The Predator B, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).(Photo from USA Today)
Afghanistan Bases Would Launch U.S. Drones
-- Navy Times
-- Navy Times
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is building a series of air bases in eastern Afghanistan as part of its massive expansion of a system that uses drone aircraft to spy on and attack Taliban insurgents, according to interviews and documents.
In Afghanistan, harsh winters and a lack of airstrips near the fighting can hinder drone flights. It can take as long as three hours for a drone to reach battlefields, particularly in the rugged mountain area near the border with Pakistan. That area has seen some of the toughest fighting for U.S. troops. By contrast, it can take as little as 10 minutes for a drone to reach hot spots in Baghdad because the Iraqi capital has more air bases, said Dyke Weatherington, deputy director of the Pentagon’s unmanned aerial systems task force.
“What the [Pentagon] is trying to do is go in and develop bases closer to those areas that we know we’re going to have a sustained presence after a long period of time,” Weatherington said. “In fact, recently we set up a couple of additional bases closer to the Pakistan border that cut down those transit times.”
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