While there is rightly much media attention on
the US drone war in Pakistan and Yemen, there is a very different but
over-looked “drone war” taking place in Europe right now. In parliamentary
committee rooms, in company boardrooms, and in packed public meetings,
arguments rage about whether Europe should embrace or reject the use of armed
drones.
Many European armed forces already have
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, in their armories
for reconnaissance, intelligence and surveillance purposes. Increasingly,
however, European countries are under pressure to follow in the footsteps of the
US and embrace the use of armed drones.
The UK has been a long-time partner with the
US in using armed drones, with British military forces using US Predator drones
in Iraq starting in 2004 before acquiring their own Reaper drones for use in
Afghanistan in 2007. Since then, the UK has launched more than 400 missiles and
bombs from its drones in Afghanistan and this is likely to increase as the UK
doubles its armed drone fleet over the next year while also now directly
operating drones from UK as well as US soil.
So far no other European country has used
armed drones. French forces have used unarmed Harfang drones (based on Israel’s
Heron) in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali; German forces in Afghanistan have been
using unarmed Luna and Israeli Heron drones, and Italy has been operating
unarmed drones alongside the US in Libya and Afghanistan from a joint
Italian-US ground control station at Amendola airbase in southeast Italy. But despite widespread public opposition,
growing pressure from the pro-drone lobby and military companies is pushing
European countries to acquire armed drone capability.
Across Europe, the acquisition of armed drones
is highly controversial. Many political parties are divided on the issue - or
flatly oppose it - and there is much public hostility. A Pew Research Poll
conducted in 2012 showed widespread opposition to drone strikes, including 59%
of people in Germany, 63% in France, 76% in Spain, 55% in Italy, and a whopping
90% in Greece. Only the UK did not have a majority of its public against the
use of armed drones but even so, only 44% were in favor. In the US, opposition to the drone wars is
focused on the use of drones for targeted killing. In Europe however, the focus
is much more on whether the so-called “risk free” nature of drone warfare - at
least to your own forces - will simply lead to more armed conflict, as well as
an expansion of targeted killing and a lowering of global security in general.
. Behind the scenes, the drone lobby is trying
to persuade European governments to ignore the public anxiety and commit to
armed unmanned systems. Their strategically placed Op-Eds extol the economic
virtue of developing armed drones and of not being “left behind”. At the same
time, NATO and European Union officials are urging European countries to
increase spending on drones. US military companies are actively trying to amend
international treaties in order to export armed drone technology to Europe. And
senior arms company executives are directly lobbying European governments to
commit to developing and building a future European armed drone. Already
European military companies are devoting much effort and resources towards
future combat drones.
As US and European combat forces withdraw from
Afghanistan over the next 12 months , the war over drones in Europe is likely
to get more intense. The drone lobby will try to clinch deals citing that a
war-weary public is unlikely to support putting “‘boots on the ground”’ anytime
soon and will therefore support remotely controlled warfare. Skeptics will be
demanding more transparency and information about exactly how drones have been
used in Afghanistan - including proper casualty data - in order to assess the
professed “pin point” accuracy of armed drone strikes and make informed
decisions about future use. [Abridged]
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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/26
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