Pentagon to send drones to Kosovo. Defense-aerospace.

Pentagon to send drones to Kosovo

WASHINGTON, March 21 (AFP) - 00:54 GMT - The Pentagon is sending unmanned surveillance planes to Kosovo along with troops to operate them, but has no other plans to augment its forces there, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Tuesday.
The Predator and Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used before in Kosovo and Bosnia to give troops a bird's-eye view of what is happening on the ground.

Bacon would not say how many troops would accompany the UAVs, which were last used in Kosovo late last year but were withdrawn when the winter set in.

Asked if the United States was considering augmenting its 6,300 troops in Kosovo, he said, "Not at this time."

However, some 1,100 US Marines were making their way Tuesday to Kosovo as part of a 2,000-troop exercise of the strategic reserve forces for Kosovo. The other troops are from Argentina, Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

France, faced with unrest in Kosovska Mitrovica, has beefed up its forces in the northern sector with the arrival of two companies of troops, Bacon said.
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