Kenya buys Sh1bn pilotless aircraft in war on Al Shabaab

A Mikado drone used by the German military flies at Camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. PHOTO | AFP 

By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• ScanEagle is billed as Kenya’s biggest counter-terrorism weapon that the country will use against dangerous groups such as Al Shabaab.
• The drone will enable Kenyan security organs to conduct real-time surveillance on Al Shabaab terrorists alongside other major crime scenes inside Kenya’s borders.
• The aircraft, together with the drone, will be deployed to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.

Kenya is buying a Sh1 billion state-of-the-art military arsenal from the United States in the latest of effort to boost the country’s combat capabilities against terrorism.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), popularly known as a drone, is billed as Kenya’s biggest counter-terrorism weapon that the country will use against dangerous groups such as Somalia-based Al Shabaab who recently murdered an unknown number of Kenyan soldiers in a midnight ambush.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) opened the lid on the Kenya-US weapons trade in a report released on Monday.

The pilotless aircraft, dubbed ScanEagle, will enable Kenyan security organs to conduct real-time surveillance on Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorists alongside other major crime scenes inside Kenya’s borders.

“ScanEagle was ordered by the Kenyan government at a cost of $9.86 million (Sh1 billion),” said Sipri military expenditure programme director Samuel Perlo-Freeman.

“Presumably, it is intended to boost the Armed Forces’ surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities,” he added, meaning the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) could deploy the drone in neighbouring Somalia to gather information about terrorists in their hideouts and to stage pre-emptive attacks. The aircraft is set to arrive in September.

KDF spokesman Colonel David Obonyo Wednesday declined to comment on the matter insisting that the government does not make public its military purchases. 

Islamist militants have recently unleashed terror on several Kenyan towns, leaving a trail of deaths and spooking tourists, denying the country the crucial forex inflows.

Security experts say the drone could also be used to execute precision guided attacks on the militants, track their communication and possibly foil the training of new recruits.

READ: Kenya boosts China ties with Sh7.9bn arms purchase deal

This would place Kenya in the league of nations that have turned to drones to combat organised crime, including the United States, which has over the years increased its use of unmanned aircraft in war under President Barack Obama.

The Sipri report indicates that Kenya and Cameroon are the only African nations that have ordered the ScanEagle – a product of Insitu, a subsidiary of giant US aircraft maker Boeing.

The ScanEagle is currently in use by a number of countries including Britain, Australia, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Netherlands, according to Sipri.

Security experts say the drone might just be what the doctor ordered for Kenya’s military operations in tumultuous Somalia as it facilitates a coordinated and smart approach to terrorism.

“This will enable consistency in monitoring known Al Shabaab infiltration routes into Kenya as well as criminal gangs smuggling commodities across the common border,” said a Nairobi-based security expert Andrew Franklin