L-Ne · Historical Source Library

News Source Record

# News Source Record

**L-Ne / Open-source news extract** — Original media coverage of unmanned aerial systems.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection date | 31 January 2012 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source news record // LRRK collection product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scale | Global |
| Language | English |
| Terms matched | drones; UAVs; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; RPAS; Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems; Predator; Reaper; unmanned aircraft; Hellfire |

## Bibliographic

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Outlet | BBC News |
| Title | Drones: What are they and how do they work? |
| Dateline | — |
| First publisher | yes |
| Original URL | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10713898 |
| Archive URL | — |
| Dedup key | 2012-01-31|bbc|drones-what-are-they-explainer |
| Source grade | B1 |

## Record

**Verified extract — [Fact — B1]** BBC News explained military drones after President Barack Obama confirmed U.S. use of unmanned aircraft against suspected militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas and said the attacks were kept on a “tight leash.” The page identifies drones to the military as UAVs or RPAS; says they can stay aloft up to 17 hours; names the MQ-1B Predator (two Hellfire II missiles, strike range up to 8 km) and MQ-9 Reaper (four Hellfires plus Paveway II / GBU-12); and states each Predator or Reaper system comprises four aircraft, a ground control station and a satellite link. Control may be local or from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, with take-off and landing handled locally. The page says use in the area began under George W. Bush and more than doubled under Obama; cites a March 2011 strike that killed 40, many believed civilians at a tribal meeting. It also names Britain’s Hermes 450, the forthcoming Watchkeeper, RAF Reaper, the Taranis prototype, and U.S. Army A160 Hummingbird / Argus-IS sensors due for Afghanistan in May or June “this year.”

**Kinematic object.** MQ-1B Predator; MQ-9 Reaper; Hermes 450 / Watchkeeper; Taranis UCAV prototype; A160 Hummingbird sensor drones

**Coverage frame.** military

## Source integrity

- Why this is treated as an original
- Wire reprint status: Not a wire reprint. BBC explainer built on named systems and Obama’s public confirmation.
- What was excluded

- Date is the date other fetched BBC pages (technology-19397816; science-environment-20327991) attach to this same title/URL.
- Excluded later related-story chrome and any figure not on this page.

## LRRK relevance

Watch / Sense-Move-Act. Page establishes remote-pilot plus satellite-link architecture and the distinction between ISR and hunter-killer loadouts.

*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

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