© Isaac Brekken / Getty Images
An MQ-9 Reaper drone during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nev., on Nov. 17.
The Air Force has hired civilian defense contractors to fly MQ-9 Reaper drones to help track suspected militants and other targets in global hot spots, a previously undisclosed expansion in the privatization of once-exclusively military functions.
For the first time, civilian pilots and crews now operate what the Air Force calls "combat air patrols," daily round-the-clock flights above areas of military operations to provide video and collect other sensitive intelligence.
Contractors control two Reaper patrols a day, but the Air Force plans to expand that to 10 a day by 2019. Each patrol involves up to four drones.
Civilians are not allowed to pinpoint targets with lasers or fire missiles. They operate only Reapers that provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, known as ISR, said Air Force Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command.
"There are limitations on it," he said. The contractors "are not combatants."
Nonetheless, the contracts have generated controversy within the military.
Critics, including some military lawyers, contend that
civilians are now part of what the Air Force calls the "kill chain," a process that starts with surveillance and ends with a missile launch. That could violate laws barring civilians from taking part in armed conflict.
Comment: The irony is that the folks who perpetrate these attacks aren't Muslim. Some of the attackers were reported as white, mercenary-looking types. Another has a history of being a homosexual rent-boy pothead... it seems as if the anti-Muslim sentiment is being generated via the mainstream media's propaganda.