CounterterrorismU.S. to send hand-launched UAVs to Kenya to help fight Somali al Shabaab
The United States will include hand-launched Raven UAV’s in the $41.4 million military aid package to Kenya; the package also includes trucks, communications gear, and rifles for Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda; the military aid aims to help east African countries cope with the growing menace of al Shabaab, a Somali al Qaeda affiliate
The United States will include hand-launched Raven UAV’s in the $41.4 million military aid package to Kenya. The package also includes trucks, communications gear, and rifles for Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda.
The Wall Street Journal quotes a Pentagon document to say that “This assistance will improve the tactical effectiveness and operational reach of the Kenyan National Defense Forces engaged in CT (counter-terrorism) operations against al Shabaab in Somalia.”
The Raven is built by Monrovia, California-headquartered AeroVironment Inc. Weighing 4.2 pounds (1.9 kilograms) and with a wingspan of 4.5 feet (1.37 meters), it is described as capable of sending real-time color or infrared imagery to ground controllers and to remote viewers day or night.
The Somali al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate, is in control of vast swaths of Somalia, a country with no effective central government since the early 1990s. The group has launched several attacks inside Kenya, leading the Kenyan military to invade parts of Somalia in an effort to keep al Shabaab off balance. This is a strategy similar to the one adopted by Ethiopia, which has sent its army and air force time an again into Somalia in order to weaken the Islamist group.
