December 13, 2011 / by emptywheel

 

US Keeps Losing Control of Its Drones

Funny how these drones keep experiencing failures in areas where they’re engaging in a covert war and not–say–where they’re being used to arrest American citizens in North Dakota.

One of the Air Force’s premier drones crashed Tuesday morning in the Seychelles, the Indian Ocean archipelago that serves as a base for anti-piracy operations, as well as U.S. surveillance missions over Somalia.

[snip]

The Seychelles, where U.S. officials have worked closely with local officials to establish the drone base, is hardly enemy territory, and the drone that crashed Tuesday was operated by the Air Force, not the CIA, which operated the stealth RQ-170 that crashed in Iran.

Still, Tuesday’s crash once again illustrates the fallibility of unmanned aerial vehicles.

I guess as drone use ramps up here in the US maybe we’ll need to consult with whomever has sabotaged drones of late in multiple countries?

Copyright © 2011 emptywheel. All rights reserved.
Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2011/12/13/us-keeps-losing-control-of-its-drones/