A Look At The U.S. Spy Planes That Will Be Used To Gather Intelligence On The Islamic State

The RQ-4A Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial reconnaissance system designed to provide military field commanders with high-resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas. (CREDIT : REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Reynaldo Ramon)

The U-2 And Global Hawk, The US Spy Planes That Will Help Hunt ISIS in Syria -- International Business Times

The United States has begun surveillance flights over Syria in an attempt to spy on ISIS fighters. While the U.S. Department of Defense refused to comment on what type of aircraft will be used, one military aviation expert said they will likely be the venerable Lockheed Martin U-2 spy planes and Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawk drones.

“The two aircraft will complement each other and offer different ways to gather intelligence,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Teal group. "The Global Hawk drone can go for longer periods, but the manned U-2 is far more flexible as it has a human pilot physically in the aircraft."

The decision to spy on the Islamic militant group ISIS inside Syria comes after months of intense fighting between ISIS and Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, which resulted in U.S. airstrikes on key positions there. U.S. officials admitted that they need more info on ISIS' operations in Syria.

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My Comment: What strikes me about this report is that it is telling us that the U.S. is about to spy on Syria. This is a surprise .... I was always under the impression that U.S. intelligence was spying on Syria since the start of  the civil war over 3 years ago. I guess I over-estimated Langley's reach.