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CNN Live At Daybreak

Unmanned Planes Play Key Role in Afghanistan

Aired March 08, 2002 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Planes that operate without a pilot are playing a key role in the Afghanistan war and the so-called unmanned aerial vehicles may be used in the skies over Iraq in combat and surveillance duty.

Jeff Levine has more on their mission and potential.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF LEVINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They look like ungainly insects, and these high-tech aircraft can pack a deadly sting. The Pentagon calls them unmanned aerial vehicles. They are carrying out increasingly complex spy and combat missions without a pilot on board. First used over Bosnia in 1996, the robotic aircraft have also seen action in Kosovo, as well as Iraq. Some think they could also be back over Iraq again when the war in Afghanistan is over.

Meanwhile Predator, made by General Atomics and its big brother, Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk, have given a new dimension to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are airborne, flight number one.

LT. COL. DANIEL BOONE, U.S. AIR FORCE: Unmanned air vehicles are really a revolution in air power. You see them going from being observation aircraft to now we're doing ground attack.

LEVINE: The Pentagon provides few details about individual missions. But UAVs have been used to spot targets, then destroy them with Hellfire missiles or to call in airstrikes. Out of 65 Predators in the U.S. inventory, 22 have been lost either from accidents or hostile fire. Still UAVs aren't cheap.

A Predator runs about $4.5 million. It takes $50 million to get a Global Hawk off the ground. Clearly, the Pentagon is happy with the UAVs war record. It's asking for $2 billion in the current budget for researching and developing the planes.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The experience in Afghanistan showed the effectiveness of unmanned aircraft, but it also reveals how few we have and what their weaknesses are.

LEVINE: For now the UAVs capabilities include providing real- time video surveillance using a laser beam to mark a target for an air attack and UAVs even feature so-called synthetic aperture radar that enables them to see through smoke or clouds. The Predator, about the size of a small plane, is actually flown by instrument rated pilots at a ground control station. The craft has been used for both military and intelligence missions.

The Global Hawk's dolphin nose covers a jet as big as a 737. It flies strictly by computer in altitudes up to 65,000 feet for a day and a half. In the next decade, unmanned aerial vehicles will develop stealthy shells as they morph into unmanned combat aerial vehicles. This Boeing prototype could blast enemy radar or missile installations.

Still pilots will never become obsolete because someone has to decide when to pull the trigger. No drone would be allowed to determine life or death regardless of its artificial intelligence quotient, nor are UAVs likely to be suitable pilots for human cargo.

(on camera): Even though UAV technology is in its infancy, President Bush believes it's already proven the skeptics wrong. He says America needs more UAVs on land, in the air, and at sea.

Jeff Levine for CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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