American drones in Pakistan’s borderlands

... support. Limited Efficacy The key problem of combat drones application is a high probability of error in selecting the target of an attack. For instance, it’s not always possible to tell a nomadic Pashto encampment from a terrorist camp in Northern Pakistan through air surveillance. At that, in a number of instances the in-flight view from an UAV is inferior to that of a manned aircraft, which enhances the likelihood of tragic and dangerous errors. Let us remind the reader that in April 2011 an USAF drone operator’s mistake resulted in the death of American military. However, a manned aircraft is not immune to such errors either. In November 2011 an erroneous attack of NATO helicopters destroyed a Pakistani military checkpoint killing 25....