War Theater and U.S. Border Drones Are Falling from the Sky More Often

At least 39 drones have crashed in Iraq and Afghanistan and nine in the United States, U.S. military officials say. The Air Force said the number of crashes involving Predator and Reaper drones has been going up because more of them are being used, the Los Angeles Times reported. The accident rate has been declining, however. Investigators blame the crash rate partly on a rush to get the drones into use after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While the Air Force had been using unarmed drones for several years, giving them the capacity for airstrikes was new. “It was never designed to go to war when it did,” said a lieutenant colonel the Air Force Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force. Some of the electronics allowing ground operators to communicate with the drones was cobbled together in the early days of drone usage, with purchases from retail electronics stores. One drone crashed because it ran out of fuel and another because an operator confused two switches.