the United States by surprise in November 2010 at the Zhuhai Air Show, where it unveiled 25 drone models, some of which were outfitted with the capability to fire missiles.

It remains unclear just how many of China's drones are operational and how many of them are still in development, but China is intent on catching up with the United States' rapidly expanding drone arsenal.

When President George W. Bush declared a "War on Terror" 11 years ago, the Pentagon had fewer than 50 drones.

Now, it has around 7,500.

As Bush embarked on that war, the United States had never used armed drones in combat. The first U.S. armed drone attack, which appears to be the first such strike ever, took place in mid-November 2001 and killed the military commander of al Qaeda, Mohammed Atef, in Afghanistan.

Since then, the CIA has used drones equipped with bombs and missiles hundreds of times to target suspected militants in Pakistan and Yemen.

Only the United States, United Kingdom and Israel are known to have launched drone strikes against their adversaries, although other members of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, such as Australia, have "borrowed" drones from Israel for use in the war there.

Drone technology is proliferating rapidly. A 2011 study estimated that there were around 680 active drone development programs run by governments, companies and research institutes around the world, compared with just 195 in 2005.

In 2010, U.S.-based General Atomics received export licenses to sell unarmed versions of the Predator drone to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. And in March, the U.S. government agreed to arm Italy's six Reaper drones but rejected a request from Turkey to purchase armed Predator drones.

An official in Turkey's Defense Ministry said in July that Turkey planned to arm its own domestically produced drone, the Anka.

Israel is the world's largest exporter of drones and drone technology, and the state-owned Israeli Aerospace Industries has sold to countries as varied as Nigeria, Russia and Mexico.

Building drones, particularly armed drones, takes sophisticated technology and specific weaponry, but governments are increasingly willing to invest the necessary time and money to either buy or develop them, as armed drones are increasingly seen as an integral part of modern warfare.

Sweden, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and France are working on a joint project through state-owned aeronautical companies and are in the final stages of developing an advanced armed drone prototype called the Dassault nEURon, from which the France plans to derive armed drones for its air force.

And Pakistani authorities have long tried to persuade the United States to give them armed Predator drones, while India owns an armed Israeli drone designed to detect and destroy enemy radar, though it does not yet have drones capable of striking other targets.

The Teal Group, a defense consulting firm in Virginia, estimated in June that the global market for the research, development and procurement of armed drones will just about double in the next decade, from $6.6 billion to $11.4 billion.

News: Drones expected to hunt for suspects in Libya attack

States are not alone in their quest for drones. Insurgent groups, too, are moving to acquire this technology. Last year, Libyan opposition forces trying to overthrow the dictator Moammar Gadhafi bought a sophisticated surveillance drone from a Canadian company for which they paid in the low six figures.

You can even buy your own tiny drone on Amazon for $250. (And for an extra $3.99, you can get next-day shipping.)

As drone technology becomes more widely accessible, it is only a matter of time before well-financed drug cartels acquire them. And you can imagine a day in the not too distant future where armed drones are used to settle personal vendettas.

Given the relatively low costs of drones -- already far cheaper than the costs of a fighter jet and of training a fighter jet pilot -- armed drones will play a key role in future conflicts.

Opinion: When are drone killings illegal?

While the drone industry thrives and more companies, research institutes and nations jump on board the drone bandwagon, the United States is setting a powerful international norm about the use of armed drones, which it uses for pre-emptive attacks against presumed terrorists in Pakistan and Yemen. It is these kinds of drone strikes that are controversial; the use of drones in a conventional war is not much different than a manned aircraft that drops bombs or fires missiles.

According to figures compiled by the New America Foundation, drone attacks aimed at suspected militants are estimated to have killed between 1,900 and 3,200 people in Pakistan over the past eight years.

While there has been considerable discussion of the legality of such strikes in a number of U.S. law schools, there has been almost no substantive public discussion about drone attacks among policymakers at the international level.

The time has come for some kind of international convention on the legal framework surrounding the uses of such weapons, which promise to shape the warfare of the future as much as tanks and bombers did during the 20th century.

KAI developing “suicide combat UAV”

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is developing a new long-range guided weapon that can cruise to a location and subsequently, loiter and attack when a target is identified.

The system is called "Devil Killer" and has a maximum speed that ranges between 350-400km/h (189-216kt), says KAI. It navigates using GPS and a data link, and the company refers to it as a "suicide combat unmanned air vehicle".

