January 4, 2008: In the course of 2007,
the U.S. Air Force doubled its use of UAVs in Iraq, especially the Predator and
Reaper. At the start of the year, these UAVs averaged half a dozen sorties a
day. But the end of the year, that was up to 18. The army used its Raven
micro-UAVs twice as much. During the peak months of the surge battles, the
Ravens, and the less numerous (and much larger) Shadow 200s, averaged over a
thousand hours in the air each day. Thus while the number of combat troops
increased by a third, the use of UAVs doubled.
Ground commanders, down to the company
level, have come to depend on having a UAV overhead, showing them a birds eye
view of the battlefield. This has changed warfare in a fundamental way, because
never before have so many combat commanders had this capability on a regular
basis.
The air force has also been flying
ambush missions with armed Predators. If the UAVs spot the enemy on the ground
setting up a roadside bomb or firing a mortar, a Hellfire missile quickly puts
an end to that hostile activity. As this happened with increasing frequency,
many Sunni Arab nationalists (trying to regain control of the country), became
discouraged, and this was one reason why many of them switched sides in the
course of the year.
