The Pentagon will expand its U.S. drone flights for the next four years. The additional number of drone flights will let military officers gain wider coverage of information and more capability of retaliation to remain at par with the growing of number of hazardous locations, according to a senior defense officer.
The additional 50 percent of daily drone flights is laid out in the Pentagon's plans for a more extensive observation and collection of information. The drones will be used in areas such as Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea and North Africa, the Wall Street Journal reported. The effort of adding drones is one of the recent moves of Pentagon since 2011 to adjust to the growing catastrophe all over the world.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, identified Russia as the United States' most severe threat. In addition to this, China has been growing its military forces and its efforts to add more man-made islands in the South China Sea and has created conflicts with South East Asian countries. The U.S. drones will aid in surveillance all over the Pacific.
Pentagon leaders consider these situations before using armed and unarmed drones in the targeted locations. These details were disclosed anonymously since the officials are not allowed to talk about the issue at hand, according to the Northwest Herald.
By 2019, Pentagon aims to have 90 drones per day - up from the 61 they have now. Gen. Philip Breedlove, U.S. European Command chief, stated in April to the Senate Armed Services Committee that this expansion of drone flights was really necessary, United Press International reported.
"Earlier indications and warning and the ability to better understand Moscow's thinking and intent are absolutely critical for avoiding future surprise and miscalculation, for deterring effectively and for preparing to respond if required," Breedlove said.
Use of drones during the Obama administration has been highly criticized since secretive drone raids might have caused the deaths of many innocent people. At least 3,000 people have been killed by U.S. drone strikes, nonpartisan groups say, according to the PanArmenian Network.
