Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Yemen has requested military unmanned aerial vehicles from
the United States.

Officials said Yemen has relayed a formal request for medium-range UAVs
for the military. They said the UAVs would eventually take over U.S.
operations to eliminate Al Qaida in Yemen.

[The evacuation of U.S. embassies across the Middle East in early August followed the interception of a conference call of more than 20 Al Qaida leaders at which leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ordered the takeover of Yemen, according to a report by the Langley Intelligence Network Group, Lignet.com].

“The UAVs that are conducting operations are part of the cooperation between us and the United States,” Yemeni President Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said. “I have discussed the issue of helping us acquire this technology with the U.S. administration.”

In an address to police cadets on Aug. 22, Hadi said the Yemeni military was capable of operating UAVs. The president did not identify the UAVs
requested by Sanaa, but said the requirement was for precision-strike
aircraft.

“Yemenis are smart,” Hadi said. “They will learn fast.”

This marked the first time Yemen reported a request for American-origin
UAVs. Over the last four years, the CIA has directed a campaign by Predator
B UAVs to kill operatives of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

In his address, Hadi did not say Yemen, which works with the U.S.
military in a command and control center in Bahrain, would employ U.S.
unmanned aircraft to kill AQAP operatives. The president acknowledged that
UAVs were more effective than ground operations against Al Qaida.

“They have widely curtailed Al Qaida activities,” Hadi said.

The United States has not confirmed the Yemeni request. The
administration of President Barack Obama has sought to significantly
increase U.S. military aid to Sanaa and drafted a $1 billion plan to
modernize Yemen’s military.

  Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Predator B drone, seeks combat drones from U.S., targeted by Al Qaida leadership, Yemen