 |
| US Drone |
Towards eradicating terrorism in our country, the US military is currently
flying surveillance drones as well as manned aircraft over Nigeria to help in
the search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist extremists, the
Pentagon said Wednesday.
SHOWBIZPLUSng checks revealed that the United States has deployed the
robotic Global Hawk, which flies at a high altitude, and the manned MC-12, a
turboprop plane heavily used in Afghanistan, for the mission, a defense
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
The Pentagon had initially declined to say publicly if drones were being
used but acknowledged on Wednesday the robotic aircraft were involved in the
hunt to find the girls.
“I can confirm that we’re using both manned and unmanned aerial ISR
(intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets in the search for the
kidnapped girls,” Colonel Steven Warren told reporters, without identifying the
plane models.
Both types of aircraft that were deployed are “unarmed” and are being
used strictly for surveillance to help track the location of the missing
schoolgirls, he added.
The unmanned Global Hawk, designed to succeed the U-2 spy plane, can
survey a vast area of about 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) in
a day with its sophisticated radar and sensors.
Data from the spy planes is not yet being shared with the Nigerians,
however, as Washington was still working out an agreement to govern the sharing
of intelligence, Warren said.
The Americans insist on precise protocols on how intelligence can be
passed on to other countries, fearing that sensitive information could fall
into an adversary’s hands.
The commander of US forces in Africa, General David Rodriguez, paid a
two-day visit to Nigeria this week to discuss how Washington can aid the
government in the kidnapping crisis, including an accord on intelligence
sharing.
Boko Haram extremists abducted 276 girls from the remote northeastern
town of Chibok in Borno state on April 14, and some 223 are still missing.
The militants on Monday released a new video purporting to show some of
the girls.
AFP -
No comments:
Post a Comment