"After [the Devil Killer] moves to the target point along the pre-programmed route, which is designated with navigation points, the operator can identify targets through the forward-looking camera image and then commence either a manual or automatic strike," says KAI.

The system is powered by an electric motor and weighs 25kg (55lb), with a length of 1.5m (4.92ft). Details of its explosive payload, endurance and range are confidential.

If a target is not identified, the system can be retrieved and re-used. At present, the company is focusing on a surface-launched version, but eventually, it hopes to develop an air-launched variant.

The company aims to pitch the system to the South Korean armed forces and foreign buyers.

US Navy to Boost Pacific Airborne Maritime Capabilities with New Drones and ASW Aircraft

The United States Navy is planning to deploy Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) drones to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam with preparations for deployment projected to begin during Fiscal Year 2014.

The MQ-4C Triton, only recently introduced, is a large, unmanned drone designed to provide enhanced maritime surveillance in coordination with the Navy’s P-3C Orion and P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance/anti-submarine aircraft.

Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) currently operates three Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in a limited surveillance role. The RQ-4 was designed primarily to perform land surveillance duties, not long-duration ocean surveillance sweeps.

In an interview with ABC News, intelligence analyst Matthew Aid said that the RQ-4 “was designed for pinpoint imagery or eavesdropping on land targets, by over flight, or by flying obliquely up to 450 kilometers off an enemy’s coastline” while the MQ-4C “was designed for broad area maritime surveillance – following ships from high altitude.”

Joe Gradisher, Public Affairs Officer for the Assistant Chief of Naval Operations Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), recently told Stars & Stripes newspaper that the Navy’s Tritons would join the Global Hawks at Guam.

Mr. Gradisher told Stars & Stripes that current plans “for BAMS include the use of Guam, but other bases may be considered in the future, subject to combatant commander desires and future diplomatic arrangements.” The Japan Times newspaper and ABC News also reported the decision to base the Tritons at Guam.

As part of the United States’ “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region, the US Navy is working towards reinforcing its maritime surveillance capability in the Pacific Ocean arena. Existing plans call for the new Boeing P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol/Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft to be deployed as a replacement for the Navy’s venerable Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.

The P-8A Poseidon is designed to operate with the Navy’s new MQ-4C Triton in an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role that includes the interdiction of maritime shipping and performance of electronic intelligence (ELINT) functions. The P-3 has been in service with the navies of many nations since 1962 and is nearing retirement. The P-8s are expected to begin replacing some of the aging P-3s assigned to stateside squadrons next year.

Existing plans call for the acquisition of 68 Tritons and 117 Poseidons to replace the P-3C Orions still operational. By pairing the MQ-4C Triton BAMS drone with the P-8A Poseidon in the Pacific, the US Navy will be able to maintain a continuous long-range surveillance over a wide expanse of the Asia-Pacific region to an extent the P-3C Orions cannot match. As tensions between Japan, China, and other Asian-Pacific nations have continued to escalate and are beginning to pose a threat to regional peace, an enhanced surveillance force is a capability US Pacific commanders are anxious to get into operation.

There is also a very real possibility that Japan will be deploying its drones to Andersen AFB in the near future as well. Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported that the United States and Japan were discussing a proposal to jointly-base US and Japanese UAVs in Guam. The Japan Times newspaper also released a story, citing an anonymous source, stating that the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) was in negotiations with US representatives to arrange a joint-use arrangement that would allow the JSDF to operate drones from Guam.

The joint-use proposal, as reported by the Japan Times, would provide for the JSDF to share USAF/USN hangars, flight support, and maintenance facilities.

A previous Japanese proposal to buy Global Hawks was dropped because of cost considerations, but JSDF officials insist it is their desire to buy surveillance drones sometime between Fiscal Year 2014 and Fiscal Year 2020. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) currently operates 80 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, five EP-3C ELINT Orions, and four OP-3C reconnaissance models from various air stations throughout the Japanese Archipelago. These aircraft were built under license by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

United States Navy officials and JMSDF officers are well aware that Japan’s fleet of Orions is not capable of providing the long-duration continuous surveillance of Pacific sea lanes needed to keep an eye on China’s rapidly-growing, technologically-advanced naval presence. A joint-basing arrangement would be advantageous to both nations with respect to cost-savings, workload reductions, information sharing, and joint-force readiness.

US military officials at Guam declined comment on the MQ-4C basing reports. Navy Lieutenant William Knight said that he could neither confirm nor deny the reports, but indicated that pertinent information could be forthcoming at a later date.