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British military to double its armed drone fleet in Afghanistan; pilots to fly them from UK
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/british-military-to-double-its-armed-drone-fleet-in-afghanistan-pilots-to-fly-them-from-uk/2012/10/22/1b6072d2-1cbc-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.htmlBritish military to double its armed drone fleet in Afghanistan; pilots to fly them from UK
By Associated Press, Published: October 22
LONDON — The British military says it is doubling the size of its armed drone fleet in Afghanistan to 10 with the purchase of a batch of new Reapers.
The Ministry of Defense said late Monday that five recently-purchased unmanned aerial vehicles would be remotely operated from the Royal Air Force base at Waddington, in central England.
Up until now Royal Air Force crews had operated the drones from the United States’ Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The Guardian newspaper, which first reported the news, said that the British pilots would gradually be moved to Waddington.
unhappycamper comment: A lowball estimate of what these bad boys cost is $36.8 million dollars ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-9_). Hellfire missiles are an extra $160 grand (each).
