The
United States military continues to expand development of its
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) fleet, with several allied nations
also seeking U.S. UAV technology.
U.S. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates confirmed there has been interest from Britain, Canada,
Spain, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and other nations. The
U.S. already has expressed interest in sharing certain UAV
technologies with Pakistan.
There is still serious concern
that shared UAV material -- including used UAV drones -- could be
stolen or given to Iran, North Korea, and
terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, security experts
have warned in the past.
The U.S. continues to expand its use
of UAVs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as other countries look to use
UAVs for several different purposes that range from attacks and
reconnaissance, security, and climate research.
Iran
currently has
a UAV program that concerns western security experts, though
the real world threat of these UAVs still is unknown.
Iran
currently has an active UAV program that continues to concern western
security experts, even though the U.S. military should have little
trouble fending off Iranian-made drones. As noted earlier,
there is a more serious problem that Iran could begin to sell its
drones to insurgents fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Gates
also recently noted Iran and other countries developing UAVs “could
create difficulties” for the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan.
