The U.S. drone program under President Barack Obama reached its fifth anniversary on Thursday having tallied up an estimated death toll of at least 2,400 people. As the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a U.K.-based non-profit, details on its website, five years ago the CIA conducted the first drone strikes of the Obama presidency. Although there were reports of suspected "militants" killed, at least 14 civilians also died that day. After those initial mistakes, TBIJ notes, Obama rapidly ramped up the drone program in Pakistan and increased its use in Yemen and Somalia, two countries where al Qaeda affiliates expanded their presence during Obama's presidency. Obama recently told The New Yorker that he "wrestle[s]" with civilian casualties. But, he said, he has "a solemn duty and responsibility to keep the American people safe. That’s my most important obligation as President and Commander-in-Chief. And there are individuals and groups out there that are intent on killing Americans -- killing American civilians, killing American children, blowing up American planes."

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a pair of reports in October fiercely criticizing the secrecy that shrouds the administration's drone program, and calling for investigations into the deaths of drone victims with no apparent connection to terrorism. In Pakistan alone, TBIJ estimates, between 416 and 951 civilians, including 168 to 200 children, have been killed. Critics of the drone program generally acknowledge that most of the people killed in Pakistan were likely members of terrorist groups. But that has not pleased Pakistanis: Hakimullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban leader, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians, but his death by drone in November prompted a wave of popular outrage over the incursion on national sovereignty. The administration cut the number of drone strikes in Pakistan considerably after a May 2012 speech in which Obama promised tighter rules and greater transparency for the program. But America's drones keep flying.

A December strike in Yemen -- reportedly conducted by the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command, not the CIA -- killed 12 civilians. The drone war is under increasing scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad. A September U.N. report warned that drone warfare has the potential to greatly undermine global stability. And in October, for the first time, Congress heard firsthand accounts from the victims of an apparently botched drone strike. But lawmakers do not seem to be listening: Earlier this month, an omnibus bill blocked Obama's plans to transfer control for the drone program from the CIA to the Pentagon, which would have been a modest step toward changing the program.With Help of CHINA. On November 25, 2013, Pakistan’s ISPR announced that the Pakistan Army and PAF had inducted the first batch of ‘indigenously developed’ strategic UAVs, namely the Burraq and Shahpar UAV Systems, into the Pakistan Army and PAF. It was claimed that the Burraq has been developed by Pakistan's state-owned NESCOM.

However, a closer examination of the photo of the Burraq released by the ISPR clearlyproves the fact that it is merely a NESCOM-assembled CH-3, which has been developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) and AVIC Defense as a multi-purpose medium-range UAV system suitable for battlefield reconnaissance, artillery fire adjustment, data relay and electronic warfare. The CH-3 can be armed with twin laser-guided AR-1 anti-armour missiles, has a cruising speed of 220kph, 12-hour maximum endurance, and a 200km line-of-sight communications radius.parrot drone 2 alternativeChinese CH-3 Drone:Pakistani  Burraq NESCOM which is same as Chinese CH-3News Compilation From Various Sources:Neil Gibson, a weapons analyst with IHS Jane’s, said that despite the claims of Pakistani manufacture, “close analysis of imagery released by Pakistan suggests at least a heavy debt to Chinese systems”. parrot ar drone blades

The Burraq, he added, “strongly resembles” China’s CH-3 UAV.Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), said China must have helped Pakistan if it did indeed produce a UAV that goes beyond basic reconnaissance."Developing a drone with armed capability is much more difficult than just a reconnaissance one because the reconnaissance one can be built with very basic technology, but integrating weapons is a different level,” he said. ar drone 2 thailand“Either it is a Chinese UAV or based on Chinese technology.”ar drone 2 opencvPakistan said in March that Burraq, which was named after a flying steed ridden by the Prophet Muhammad, was developed indigenously. black ops 2 quad drone

Many analysts, however, say it appears to be based on the CH-3 drone developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp."They definitely had help from the Chinese," said Elizabeth Quintana, director of military sciences at the London-based Royal United Services Institute."The two programs are very closely linked, if not identical," said James Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.Major General Asim Bajwa, a Pakistan military spokesman, didn't answer three calls to his mobile phone seeking further details on the development of the drone. parrot ar drone gopro hdQuestions that were faxed and emailed to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. received no reply. parrot ar drone gopro hdChina's foreign ministry also didn't reply to faxed questions.The U.S. and China are the only two nations known to have exported armed drones, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Last month, China announced it would begin restricting exports of certain "high performance" drones over concerns they could compromise national security, Xinhua reported on Aug. 2."

