U.S. Plans Surveillance Buildup In Iraq, Afghanistan

Predator With Hellfire Missiles

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department plans to spend $2.2 billion on a new fleet of spy planes and unmanned drones for Iraq and Afghanistan that would greatly enhance the ability of U.S. forces to track militants, officials said on Thursday.

The expansion of what military officials call "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," or ISR, efforts is part of a push by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to use military force with more precision in the two counterinsurgency campaigns.

Gates believes military operations should be subordinated to economic, political and social-development programs in countries battling Islamist militants.

The plan, which includes 51 C-12 twin-turboprop Huron aircraft equipped with sensors and video cameras, will let U.S. commanders better follow the movements of militant groups and take action against them, a senior defense official said.

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My Comment: For the Taliban, this is the weapon that they fear the most. Predators can fly 24/7, and their hellfire missiles have an accuracy rate that has already killed a number of important Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders .... Yup .....I can understand why they are afraid of this weapon system.

Defense Secretary Gates understands this also .... thereby making it a priority to expand and implement a UAV fleet in the region. I predict that it will be this weapon that will tilt the war in Afghanistan to ultimately favor Nato and their Afghan allies.