EU/Congo: Belgian "drone" crashes in Congo
01 May 2006
A Belgian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV or drone) Eagle B. Hunter (BH285) crashed at Kingabwa, near Kinshasa, Congo on 28 July, setting a house ablaze and injuring five people. The UAV was deployed to Kinshasa in support of the 2,000-strong European Union Military Force (EUFOR) based in Congo and Gabon to back up a 17,000 strong UN peacekeeping force deployed across the Congo. The drone was on its maiden flight and a EUFOR press release said that it was "intended to take photographs and is not armed." The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Eagle B. Hunter system was only declared operational by the Belgian force in July 2004, after being tested over territorial waters in 2003 and 2004 by the 80 UAV Squadron. The Belgian government originally purchased three UAV systems from IAI in 1998 in a contract involving Alcatel Etca SA, Alcatel Bell Space & Defense NV, SAIT Systems SA, Sonica SA and IAI's MALAT Division. IAI describes the upgraded drone, which is based on the Hunter systems used by the US and French armies, thus:
The principal upgraded capabilities of the B-Hunter are full automated takeoff and landing, advanced ground control station and advanced avionics. These advancements were based on lessons learned from the US Army's successful operation of their Hunter UAV systems and are applicable to the US Army's Hunter fleet.
While the Belgian Kinshasa drone may have been used for surveillance purposes, the USA has recently used Preditor AUVs - in flagrant breach of international law - to assassinate terrorist suspects in the Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They have also been deployed by the Israeli's in support of their invasion of the Lebanon.
In his pamphlet
Arming Big Brother: The EU's Security Research Programme Ben Hayes draws attention to other European projects involving UAVs including the EU's "Border Surveillance by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" programme which seeks to "understand the problems posed by various types of borders and to define realistic UAV based systems that would answer those problems" and the MARIUS project, a helicopter based command post designed to monitor "crisis management operations" (pp. 30-31). The planned civilian use of unmanned drones at airports in the USA has been criticised by aviation safety campaigners, who argue that they are a risk to the safety of other planes, passengers on the ground and people living near the airports. Last May a US Border Patrol Preditor crashed in Arizona prompting representatives of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to express their concern, arguing that the drones should not be allowed to operate "until they are certified to the same level of safety as unmanned craft." According to a report to the US Congress in 2005 the UAV accident rate is 100 times higher than that of manned aircraft.
Ben Hayes "Arming Big Brother" (Statewatch/Transnational Institute) 2006; New Scientist 27.6.05; European Observer 31.7.06; Reuters 29.7.06