Iraqi drone US warned of looks more like model airplane 

By Niko Price, Associated Press, 3/12/03

AL-TAJI, Iraq -- A remotely piloted aircraft that the United States has 
warned could spread chemical weapons appears to be made of balsa 
wood and duct tape, with two small propellors attached to what look like 
the engines of a weed whacker.

Iraqi officials took journalists to the Ibn Firnas State Company just 
north of Baghdad on Wednesday, where the drone's project director accused 
Secretary of State Colin Powell of misleading the U.N. Security Council 
and the public.

"He's making a big mistake," said Brig. Imad Abdul Latif. "He knows 
very well that this aircraft is not used for what he said."

In Washington's search for a "smoking gun" that would prove Iraq is not 
disarming, Powell has insisted the drone, which has a wingspan of 24.5 
feet, could be fitted to dispense chemical and biological weapons. He 
has said it "should be of concern to everybody."

The drone's white fuselage was emblazoned Wednesday with the words 
"God is great" and the code "Quds-10." Its balsa wood
wings were held 
together with duct tape. Officials said they referred to the remotely 
piloted vehicle as the RPV-30A.

Latif said the plane is controlled by the naked eye from the ground. 
Asked whether its range is above the 93-mile limit imposed by the 
United Nations, he said it couldn't be controlled from more than 
five miles.

Latif said the exact range will be determined when the drone passes 
to the next testing stage.

Ibn Firnas' general director, Gen. Ibrahim Hussein disputed assertions 
by Powell and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer that the 
drone was capable of dispensing biological and chemical weapons.

"This RPV is to be used for reconnaissance, jamming and aerial 
photography," he said. "We have never thought of any other use."

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, 
complained this weekend that chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix 
didn't mention the drone in his oral presentation to the Security Council 
on Friday.

Blix mentioned the drone in a 173-page written list of outstanding 
questions about Iraq's weapons programs last week. While small, Blix 
said, drones can be used to spray biological warfare agents such as 
anthrax. He said the drone hadn't been declared by Iraq to inspectors.

But Iraq insisted it declared the drone in a report in January -- and 
Hussein held up its declaration to prove it. The confusion, he said, was 
the result of a typo: The declaration said the wingspan was 14.5 feet 
instead of 24.5 feet as stated by Powell.

"When we discovered the mistake we addressed an official letter 
correcting the wingspan," he said. He showed that letter to reporters 
as well. He suggested inspectors had already seen the drone when the 
correction was made, but said: "No one of the inspectors noticed the 
difference."

"We are really astonished when we hear that this RPV was discovered 
by inspectors, when it was declared by Iraq," Hussein said. "Nothing 
is hidden."

Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the U.N. weapons inspectors, said the United 
Nations was investigating the drone's capabilities, and said he was 
unsure whether Iraq reported the drone before inspectors found it on 
an airfield or after.

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(c) Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

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Full story at Boston.com - http://www.boston.com/news/daily/12/iraq.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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