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CNN Saturday Morning News

Drone Flies Over Kabul, Afghanistan

Aired October 06, 2001 - 08:10   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to shift our attention now back to that drone that we've been showing videotape of. Apparently, it appears again to be a drone flying the skies over Kabul, to Atlanta. Joie Chen watching this. Joie, again, good morning.

JOIE CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning. We haven't had confirmation about the type of aircraft involved -- it's important for us to note that -- or even who it belongs to.

But if it is a U.S. reconnaissance drone, there are two possible contenders. One is the Predator. Again, this is an unmanned aircraft. It operates up to 26,000 feet. It has onboard, in the nose of the aircraft a color video camera as well as other cameras onboard. It has infrared capability to look through clouds and haze, and work at night as well, another thing that makes it an effective tool.

It is a long endurance vehicle. It can stay aloft a full 24 hours. Now, that is also true of the other drone, the Global Hawk. It's the other unmanned aerial vehicle, the UAV, as it is known to the military. Drone is what most of us who are civilians will call it.

The Global Hawk is a high-altitude aircraft. That's the difference between the two of them, though. It operates at 50,000 to 60,000 feet.

What is useful with these long-endurance operations, is that they can keep watch on critical targets in motion. Say, if something is moving from one location to another. Now, again, we do not have confirmation about what kind of aircraft we've seen in those pictures from Al Jezeera this morning. But if it is a U.S. drone, Bill, these are the two contenders for it.

HEMMER: OK, Joie, thanks. At this time I also want to go back to Washington. Bring in John King, and John, certainly at this time, if you recall the air war of Yugoslavia, there were a number of drones also sent over Kosovo, the area of Belgrade, to conduct surveillance on the ground. And it is a primary way for the U.S. military, if indeed this is a drone, to conduct their surveillance from a very high altitude, without putting any man or woman in danger.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Especially if it is a drone. And, again, it is a big "if" at the moment. But if you're using a reconnaissance plane at such a low altitude that the Al Jezeera TV cameras could pick it up flying over Kabul, certainly having an unmanned aircraft offers you a great advantage.

And Pentagon officials have made no secret of the fact that they want to know more about the location of Taliban anti-aircraft batteries. Not only in advance of possible U.S. military strikes, but also, as we have been discussing, the President planning a massive humanitarian effort, some of it possibly dropped into the country by air-drop. They don't, obviously, want planes carrying humanitarian supplies over the country if those planes are at risk of being shot down.

We also know, just in recent days, from following the rhetoric of the President and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, their message increasingly to the Taliban is: We have issued this ultimatum over and over again. You must respond. You must turn over Mr. bin Laden, or time is running out.

So we know about the military buildup, we know about the urgent mission of Donald Rumsfeld to the region. He is now back, the Defense Secretary, and will brief the President today. So it is no surprise at all that the United States would be intensifying its intelligence gathering, if you will, on the positions of Taliban troops and other activity in the region.

But for now, the Pentagon's saying "no comment" about this. For more on those discussions, we can turn to Kathleen Koch over at the Pentagon, who has been trying to get the Pentagon to drop its policy of telling us very little about its activities in the region -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, clearly the Pentagon is not going to be making any changes in that policy anytime soon. We are still hearing no comment on the allegations that the anti-aircraft fire over Kabul was targeting some sort of U.S. aircraft.

At this point there are numerous possibilities that we have all been discussing. One possibility, that it was not any sort of U.S. aircraft at all, but perhaps something from the Northern Alliance, which operates out of Northern Afghanistan, and opposes the Taliban.

Another possibility, that this may have been one of the high- flying U2 spy planes that the United States operates. At this point those are operational, primarily over Iraq, for intelligence gathering purposes.

But it's highly unlikely that one of those was spotted in this case, because they fly at over 70,000 feet, and therefore are not really visible to the human eye.

Also, even if it was a U2 plane, it would not have been affected by the anti-aircraft fire, anti-aircraft fire being effective up to about 10,000 feet, sometimes reaching as high as 35,000. The U2 spy planes only would potentially be impacted by missile fire, and it has been reported that a SAM missile was targeted at this aircraft that was spotted over Kabul, but apparently was not struck. And, finally, the most likely option is what we've all been discussing all morning, is that it was one of these unmanned aerial vehicles, that do fly low and slow, and that the U.S. admitted a couple of weeks ago that they did have operational over Afghanistan, one of them going missing in Northern Afghanistan.

No admission from the Pentagon that that was actually shot down. But at this point the Pentagon is being very quiet about what's happening -- John.

KING: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. We'll continue to pursue any more information they might make available to us. And, Bill, we should also note, as we've heard from our correspondents in the region in recent days, Northern Alliance forces not terribly far from Kabul, the capital.

U.S. officials increasing their cooperation and their information-sharing with the Northern Alliance in recent days. We could check in with them as well, trying again as we are to find out exactly whose plane that was flying over Kabul this morning. Bill.

HEMMER: Indeed we will, John, thank you.

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