Revealed: 64 Predator, Reaper, Shadow, Raven & Wasp Drone Bases on American Soil
Even though bombs are fired from drones in the Arab world almost daily, Americans aren’t really paying attention. To most, drones are something “over there”, a mechanism for murdering people a day’s plane ride away.
However, the discovery of 64 drone bases on American soil may go a long way in changing the minds of Americans about our drone war.
From Wired magazine:
There are 64 drone bases on American soil. That includes 12 locations housing Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed.
Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information, released a map of military UAV activities in the United States on Tuesday. Assembled from military sources — especially this little-known June 2011 Air Force presentation (.pdf) – it is arguably the most comprehensive map so far of the spread of the Pentagon’s unmanned fleet. What exact missions are performed at those locations, however, is not clear. Some bases might be used as remote cockpits to control the robotic aircraft overseas, some for drone pilot training. Others may also serve as imagery analysis depots.
The medium-size Shadow is used in 22 bases, the smaller Raven in 20 and the miniature Wasp in 11. California and Texas lead the pack, with 10 and six sites, respectively, and there are also 22 planned locations for future bases.
And as the crashing of one drone in Maryland already revealed, drones aren’t just patrolling Middle Eastern skies. They’re also high above, surveilling American skies.
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