Pentagon plans to increase drone flights by 50 percent

The Pentagon plans tends dramatically increase the quantity of United states.S. drone plane journies within the next spending four years, supplying military services commanders admission to more intellect and bigger weapons to follow a growing wide range of worldwide warm sites, a chief excuse endorsed said. That program, which has expanded massively under President Barack Obama, is the subject of frequent criticism from observers who say the highly secretive drone raids have killed many innocent civilians.

The plan to expand flights of drones like the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper comes despite recent warnings from a senior Air Force commander that the drone fleet and its operators were being stretched to the breaking point.

The plan, as explained by the Pentagon official, will expand drone use in locations including Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, North Africa and the South China Sea.

Earlier this year Defense Secretary Ash Carter agreed to let the Air Force reduce its drone flights from 65 to 60 a day by October, after pilots were thought to be overworked.

The US drone program has recently come under fire by investigative journalists and human rights advocates, claiming that drone strikes kill far more than their intended targets.

The Air Force now flies most of the U.S. drone flights, including secret missions for the Central Intelligence Agency in Pakistan and Yemen.

The expansion would also increase the Military’s ability to conduct lethal airstrikes, The Wall Street Journal reports.

No information was immediately available about how much increasing the number of daily flights would cost, Davis said.