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By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - After six suspected al Qaeda members were killed in Yemen by a missile said to have been fired from a U.S. drone, defense experts believe spies could take over the lead role from soldiers in the worldwide war on terror.

An official told Reuters in Washington that a Central Intelligence Agency drone carried out Sunday's attack. Yemen has said it is investigating the cause of the blast.

Clifford Beal, editor of the respected Jane's Defense Weekly, told Reuters in London: "To have a drone that engages and kills people -- that is quite a threshold to cross. This is the beginning of robotic warfare."

"There is underlying tension in the military about using it. The CIA does not have any qualms. This is really the first success story of this system," Beal said.

He said the human factor was still involved in this operation, with a man looking at a TV screen and going through a series of command sequences to press the button.

"The next step is when you have the authority to kill given directly to the robotic vehicle. These drones could be programmed to have a particular target set in their computers."

The dead in Yemen were said to have included Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, also known as Abu Ali, a key suspect in the attack on the U.S. warship Cole two years ago that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

"It doesn't seem they were given the opportunity to surrender. They were taken out Israeli-style," Beal said.

"The Israelis have been using manned helicopters and the Hellfire missile to do the same job. Here you have the Americans doing the same thing but using drones."

The CIA has previously used remote control "Predator" drones to fire missiles at suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.        

CIA ADMISSION

The long-range, unmanned aircraft is able to loiter over a target for 24 hours, providing still photographs or video footage that can be transmitted within six seconds.

It is capable of reading traffic signs from 2.8 miles away and has been armed with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles.

What intrigued defense experts about Sunday's attack was the admission that it was a CIA and not a military drone.

"It is fascinating that the CIA stood up to be counted," said Andrew Brookes, aerospace specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"The conventional military has to stop being so prissy and roll its sleeves up," he told Reuters. "We are going to see resources and responsibilities reallocated. The military will be almost marginalized if they don't take part."

Brookes said the might of tanks and fighter aircraft was of little use in a war against terror where the enemy never took to the open battlefield.

"The military has got to stop pretending it can fight with pre 9/11 thinking and weapons," he said, referring to the suicide hijacking attacks on the United States on Sept. 11 last year.

Martin Edmonds, director of the Center for Defense and International Security Studies, said: "Intelligence services have always had the lead in UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

"The Israelis extensively used UAVs. The Americans picked up on this in the Gulf War and certainly quite extensively in Bosnia.

"What is such a big surprise is that instead of using them for reconnaissance purposes, they have now armed them and been able to use them for attack purposes," Edmonds said.
 
11/05/02 09:39 ET
   
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Drones Such as This Blasted the Yemen Terrorists