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DoD: Lack of UAVs allows insurgents free rein

WASHINGTON — Insurgents are operating more freely in Iraq because the Pentagon has been unable to fulfill urgent requests by U.S. field commanders for unmanned drone aircraft, military records and interviews show.

“The demand is huge because commanders no longer want pictures taken last week; they want streaming video with enough clarity and fidelity to anticipate the actions of the enemy,” said retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a military historian. “Thus, we are not even within 5 percent of what’s really needed.”

At the top of commanders’ lists is more video of enemy movements, says Dyke Weatherington, the Pentagon’s deputy director of unmanned warfare for the Pentagon. There’s a 300 percent annual increase in requests for full-motion video from the air, he says, a demand that outpaces the Pentagon’s traditional acquisition process.

“From the outside perspective, it may seem like the department isn’t moving fast enough to incorporate new technology,” Weatherington said. “But we pride ourselves, on what we deliver to the combat commander, he can use first day of the war.” The budget for drones has increased 1,200 percent since 2001, he said. “We’re using every tool in our toolbox, in some cases developing new tools, to meet that requirement.”

Yet the supply remains inadequate. A Pentagon presentation on drones last month showed that demand for video is more than four times the supply. The failure to meet the demand has led to more roadside bomb attacks, as insurgents have operated in the open without interference, military documents show.

An internal Marine report in January said insurgents, free from drone observation, have “prepared and executed attacks with relative impunity.”

That report echoed an urgent request in November 2006 from Marine commanders in Iraq for more video. Improvised explosive devices remain the top killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. Sunday, a roadside bomb killed four soldiers in Baghdad. Their deaths increased the U.S. death toll to at least 4,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

The Marine Corps responded in part to the November 2006 request by expanding a contract it had with a private company that provided surveillance with drones, Lt. Col. Christopher Patton said in an e-mail.

That’s not good enough, said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. Drones will become more important as U.S. troop levels decrease, forcing commanders to rely on unmanned systems to collect intelligence. Congress, Bond said, needs to prod the Pentagon “to end bureaucratic delays of lifesaving equipment.”

A House Armed Services Committee report in January flagged another obstacle: Each service develops different drones that are not compatible. The report urged the Pentagon to build systems that are compatible among the services.