February 17, 2015

Obama To Sell Armed Drones To More Countries

Featuring: Michael Horowitz, and Paul Scharre

The State Department on Tuesday announced that the United States would be expanding the sale of armed unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to carefully selected allied countries. The announcement suggests that strategic partners – especially in the Middle East — could acquire American-made armed drones before the year is out. Some of those could go toward the international campaign against the Islamic State, or ISIS.

Battlefield commanders and the intelligence community are hungry for large, armed drones as they could loiter over targets for hours. The footage captured by high-powered cameras attached to these unmanned aircraft has been critical in determining the locations for airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, U.S.officials say.

read the full article at Defense One.

Authors

  • Michael Horowitz

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology and National Security Program

    Michael C. Hororwitz is a former Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS. He is currently the Director of Emerging Capabilities Policy Of...

  • Paul Scharre

    Executive Vice President and Director of Studies

    Paul Scharre is the executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He is the award-winning author of Four Battlegrounds: Po...