US expands Iraq, Afghanistan spy plane surveillance
Updated
The United States is to spend more than $US2 billion to expand surveillance of Iraq and Afghanistan by manned and unmanned spy planes.
Congress has approved the reprogramming of $1.2 billion in defense funds to rapidly enhance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection in the war zones.
The US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has also signed off on a follow-on package worth another billion dollars that will add analysts and infrastructure to sustain the expansion.
Mr Gates created a special task force in April to come up with ways to meet an exploding demand from commanders for drones and aircraft capable of providing real time, full motion video coverage of the battlefield.
