By Paul Majendie
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - After six suspected al Qaeda members were killed in Yemen by a missile said to have been fired from a U.S drone, defence experts believe spies could take over the lead role from soldiers in the worldwide war on terror.
An official told Reuters in Washington that a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone carried out Sunday's attack. Yemen has said it is investigating the cause of the blast.
Clifford Beal, editor of the respected Jane's Defence Weekly, told Reuters in London: "To have a drone that engages and kills people -- that is quite a threshold to cross. This is the beginning of robotic warfare."
"There is underlying tension in the military about using it. The CIA does not have any qualms. This is really the first success story of this system," Beal said.
He said the human factor was still involved in this operation, with a man looking at a TV screen and going through a series of command sequences to press the button.
"The next step is when you have the authority to kill given directly to the robotic vehicle. These drones could be programmed to have a particular target set in their computers."...
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0585901> -- Yoshie
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