PAF using unmanned drones in war exercise

October 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Navy Monday started its six-week-long Seaspark 2009 maritime exercise in the North Arabian Sea, officials said. Pakistan Marines, Special Services Group, ships, submarines and aircraft will participate in the exercise, the Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement.

October 10th, 2009 LAHORE - While the United States has rejected repeated appeals from Pakistan to give the drone technology to it, so that it could carry out the anti-terror operations on its own, Islamabad is now looking forward to use Italian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). According to The Los Angeles Times, despite the US snub, Pakistan has not stopped its efforts to acquire the drone technology, and has now inked a deal with an Italian company for that purpose.

September 18th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Singapore and Australia are conducting a joint naval exercise in the South China Sea Sep 18-25, officials said. Navies of the two countries will conduct a range of exercise such as surveillance, air defence and anti-submarine warfare, Singapore's defence ministry said.

September 10th, 2009 LONDON - : Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has urged the United States to hand over the unmanned drone aircrafts to Pakistan so that it could carry out the offensive against the extremists on its own rather than relying on foreign countries. In an interview with a private television channel, Musharraf said the war against terrorism was not only in Washington's interest but in the interest of Islamabad also.

September 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has said that it is using unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence gathering and surveillance and not for attacking targets. Clarifying the media reports regarding use of drones to attack targets, the PAF statement said that "drones are used by us only for intelligence-gathering and surveillance." The statement also said that the rank and name of the Chief of Air Staff has also been published incorrectly.

August 24th, 2009 LAHORE - The US Air Force has said it is now training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots as part of an expanding programme battlefield automation, and signalled that the end of the era of the fighter pilot is in sight. In a controversial shift in military thinking - one encouraged by the now-confirmed death of Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a drone-strike on August 5, the US air force is looking to hugely expand its fleet of unmanned aircraft by 2047, The Guardian reported.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US law enforcement and intelligence agencies will conduct a massive anti-terrorism exercise in the country in collaboration with four other nations, officials said Friday. All security officials in the country will participate in the five-day exercise that will begin Monday.

July 12th, 2009 BRISBANE - Australian scientists and US aviation giant Boeing are set to test unmanned aircrafts, which would share airspace with piloted passenger planes without causing any collision. In a non-descript shed in suburban South Park in Seattle, a team of young Boeing engineers are overseeing an experiment that provides a startling glimpse into the future.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Britain's most senior Law Lord, until last year, Lord Bingham has said the usage of unmanned drones as weapons of war is beyond the pale of human tolerance. In an interview with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Lord Bingham compared drones, which have killed hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza, with cluster bombs and landmines.

July 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 13 people were killed and several others injured in two missile hits carried out by unmanned US Predator aircrafts in South Waziristan on Friday. Sources said the US drone targeted a suspected terror camp in Kokatkhel village of Sarokai area, and fired several missiles killing 13 persons on the spot besides wounding several others.

May 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - : A key US lawmaker has criticized Pakistan for maintaining a double faced commitment over the US drone strikes inside its geographical territory with condemning the attacks publicly and approving them privately. Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin said Pakistan must publicly admit that it supports the drone strikes being carried out against the Taliban and other extremists in the lawless tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

May 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Taking its relationship with Pakistan on the use of drones a step further, the United States, has for the first time, provided Islamabad surveillance information, including sensitive border photographs collected by the drones. The information includes real-time video feeds and communications intercepts gleaned by unmanned Predator aircrafts, The New York Times reports.

May 14th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan has asked the United States to hand over the 'ownership' and not only 'control' of the drones operating inside its territory. Referring to Washington's decision to give Islamabad control over the drone strikes in the tribal regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said such 'half measures' would be of no use.

March 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the United States to provide them unmanned aircrafts to carry out more drone attacks in the Swat region. "We have told the US that unmanned aircraft should be provided to Pakistan to carry on hits," The Nation quoted Zardari, as telling senior journalists at his residence.

March 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan has told to US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson on Friday that drone attacks on Balochistan will be counter productive for Washington.