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Russia longs for Israeli Drones- By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
The Mosquito has a wingspan of 33 centimetres
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Though the Americans have popularized the dones by directing them agaisnt innocent Pakistanis recently, killing them on the spot, the use of dones has a long history and the colonizers have used them against the colonized aorund the world. Whether or not India kills Kashmiris with drones, Israel perhaps leads the nations that have employed them to kill Palestinians in targetted attacks.any countires are in queues for signing up for the Israeli drones now.
yWhat exactly has been going on in the globe behind the scenes among the world powers, one has no idea. By projecting the Arabs as real threat, not only Israel amassed weapons arsenals, including nukes, but Israel with the help of USA and its allies in the West and East has also advanced its military prowess in an amazing manner. But Israeli military technology has been acknowledged even by a virtual super Russia now.
American drones are killing innocent Pakistanis and Afghans. Russia has signed a deal to buy Israeli unmanned spy planes to help the country improve its own drones, reports say.
The news comes after reports that Moscow was unhappy with the performance of similar Russian aircraft during the conflict last year with Georgia. Georgia and Russia have been trading accusations over a reconnaissance plane which allegedly crashed in Georgia, killing two Georgian policemen. Rows about drones were a feature of rising tensions between Russia and Georgia that ended in war in August. During the conflict, Georgia's attempts to regain control of its breakaway region of South Ossetia were repelled by Russian forces.
An industry source in Israel said Russian generals had been impressed with the Israeli drones used by Georgia in the conflict. Reports say the Israeli planes will cost a total of $50m (£35m). Russia's deputy defence minister, Vladimir Popovkin, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the military had signed a contract to buy an unspecified number of pilotless drones. "I was in Israel and even operated one," RIA-Novosti quoted him as saying. The Kremlin sources say Russia wanted to study the technology of the drones in an effort to improve its own pilotless planes, which came under criticism during the Georgia conflict. Popovkin said Russia had used a Tipchak drone during the fighting with Georgia, but that it had "very many problems", RIA-Novosti reported. "You could hear it flying from 100km away. The chief of staff of Russia's armed forces said in December that Moscow was negotiating with Israel to buy a batch of spy drones.
The Israeli air force has often used larger unmanned spy planes to target Palestinian militants in air strikes. The new baby drones would give army forces in the field near instant access to aerial intelligence. The planes have already been supplied to some ground units. "We use them to take aerial photographs of the (Palestinian) territories," a military official said. The Israeli military is equipping its forces with a new range of spy drones small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack, the army said. The small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro UAVs were unveiled at a conference on low intensity conflict.
On display at the Tel Aviv conference were the Birdy and the Spy There mini-drones and two micro-drones, the Mosquito and the Mosquito 1.5. The models were developed by Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) engineering division. Birdy can be carried and launched by a single soldier, who guides the drone by clicking on coordinates on a laptop computer. It has a five-kilometre range (three miles), IAI said. The slightly larger Spy There is operated by a two man crew and has twice the range, IAI said. All the drones can fly for an hour while transmitting pictures back to their operators. The Mosquito 1 and Mosquito 1.5 micro-drones have a wingspan of 33 centimetres (13 inches). Their small size allows them to fly through windows and to provide images to military units behind it, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. The Mosquito has already completed several successful 40-minute trial flights, IAI said. The army currently rents the drones from IAI but has issued a contact offer to supply them with the small UAVs, the official told AP news agency.
Israel has been killing those it considers a threat to its security for decades but, in the past few years, the policy has been stepped up as part of the government's attempts to stop suicide attacks. Since the start of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000, dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have been killed. These "targeted killings," as they are known in Israel, were described by Israeli officials three years ago as "rare and exceptional" measures. But they have increased in regularity. Targets have included what the Israeli army refers to as the "ticking time bombs", the suicide bombers, as well as “militant” leaders who fight for a free Palestine such as Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin and less than a month later the group's Gaza chief, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi. The operations have involved either large Israeli military forces, small teams or individuals from the security forces or missile attacks from combat aircraft and helicopters.
Palestinian leaders said they would only honour a ceasefire agreement if Israel ended the killings. But Israeli officials said they reserved the right to target militants that they considered threats if the Palestinian security forces did not detain them or help prevent suicide attacks. The policy has provoked international criticism, particularly from the European Union, the UK and Arab nations. The US has criticized the policy as "unhelpful" to the peace effort but has not issued strong condemnations.
Human rights groups within Israel and abroad have often condemned the strikes, pointing out the high rate of civilian casualties and the legal question of carrying out what amounts to execution without trial. Israel, which has lost hundreds of civilians to suicide attacks, says the tactic is a legitimate because those killed by its security forces are directly involved in the planning and execution of attacks against Israeli citizens.
The use of air strikes has frequently resulted in the deaths of innocent bystanders. Israel's policy became one of the most divisive issues in the debate over a US-backed peace plan known as the road map. Israel is bold enough to say whatever they do in Palestine sis well within their legitimate rights. Israel does not care about international criticism of its terror and fascist actions in Palestine so long the USA renders its support, unsolicited or otherwise, and arms to Israel on security pretexts. Now with Russian endorsement, Israel under the extremist Jewish leaders ruling now might even consider its prerogative to complete the holocaust process in Palestine leaving none alive so that entire Palestine lands could be freely available for constructing Jewish settlements, now “legally” and live comfortably without any “security” threats.
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Yours Sincerely,
DR. ABDUL RUFF Colachal
Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India
South Asia.
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