# News Source Record

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

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection date | 21 April 2011 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source news record // LRRK collection product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scale | National |
| Language | English |
| Terms matched | Predator drones; unmanned aircraft; armed Predator; Predator; Hellfire |

## Bibliographic

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Outlet | The Guardian |
| Title | Libya: Obama sanctions use of US Predator drones |
| Dateline | — |
| First publisher | yes |
| Original URL | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/21/us-obama-predator-drones-libya |
| Archive URL | — |
| Dedup key | 2011-04-21|the-guardian|obama-armed-predator-libya |
| Source grade | A1 |

## Record

**Verified extract — [Fact — A1]** The Guardian reported US defence secretary Robert Gates telling a Pentagon news conference that President Barack Obama had approved use of armed Predator drone aircraft in Libya as a "unique capability" while other countries enforced a no-fly zone: "And in fact he has approved the use of armed Predators." Marine General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the first Predator mission after the go-ahead flew on Thursday but the Hellfire-armed aircraft turned back because of poor weather. Cartwright said Predators "will bring that is unique to the conflict is their ability to get down lower, therefore to be able to get better visibility on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions" and were "uniquely suited for urban areas." He did not reveal the intended targets of the aborted first mission.

**Kinematic object.** Armed US Predator with Hellfire missiles, approved for Libya, first sortie aborted for weather.

**Coverage frame.** military

## Source integrity

- Why this is treated as an original: Guardian write-up of a same-day Pentagon conference (Gates/Cartwright).
- Wire reprint status: Not a wire reprint of another paper; Pentagon event shared with other first-day reports (BBC, Corriere — separate outlets/languages).
- What was excluded: the 23 April first-strike confirmation (separate identity).

## LRRK relevance

Watch / Campaign. A Watch desk would have recorded presidential approval of armed Predators for Libya and a weather-aborted first Hellfire sortie.

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

L-Ne