Analysts working in the top-secret SCIF room (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) at McConnell air force base in Wichita. Photograph: Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Intelligence Wing
The Guardian: The kill chain: inside the unit that tracks targets for US drone wars
In a dimly lit room at McConnell air force base in south central Kansas, analysts from a national guard intelligence reconnaissance surveillance group watch live drone surveillance video coming from war zones in the Middle East.
During combat, the analysts become part of a “kill chain” – analyzing live drone video, then communicating what they see – in instant-message chat with jet fighter pilots, operators of armed Predator and Reaper drones, and ground troops.
They carry out drone warfare while sitting thousands of miles from battlefields. They don’t fly the drones and don’t fire the missiles. They video-stalk enemy combatants, and tell warfighters what they see. The work, they say, helps kill terrorists, including from Isis.
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WNU Editor: This is just the beginning. I can only imagine what this set-up will look like in 10, 20, or 50 years.
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