US Military Wants Drones in South America, But Why?

Members from the Panamanian Public Security Force observe as U.S. Navy Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Jason Gates launches an Aqua Puma Unmanned Aerial Vehicle from the Amphibious Dock Landing Ship USS Oak Hill, October 2011. Photo: U.S. Navy

Flying, spying robots are addictive. Every military commander who has them wants more. Those who don't have them covet their colleagues' supply. And according to Air Force planning, they're about to go to the military's redheaded, drone-poor stepchild: the command overseeing South America.

That's according to Gen. Norton Schwartz, the outgoing Air Force chief of staff. As Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk drones start to leave the Afghanistan war behind, Schwartz told a Washington audience on Monday, they'll go to 'operational missions by previously underserved' regional commands ' Pacific Command and Southern Command, per National Defense magazine. While US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia have loaded up on drones, they've largely been left out of the unmanned escalation.

It's understandable for the drones to go to Pacific Command. The military has made it clear that Asia and the Pacific Ocean are where the action is for the foreseeable future. Drones assisted the Navy's 7th Fleet in tending to Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. A carrier-based strike drone is on its way. So is a giant drone that can spy on lots of Pacific activity all at once.

But South America? The list of obvious uses for drones by the US military in South America starts with spying on drug-runners ' and ends there. (In case you're wondering, US Southern Command doesn't have anything to do with Mexico and its cartel chaos; that's the province of US Northern Command.) And Predators and Reapers aren't just flying spies; they're armed with missiles and ready to kill you. With very specific and rare exceptions, this is not something the military does in South America.

The US Air Force punted comment to Southern Command, which didn't respond by deadline. But drone-watchers see some value to bringing the drones down south ' value that doesn't remotely extend to starting a whole new robotic war in Latin America.

'I have no problem if some of the excess multi-role drones are sent to SOUTHCOM, provided they are only dedicated to [spy] missions,' says Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations. 'There is no strategic rationale for the United States to be responding to the flow of drugs from Latin America with the tactical use of kinetic force against drug planes or boats you happen to be able to find.'

Drones aren't exactly new to US military operations in South America. The Navy's Fire Scout helicopter, for instance, gets launched from drug-hunting ships to search out traffickers ' or it did, before the Navy grounded them. But you can't launch a Predator, Reaper or the much-larger Global Hawk from a deck; and the Fire Scout is unarmed. (For now.)

If the military is trying to find other uses for drones after Afghanistan, Zenko has a few ideas. 'There's a loud demand from UN DPKO for these,' he says, referring to the United Nations bureau of peacekeeping operations. Several former Pentagon officials have mused about using spy drones as early warning systems for signs of humanitarian emergencies. The UN peacekeeping force keeping watch on the new nation of Southern Sudan has '3,800 troops deployed right now for an [area] of 2,100 kilometers, with poor roads that wash out in the rainy season,' Zenko says. 'The deployment of these [spy] capabilities, and associated logistics and training infrastructure, would make a huge difference.'

But to really understand why the drones are flying south, don't look at the operational needs, or the potential missions. Look at the military's bureaucratic politics. 'It's not so much about having or using the armed capabilities in SOUTHCOM in the near-term as it is making sure the system doesn't get pigeonholed as being just for Afghanistan or Iraq,' says Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution (where, full disclosure, my boss is a non-resident fellow).

'You want to build up familiarity with the systems and its uses (and even foibles) in other commands, so that when you use it more operationally in the future you have a base to build on,' Singer continues in an email. 'And finally, as you introduce a system into a new area and to new people, they will innovate and find new uses for it.'