Google Earth reveals secret history of US base in Pakistan

Google Earth reveals secret history of US base in Pakistan

www.timesonline.co.uk

The US was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth.

The image — that is no longer on the site but which was obtained by The News, Pakistan's English language daily newspaper — shows what appear to be three Predator drones outside a hangar at the end of the runway. The Times also obtained a copy of the image, whose co-ordinates confirm that it is Shamsi.

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www.timesonline.co.uk

For years, Pakistani leaders have denied that Americans operate on or from its soil. The Google Earth images prove otherwise.

The CIA is using Shamsi to launch Predator drones that observe and attack al-Qaeda and Taleban around Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

Shamsi provides a discreet launchpad within minutes of Quetta — a known Taleban staging post — as well as Taleban infiltration routes into Afghanistan.

The MQ1 Predator carries two laser-guided Hellfire missiles, and can fly for up to 454 miles, at speed of up to 135mph, and at altitudes of up to 25,000ft, according to the US Air Force website www.af.mil...


www.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Well they wont have to go too far now to bomb the Taliban locations in swat.
second line should go here

reply to post by SLAYER69
Been doin' it since 2006 at least; and for the original Afghan deployments. Probably longer than we'll know for a while.

jw

you know I have been looking for this on Google earth and I cannot find it. I found 2 compounds in that area, but I do not thinks that they are in any way military bases... first of all there are no helicopter landing areas, which would be a must. and there is no clear perimeters set up.

One is at 29° 8'53.82"N 62° 6'50.35"E
the second is at 29° 8'21.71"N 62° 6'47.91"E

The Northern one looks like it may have been an armor base, note the circular mounds of dirt with sets of parallel line around it, these are tracks from some sort of bull dozer to build the burms. Again I do not think this is an American base because of the lack of helicopter pads, and a lack of armor in Afghanistan, and even if we did have tanks over there why would we have a secret CIA armor base in Pakistan?

So this leads me to my original point, how do we know that this story is real and not just a "mistake"?

Originally posted by irongunner
you know I have been looking for this on Google earth and I cannot find it.
...
So this leads me to my original point, how do we know that this story is real and not just a "mistake"?

If you go to the story, and the previous day's "Times Online" story, you'll see the original pics and also see that Google Earth has dropped this from its catalog of photos/locations.

I haven't been to Pakistan's "News" site, but it has been said to still carry the photos and coordinates.

Have you tried searching for it by the name of the base, or the nearby towns?

jw

It makes sense and I've suspected this might be the case.

On the one hand, Pakistan gov. really doesn't want the Taliban as they pose a threat to the current gov. On the other hand, they can't say or do too much due to the large in-roads and popular support the Taliban has.

So a back-room deal with the CIA (which both sides can deny) to deal with them makes sense.

As for the drones. A new targeting system in 08 means many of them now only carry one missle but are more accurate.

LA Times - Special Drones

The technology allows suspects to be identified quickly. “All I have to do is point the sensor at him,” said a military officer familiar with the system, “and a missile can be off the rail in seconds.”

The devices are roughly the size of an automobile battery, but are heavy enough that outfitted Predators in some cases carry only one Hellfire missile instead of two. At times, the systems also have been in short supply, requiring that crews move the devices from one Predator to another as they land and take off.

reply to post by jdub297


www.abovetopsecret.com...

Beat you by 6 hours.