Pentagon to add more drone flights by 2019: media

The Pentagon plans to widen its overseas drone operations over the next four years to meet its increasing needs of surveillance and intelligence harvesting, the U.S. daily the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Citing its exclusive source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Journal said the Pentagon plans to increase by 50 percent the number of its daily drone flights by 2019, increasing from 61 now to 90, the first significant increase in the U.S. drone program since 2011.

The Air Force now flies the majority of the U.S. drone flights, but the new plan would incorporate the Army and Special Operations Command and government contractors into the operations, said the Journal.

Respectively, the Air Force would continue flying 60 drone flights a day by 2019, and the Army would contribute as many as 16 and the military's Special Forces Command would launch as many as four. In addition, government contractors would also be hired to fly older Predator drones on 10 flights a day, the Journal said.

The Pentagon did not have immediate cost estimates for the plan. Meanwhile, among the planned 90 drone flights a day by 2019, the Pentagon plans to grow its capacity for lethal airstrikes, said the Journal.

Targeted killings conducted by U.S. drones, initiated in the wake of 9/11 terrorist attacks by former U.S. President George W. Bush, continues to be one of the Obama administration's trump cards.

According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), a British non-profit, the Obama administration conducted its first drone strikes shortly after Obama began its presidency in 2009. Although there were reports of alleged "militants" killed, said the group, at least 14 civilians were also killed that day.

Since the U.S. government keeps almost all information relevant to its drone attacks classified, the number of civilian casualties was unknown to the public.

Despite the secrecy that shrouds the U.S. drone program, BIJ estimated, after confirming with local media, that in Pakistan alone, between 423 and 962 civilians, including 172 to 207 children, have been killed. Enditem