The Air Force's medium-range Predator drones could be operating over Iraq. DOD: Armed drones now patrol Iraq

Some of the manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft operating over Iraq are now armed, the Defense Department confirmed Friday, to provide protection to the American troops deploying there.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said the number of surveillance flights over Iraq has remained steady at around 30 to 35 per day, but he acknowledged some have begun carrying air-to-surface weapons.


“With the introduction now of additional U.S. personnel, in advisory capacity designed to go outside the Embassy confines, the commander on the ground … thought it was prudent to arm some of these aircraft to make sure we had additional force protection measures in place,” he said.

About 180 of the 300 special operations advisers President Barack Obama said he could send to Iraq are there now, according to the Pentagon, and there are about 500 American troops overall. The American advisers are armed for their own self defense, but they are not taking heavy weapons or their own vehicles or aircraft. The armed drone orbits overhead buy the U.S. troops some additional insurance.

About half the advisers, which include senior Army Special Forces troops, have set up a joint operations center somewhere in Baghdad. The other half are beginning to determine how they’ll work with Iraqi military commanders at the higher headquarters and brigade levels.

Thousands of Iraqi troops folded this month in the face of advances by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Sunni extremist group that made major gains in the Iraqi north. Obama wants U.S. advisers to assess the situation on the ground and then make recommendations to both Iraqi and American commanders for how best the U.S. could help start to beat back ISIL.

Kirby declined to describe what kinds of aircraft are operating over Iraq or where they’re based. He acknowledged that not all of them are flying from Navy warships in the Persian Gulf. The land-based drones likely include high-altitude Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawks, which do not carry weapons, probably flying from Qatar. The Air Force’s medium-altitude, General Atomics-built Predator or Reaper drones, which can carry missiles, could also be operating over Iraq.

Obama administration officials have also said they wanted to “expedite” deliveries of military supplies to Iraq, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has complained that the U.S. is delaying the deliveries of Lockheed Martin-built F-16 fighters. He has opted to buy used Russian warplanes instead to help attack ISIL’s positions.

Kirby rejected the idea that the Defense Department was slowing down anything — the F-16s remain on track for delivery this fall, as Pentagon officials have been saying all along, he said. Plus the U.S. is delivering more Lockheed-built Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, and it has received other Iraqi requests for small arms and ammunition.

“There’s a lot of energy being applied to this,” Kirby said.

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