UK Royal Airforce flying UAV's from American soil

[OctoberCat]

Looks like we're letting the Royal Airforce UAV coward "pilots" kill people from a comfy seat at Creech airforce base in Nevada, USA. A cross reference of the on-screen coordinates places this Reaper UAV in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. This isn't meant to insult the Brits, but to just illustrate that the cowards are dropping bombs from our airbases in the states too, so the next time you feel compelled to rag on the USAF make sure to include the RAF, too. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that we have Chinese / Russian "pilots" ready to fly the reapers over the UNited states in operations against the citizens.... after all, they wouldn't hesitate to 'hit' US citizens.

Last year the University of North Dakota launched the world's first unmanned air vehicle (UAV) piloting degree course. It's a four year course leading to a bachelors degree in  "Unmanned Air System Operations".

Jeffrey Kappenman, head of UND's unmanned aircraft centre, says: "Primarily the market is still military, but a lot of that is shifting over time. It's going to be a huge market in the future."

Source: flightglobal.com


Where's this UAV operating? Here, a UK Royal Air Force pilot is controlling a General Atomics Reaper UAV from his "cockpit" at Creech AFB, Nevada (Picture: UK Crown Copyright)

[OctoberCat]

Are we allowing this to occur under NATO or UN policy?

This is just short of being the New World Military... and I hate knowing that we have been used as the disposable enforcement apparatus for its implementation.

[Dig]

This is insanity

[Tsul777]

Are we allowing this to occur under NATO or UN policy?

This is just short of being the New World Military... and I hate knowing that we have been used as the disposable enforcement apparatus for its implementation.

They're not allowed to fly them in Britain for training purposes and I take it this is some sort of joint-force training. They all interact these days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6055742/Military-spy-drones-not-licensed-for-training-in-Britain.html
Military spy drones not licensed for training in Britain
British forces deploying to Afghanistan cannot train using aerial surveillance drones because the aircraft are not licensed to fly in the UK, the Ministry of Defence has said.

[OctoberCat]

They're not allowed to fly them in Britain for training purposes and I take it this is some sort of joint-force training. They all interact these days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6055742/Military-spy-drones-not-licensed-for-training-in-Britain.html
Military spy drones not licensed for training in Britain
British forces deploying to Afghanistan cannot train using aerial surveillance drones because the aircraft are not licensed to fly in the UK, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Hey thanks for the link... that's an interesting (and politically convenient) policy.

The drone is in the sandbox however, not UK airspace, so according to the article: “In the UK we cannot train using Reaper, the big UAV, or Hermes 450 because they are not licensed to fly in UK airspace currently” shoots down your joint-training theory (sorry about that pun). The photo shows the drone near Qandahar. Perhaps the Brit policy will elude more to this question- such as a jurisdictional problem based on the location of the pilot, but that wouldn't make sense.

[Tsul777]

Hey thanks for the link... that's an interesting (and politically convenient) policy.

The drone is in the sandbox however, not UK airspace, so according to the article: “In the UK we cannot train using Reaper, the big UAV, or Hermes 450 because they are not licensed to fly in UK airspace currently” shoots down your joint-training theory (sorry about that pun). The photo shows the drone near Qandahar. Perhaps the Brit policy will elude more to this question- such as a jurisdictional problem based on the location of the pilot, but that wouldn't make sense.

No doubt it's a picture of the sands of 'Stan but my point was that these guys train and interoperate all the time. Exchange programs and the like. British and Canadian officers embedded with American units in all branches. Especially the Airforce. Not to piss on your parade of course! 

[OctoberCat]

****SOLVED****

It's not training, unfortunately. It a permanent part of TPTB military alliance with the UK.

Specifically, they are called the "Reaper MQ-9 RAF 39th Sqn."  operated from Creech
AFB USA.

Here's proof from the RAF's own web site on an internal flyer in PDF form. Look on page Two at the end of the first paragraph under heading ISR: http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/E9C3324B_5056_A318_A8C3E7CD8C2BF00B.pdf

I wonder who else we have killing brown people in the name of the USA (besides the American sheeple) stationed here. One could debate national security on this, but meh, the sheep are busy grazing on NFL and paying bills to keep the lights on.

No doubt it's a picture of the sands of 'Stan but my point was that these guys train and interoperate all the time.

Agreed!

[usefulidiot,uselesseater]

Last year the University of North Dakota launched the world's first unmanned air vehicle (UAV) piloting degree course. It's a four year course leading to a bachelors degree in  "Unmanned Air System Operations".

Jeffrey Kappenman, head of UND's unmanned aircraft centre, says: "Primarily the market is still military, but a lot of that is shifting over time. It's going to be a huge market in the future[/color]." 

  The Educational Industrial Complex has found a new worthless degree to sell the sheeple. Now they can find personnel to man all those domestic UN surveillance drones of the future. 

[Dig]

Last year the University of North Dakota launched the world's first unmanned air vehicle (UAV) piloting degree course. It's a four year course leading to a bachelors degree in  "Unmanned Air System Operations".

Jeffrey Kappenman, head of UND's unmanned aircraft centre, says: "Primarily the market is still military, but a lot of that is shifting over time. It's going to be a huge market in the future."

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/learmount/2010/03/think-there-are-loads-of.html

[OctoberCat]

Thanks for fixing my source link.

[agentbluescreen]

****SOLVED****

It's not training, unfortunately. It a permanent part of TPTB military alliance with the UK.

Specifically, they are called the "Reaper MQ-9 RAF 39th Sqn."  operated from Creech
AFB USA.

Here's proof from the RAF's own web site on an internal flyer in PDF form. Look on page Two at the end of the first paragraph under heading ISR: http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/E9C3324B_5056_A318_A8C3E7CD8C2BF00B.pdf

I wonder who else we have killing brown people in the name of the USA (besides the American sheeple) stationed here. One could debate national security on this, but meh, the sheep are busy grazing on NFL and paying bills to keep the lights on.

Agreed!

Odd how these armed assault vehicles are spoken of as unmanned, when in fact a human (killer) is still in actual fact responsible for operating them. This would be like calling a machine gun turret (on your plane or battleship) an "unmanned assault weapon".

What they really mean here is "cowardly remote controlled". Let's hope they don't really eventually evolve into truly "unmanned" operation.