UN may ban US to use drone drone
The UN Commission has launched an investigation into the practice of using unmanned aerial drums (UAVs) as weapons within the framework of the war the United States is waging against the al Qaeda terrorist organization. The investigation was initiated after the 3 of the country was officially contacted by the UN, one of which is Pakistan. In Pakistan, the strikes of American UAVs are regarded as an encroachment on the sovereignty of the country. According to the Associated Press, which refers to its own sources in the UN commission, the other two countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council. Taking into account that the investigation as a whole is anti-American in nature, these countries may be the PRC and Russia, since the United Kingdom and France are allies of the United States.
A British lawyer, one of the UN experts on counter-terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson believes that the exponential growth of the use of unmanned technology in both civil and military sphere is a new challenge that is being thrown to the generally accepted norms of international law. According to him, it is necessary to create international legal mechanisms that would regulate the conduct of an effective and independent investigation into each fact of the death of civilians during the attack of UAV drums.
Ben Emmerson is going to submit his detailed report on this matter to the UN General Assembly before the end of 2013. At the same time, the official representative of the United States to the United Nations on condition of anonymity noted that the US government publicly acknowledges the fact that it conducts strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles against targets one way or another connected with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Claiming that these attacks are fully consistent with the letter of the law.
According to the Long War Journal, which monitors statistics on the use of attack UAVs, American flying Robots attacked various targets located in Pakistan in 2008 - 35 times, in 2010 - 117 times, in 2011 - 64 times and 46 times during 2012. The vast majority of these operations are carried out by the CIA as part of a program to prevent potential terrorist attacks against American citizens. According to Ben Emmerson, the death of civilians during the use of strike UAVs can be equated to war crimes. According to the British Bureau of Investigative Journalism, from June 2004 to September 2012, up to 3325 people were killed in Pakistan as a result of UAV airstrikes, of which up to 881 people were civilians, including 176 children. It is reported that the effectiveness of these strikes is quite low - at the level of 2%, only 2% of those killed are terrorists of a sufficiently high level.
The result of the investigation, which will conduct the UN General Assembly, may be a ban on the use of drone drone. However, this decision will be made only if the United States does not veto this decision, which is very doubtful. The right to use the veto has all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the United States. Earlier, in the UN human rights report from 2010, Philip Austin, an independent expert on extrajudicial killings, told about reliably known facts of using UAVs for the destruction of alleged terrorists by the special services of the USA, Israel and Russia, while Iran and China also have this technology.
The chief editor of the National Defense magazine and the chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Igor Korotchenko, expressed his position on the issue of Voice of Russia Radio. According to him, there is no doubt that the United States is quite inefficient in applying its latest military technology in Pakistan. First of all, this may be due to the lack of quality data from intelligence services. Impact UAV hit the target is not independently. They have operators who are located either in a special control center in Langley, or in any of the divisions of the Pentagon.
All modern Drones The United States is connected to the command center via satellite channels. At the same time, the UAV operator can be located anywhere in the world, while the combat operation is controlled directly on the spot in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Having received preliminary information from the reconnaissance, the operator, who is in front of the monitor screen in real time, evaluates what the drone camera transmits to him and then independently makes a decision - to press the missile launch button or not. The final decision is always up to the individual. And this means that the notorious human factor is the cause of possible errors.
The quality of pre-intelligence and the quality of training of drone drone operators UAV is all about. Often, drones, driven by the Americans, mistakenly inflict airstrikes on funeral or wedding processions, taking them for gatherings of warlords. Or blows are delivered to peaceful women and children who are engaged in gathering brushwood in the forest, and they are again mistaken for militants and inflicted an airstrike.
No one questions the fact that modern American drones are great combat vehicles. But even they will make mistakes if they are controlled by a person who has inadequate or incomplete intelligence information. For example, an American agent in Pakistan gives information that a militia gathering will take place in a given area, and as a result a wedding or someone’s funeral is accepted as a gathering. At this time, the operator in the mode of lack of time and the inability to view the picture in detail takes the cluster of civilians for the necessary purpose, resulting in the death of innocent civilians.
UAV MQ-9 Reaper (Predator B)
MQ-9 Reaper (from the English. Reaper or reaper) - shock reconnaissance drone, created by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for the needs of the Air Force and the US Navy. In addition, the UAV has already been put into service with the Air Force of Great Britain, Italy and Turkey. His first flight performed 2 February 2001 of the year. The drone was created on the basis of the famous UAV MQ-1 Predator (English predator). An unmanned aircraft can reach speeds of more than 400 km / h, and its practical ceiling is 13 thousand meters, the maximum duration of the flight of the device is 24 hours. In total, the US Air Force is ready to purchase up to 276 drums of the MQ-9 Reaper UAV. According to 2011, the year in service with the US Air Force ranged from 63 to 74 of similar machines.
The MQ-9 Reaper UAV is an improved and enhanced version of the MQ-1 Predator. Its main difference is the use of more traditional V-shaped tail, which has a positive V-shape. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems tested the Predator B prototype 2 with two different engines: the Williams FJ44-2A turbofan and the Honeywell TPE-331-10T TVD. At the same time, its internal equipment is basically the same as its predecessor and includes radar with a synthesized aperture AN / APY-8 Lynx and an infrared optical-electronic aiming system Raytheon AN / ASS-52 (V). This UAV can easily perform the role of a combat complex armed with Hellfire anti-tank guided missiles or other guided weapons systems.
Currently known 2 additional modifications of the machine. A modification of Block-1 was introduced in April 2012. It is distinguished by its flight time increased by 10-15 hours. Upgraded drone drone in the state is in the air up to 37 hours. It was possible to achieve such indicators due to the updated chassis and additional fuel tanks. According to the manufacturer, if the MQ-9 Reaper has wings of increased length (26,9 meters instead of standard 20,0 meters), then the UAV can be in the sky for up to 42 hours.
The modification of the Block-5 UAV increased the power of the power plant, mounted a second radio station for transmitting data to several ground or air targets, and increased the payload of the drone.
The MQ-9 Reaper UAV has 6 suspension points: 2 internal 680 kg., 2 middle wing 230-270 kg. and 2 console - 68-91 kg. In this case, the drone is able to carry up to 14 missiles AGM-114 Hellfire "air-to-ground", while its predecessor was armed with only two missiles. If necessary, instead of these missiles, Reaper can take on the 4 missiles Hellfire and 2 bombs with a laser guidance system - GBU-12 Paveway II weighing 250 kg. each It can also use the Mark 82 smart bombs with GPS guidance.
For the needs of the US Navy, its own aircraft based on the Reaper was created, which received the designation "Mariner". This aircraft is equipped with folding wings and has an increased fuel capacity, which allows it to stay in the air for up to 49 hours. The re-equipment of the first US Air Force combat squadron with a new UAV model was completed in August 2008. Attack UAVs MQ-9 Reaper have proven themselves well in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their main advantage compared to the F-16 fighter is the lower cost of acquisition and operation, longer flight duration, operator safety and the possibility of their work during long flights in shifts.
Information sources:
http://www.utro.ru/articles/2013/01/25/1097271.shtml
http://rus.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/60413827/89491218.html
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bpla/mq9.html
http://ru.wikipedia.org
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