The use of drones for both surveillance and assassination has been an extremely controversial issue with people evenly on both sides. The Obama presidency has been marred with the prolific use of drones both foreign and domestically, however it appears now that the German defense minister wants to follow in is footsteps. Reuters reports on the German support for using unmanned drones:
Germany, which used unmanned aircraft in warfare during World War Two, should deploy armed drones in its military, its defense minister said.
Buying arms has been a sensitive issue in Germany ever since World War Two, when Germany developed unmanned weapons and used them to bomb cities in Britain.
Germany has been using three leased Israeli Heron drones for surveillance in Afghanistan. The defense ministry is considering buying U.S. Predator B drones, which carry weapons and also have surveillance systems, for use from 2015.
Alternatively, it could buy the Heron successor model, the Heron TP, which is also armed. A decision is expected to be made in the autumn.
