RAF Waddington will be the first air force base in the UK to control Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
The five drones, which hold 500lb missiles, are to be used to support troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
The squadron which will be in charge of the aircrafts will be ‘stood up’ at an official ceremony this Friday, but the Ministry Of Defence has said that operations won’t start immediately.
With 5 unmanned vehicles already in use in Afghanistan, the number will be doubled this week with the extra aircrafts being controlled from three new high tech stations in Waddington.
Missions taken up by the drones will all take place in Afghanistan.
With the US originally in charge of the drones, protesters were campaigning this week against the aircrafts due to controversy over the use of the vehicles. They say that they cause a lot of civilian deaths and are a breach of international law.
The Ministry Of Defence stands by the fact that they only fire missiles if absolutely necessary and that all missions are purely for surveillance purposes
