Less than a week ago, the UK MoD announced that British Reaper drones over Afghanistan are now being controlled directly from the UK. This morning a number of British defence journalists are reporting that the first British drone strike from UK… Read More ›
The UK MoD has today confirmed that British drones over Afghanistan are now being controlled from the UK. For the first time UK forces can remotely control armed drones over Afghanistan while sitting in air conditioned trailers at RAF Waddington… Read More ›
The lack of transparency surrounding the US use of drones has come under the spotlight over the past few weeks during the hearings to confirm John Brennan as head of the CIA. US politicians, journalists and campaigners have rightly criticised… Read More ›
The Times is today reporting that the UK Defence Select Committee is to hold an inquiry into the use of armed drones: Members of the Commons Defence Select Committee are to investigate the deployment of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in… Read More ›
The Guardian has tonight revealed that the RAF will ‘stand-up’ its new drone squadron – 13 Squadron - at a ceremony at RAF Waddington this Friday (26th Oct). The UK’s five armed Reaper drones are currently piloted from Creech Air… Read More ›
Some new information has emerged this week about future British drone programmes as BAE Systems held a media briefing at their Warton site to talk about their unmanned projects (our invitation was presumably lost in the post). According to the report by… Read More ›
We are publishing from today a list of known UK drone strikes in Afghanistan. The list will be regularly updated when information becomes available. The UK Drone Strike List is available here In summary: Some details of 80 (40%) of UK drone strikes… Read More ›
Last month the UK MoD’s Air Warfare Centre held a symposium on drones at the Shrivenham Defence Academy. While the overall theme of the symposium was how drones could help ‘UK Resilience Operations’, attendees were also given updates by senior military officials on… Read More ›
On 8 September, the UK MoD’s Air Warfare Centre held what is apparently an annual symposium on drones at the Shrivenham Defence Academy. While the overall theme of the symposium was how drones could help ‘UK Resilience Operations’, attendees were also given updates… Read More ›
The tragic news that Afghan civilians have been killed in a British drone strike comes, unfortunately, as little surprise. I have been investigating the use of armed drones for the past three years and despite the mantra-like use of phrases such… Read More ›
STOP PRESS The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced today that it is forming a second, RAF drones squadron to be based at RAF Waddington in Lincs. RAF pilots will control the UKs armed Reaper drones that fly in Afghanistan from… Read More ›
The UK MoD have announced today that UK Reaper drones have now notched up over 20,000 hours flying over Afghanistan since they were first deployed in October 2007. In the self-congratulatory announcement Air Vice-Marshal Phil Osborn makes the point that by… Read More ›
