US Air Base In Germany Plays Key Role In Global Drone War: Report

Berlin, April 6, IRNA -- A US air force base in southwestern Germany is playing a central role in Washingtonˈs highly controversial global drone warfare, German media reports said Saturday. According to German NDR public television network and the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, a satellite link located at Ramstein air base plays a key role in American drone attacks on targets throughout the world, notably Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. The report was based on statements by former drone operator Brandon Bryant who said the US military would not be able to conduct a global drone war without Germany. The Ramstein satellite facility provides the vital link between the US drone pilot, who operates from a base in the United States, with the drone itself in global missions, 27-year-old Bryant added. During his six years as a US air force drone sensor operator, Bryant helped kill, by his estimation, 1,626 people in combat, mostly from bases inside the US, thousands of kilometers away from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest revelations have become an embarrassment for the German government which has vowed to ˈseriouslyˈ follow up the case. While unmanned weapons systems are quickly becoming an indispensable aspect of modern warfare, their use raises also ethical questions which Germany has just started to address./end