More U.S. spy planes sent to fight Taliban

Spy planes are playing a significant part in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and the United States has decided that with the growing sophistication of the Taliban, it’s becoming increasingly important to deploy additional spy planes to the area.

Spy planes serve multiple purposes; not only do they provide aerial espionage on insurgent movements, they can also intercept communications and pick up on soil disturbances, which are good indicators of where bombs are buried.

Comparative spy plane distribution data from a year ago shows pretty plainly that there’s been a shift in focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. According to numbers released by the Pentagon, in July 2008, 75% of U.S. spy planes went to Iraq and 25% to Afghanistan…now the figures are almost reversed, with 66% devoted to Afghanistan and 33% to Iraq.

Part of the shift comes from an overall increase in spy planes, which means percentages can change without lowering the actual number of planes in Iraq, although a decrease should not cause alarm given that attacks in Iraq have dropped to 2003 lows. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, they are at an all time high.

Every day, armed Predator and Reaper spy drones carry out 36 patrols in Afghanistan and Iraq, a fairly big jump from the 27 patrols they were carrying out this time last year.