NATO creates an all-drone fleet in Italy

NATO's top general in Europe announced the initial readiness for combat operations of five reconnaissance

alliance drones.The unmanned aerial vehicles and associated ground equipment are part of NATO's ground surveillance program, which was created nine years ago. Its goal is to provide all member countries with aerial images of potential global threats, especially in areas close to the alliance's borders.

The mission readiness announcement was madeafter NATO received its fifth and final Northrop Grumman RQ-4D Global Hawks. US Air Force General Tod Walters, the supreme allied commander in Europe, called the completion of the fleet "an important milestone toward improving environmental awareness."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in turn, referred to the AGS program as an example of the alliance's desire to introduce "disruptive" and "new" technologies.

“These drones will allow us to observe from the sky overvast territories, providing a complete picture of events on the ground at any time, ”he told reporters in Brussels, referring to the unmanned aircraft, nicknamed by NATO as the Phoenix. "They can even identify improvised explosive devices."

A NATO spokesman said the first drone had already begun test flights in the Baltics and the southern and eastern Mediterranean last summer.

The new fleet's operations are expected to betesting the prospects for cross-border cooperation between allies to mix unmanned aerial vehicles and scheduled civil traffic in shared airspace. 

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