US offers ‘unarmed’ UAV’s to Pak to help in fight against terror

ISLAMABAD - The United States has said that it is ready to provide a couple of intelligence gathering equipments to Pakistan to help in its anti-terror efforts, however, it would not be available for free.

Talking to media persons at the US Embassy here, visiting US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Michele Fluornoy said that the Obama administration has offered Islamabad two intelligence systems- unmanned and unarmed aerial vehicle (UAV) and Scan Eagles, and that a final decision to make a choice rests with the country’s military.

The visiting official said the US has given details of both the equipments and the cost to the Pakistan military.

“We have offered them two. One is called Shadow and the other is called Scan Eagles. One is typical UAV system which will provide intelligence to Pakistan security operations in their operations,” The News quoted Fluornoy, as saying.

The Scan Eagle system is designed for autonomous field operation. It carries a payload of 6 kilograms, and can be operated from a height of 5,000 metres. It can be launched and retrieved over any terrain, and can also be used for naval operations.

The Shadow drones, which fly at a low altitude and are basically used for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, are used by the US forces for training operations of bigger and armed drones such as Reaper and Predator.

Responding to a question, Flournoy strongly refuted observations that the US forces were losing the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

“No sir, you are badly mistaken. Neither are we losing nor is July 2011 set for the forces to pack their bags. We are not going anywhere. Rather, this is just the beginning of a process to evaluate our strategy in Afghanistan. We remain committed to this region and will stick to Pakistan and Afghanistan,” she said. (ANI)