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New Year Brings More Remote Control Warfare

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A student pilot and sensor operator man the controls of a MQ-9 Reaper in a ground-based cockpit during a training mission flown from Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, in June. (AP/TSgt Ricky Best, Defense Department)
A student pilot and sensor operator man the controls of a MQ-9 Reaper in a ground-based cockpit during a training mission flown from Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, in June. (AP/TSgt Ricky Best, Defense Department)

The CIA has escalated the number of drone strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of the year, and the British newspaper The Guardian has reported that Britain wants to double the number of drones it is using in the region.

The escalation comes as the draw down of NATO troops approaches, with most combat forces due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The BBC's Chris Vallance spoke to three British veterans, including a former drone pilot, about this remote control warfare.

This segment aired on January 18, 2013.

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