China's drone technology has reached an advanced level," said Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, who specializes in Chinese military and diplomacy. It's possible that China exported the drone to close allies like Pakistan before the ban came into effect, he said.China has often modified weapons specially for Pakistan, including missiles, the Al Khalid tank and the K-8 light combat aircraft, said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Burraq may be another example."They look very, very similar," he said. "We're currently treating it as a transfer from China with a 'developed in Pakistan' stamp and a Pakistani name." China supported, designed or supplied Pakistan's first indigenous drone, claim analysts  - The Express Tribune Pakistan Joins Exclusive Drone-Warfare Club, With Nod to China The first thing I realised when I read  about the NESCOM Burraq is that the UCAV is not intended for India.

Pakistan is now waging a hectic and controversial battle called Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the North Waziristan and other regions of FATA, where the terrain doesn't allow  for the boots on ground to comb easily,  intended to flush out out the terrorists such as the TTP,  Haqqani network and Al Qaeda. Such prolonged battle is known to  morally weaken the troops and sap their energy.This  is where the drones will come in. If you are an army general and you need to minimize casualties in battle and at the same time flush out the enemies holed up in a terrain  that can be easily monitored  aerially, what would you do? You would try to bring in UCAV drones.These drones can be controlled by some trained pilot sitting in the comfort of some container or office of the Pakistan Air Force bases, hundreds of kilometer away from the combat zone.   General Raheel Sharief viewing the testing of the BurraqIn conjunction with the forces on ground, the army can use the force multiplier effect of the drones to its advantage .

This same logic and reasoning is used by the US Military. They  routinely attack various targets by doing the same and by doing this the death toll that could have seen if they had sent in soldiers is now significantly reduced. Pakistan Army has faced flak from the civil society, especially after the Peshawar  shooting, because of the high number of casualties faced by the army in its various operations in such  regions bordering the Afghan border. By using the drones Pakistan can indeed bring down the death toll and making sure the army no longer face the strong criticism from the media and the people.Why can't this drone be used against India?Most drones, including the Burraq drone, can be indeed detected by both air and ground based radar systems. Could a UAV be detected on standard aircraft radar?If Pakistan uses these drones against India, the Indian military will easily catch the drones enter our airspace and can  bring down those drones by using anti-aircraft guns or by scrambling fighter jets to intercept it.

So Indians can rest assured the drone is therefore not intended for striking targets in India. Why doesn't India prioritise the creation of a  similar UCAV drone?The military's priorities are entirely different.The  regions where we fight such terrorists or insurgents are in areas that are  heavily forested, such as Naxal areas,  that makes it nearly impossible for the military to pinpoint targets by using aerial surveillance. With our limited budget, we need to actually pump money to increase the no. of aircraft squadrons, raise the Mountain Crops and get new submarines. So it is okay for India to not get into some weird and unnecessary drone race."However, a closer examination of the photo of the Burraq released by the ISPR clearly proves the fact that it is merely a NESCOM-assembled CH-3, which has been developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) and AVIC Defense as a multi-purpose medium-range UAV system suitable for battlefield reconnaissance, artillery fire adjustment, data relay and electronic warfare.

The CH-3 can be armed with twin laser-guided AR-1 anti-Armour missiles, has a cruising speed of 220kph, 12-hour maximum endurance, and a 200km line-of-sight communications radius."So, there you go,... the drones are nothing but a mere copy of of an existing chinese drones.. please don't expect a country which cannot even manufacture  a 100cc engine to develop a drone.Fig: CH3 drone imageFig: Old image of CH3 undergoing flight testing in ~2005Fig: Indigenously developed(Paint-jobbed) drone BURRAQPakistan in fact doesn’t have any domestic UCAV program to speak of. The ones that you see are lightly armed, limited endurance UAV’s imported/license assembled from China, as others have answered. Do you know why? UCAV’s are forbidden under MTCR. China being non signatory hence is the only source of drones for Pakistan. ing to India, what out for future:In near future, watch out for Rustom 2 and its various variantsIn future watch out for DRDO’s stealthy UCAV:The approach India should take is capture these UAVs, dismantle them, reverse engineer, scan the parts and digitally print or replicate them and return the UAVs back to the neighbouring countries.