Global demand for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, is heating up as armed forces invest in new systems to boost their ability to carry out reconnaissance and strikes without putting soldiers’ lives in danger.

They are deadly, hard to detect and fast becoming one of the most sought-after weapons in the air defense industry.

Propelled by a rise in Asian defense budgets, annual global spending on UAVs is forecast to almost double from the current $5.9 billion to $11.3 billion over the next decade, according to US-based defense research firm Teal Group.

Home to more than half the world’s population, Asia also has some of the biggest potential flashpoints from North Korea, to the South China Sea, South Asia and Afghanistan.

IAI, which pioneered the development of UAV technology for the Israeli military in the 1970s, was one of several defense manufacturers showing off drones at last week’s Singapore Airshow.

The use of drones rather than manned aircraft helps make countries participation in multilateral war efforts more palatable to the public, said Silberring, a former Israeli air force colonel.

Drones have played a crucial role in recent conflicts, with the United States relying on them to strike targets in the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan that are strongholds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives.

US drones were also used in the NATO-led intervention in Libya last year.

Philippine troops battled Muslim extremists on a remote southern island, three of Southeast Asia’s top terror suspects were killed in a US-backed air strike.

Soldiers who approached the bombed area on the outskirts of a small village on Jolo island after the raid faced dogged resistance from surviving militants, regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said.

The troops had moved into the scene of the strike in an effort to retrieve the bodies of the three senior militants who were killed, as well as to take on the others who survived the aerial assault.

The military said 15 members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) organizations were killed in the air raid, which followed months of surveillance on the sparsely populated and isolated hinterland of Jolo.

The military said it had targeted, and killed, Malaysian Zulkifli bin Abdul Hir, alias Marwan, one of the United States’ most-wanted terror suspects with a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government.

Zulkifli was one of JI’s top leaders and a bomb-making expert who had been hiding out in the southern Philippines since 2003, according to the US State Department.

The third senior militant reported killed was Filipino Abu Pula, also known as Doctor Abu or Umbra Jumdail, one of the core leaders of the Abu Sayyaf that is blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines.

The military claimed the killings dealt a major blow to the capabilities of the two terror groups, particularly their ability to strike in the Philippines.

Israel and Western powers say they are becoming nervous about Syria’s significant arsenal of chemical weapons, primarily the possibility that they could fall into the hands of militant groups such as al-Qaida, which seems to be elbowing its way into the Syrian conflict.

There is, of course, the possibility that embattled President Bashar al-Assad, fighting to save his dynastic regime, might decide to use chemical weapons against those struggling to bring about his downfall.

No one knows if he or his hard-line generals would resort to such a horrific move if they felt they were facing defeat. But, given the regime’s ruthless crackdown on its opponents since the uprising erupted March 15, 2011, with some 6,000 people killed, using chemical weapons against his enemies, or even against foreign military

Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser used mustard gas against royalist forces in the 1963-70 Yemen civil war. The first attack by the Egyptians, who backed the republicans, was an airstrike using mustard gas against the village of Kawma June 8, 1963, killing seven people.

Saddam Hussein used mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX against rebellious Kurds in the 1980s, most notoriously in the northeastern town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan March 16, 1988. That massacre during the closing days of the Iran-Iraq war killed 3,200-5,000 people. Thousands more died later.

It was the most devastating chemical attack against civilians in history.

Al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq likely carried out recent suicide bombings in Syria and has infiltrated opposition forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Earlier reports that US officials suspected Al-Qaeda’s hand in the bombings and follows a recent video message from Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in which he endorses the uprising against Assad’s rule.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking at a news conference with his German counterpart, Thomas De Maiziere, echoed Clapper’s view but said Al-Qaeda’s influence on the opposition remained unclear.

Asked if Washington could support opposition forces given Al-Qaeda’s presence, Panetta said: “I think just the fact that they’re present concerns us. As to what their role is, and how extensive their role is, I think that remains to be seen.”

Clapper said the opposition was deeply fragmented and that the Assad regime appeared able to hold on to power for the moment as it pressed ahead with the violent repression of protests.

The US spy chief has previously told lawmakers that it was only a matter of time before the regime fell, but predicted a protracted struggle.

Clapper also said US intelligence agencies were monitoring Syria’s “extensive network” of chemical weapon stockpiles, which he said presented a bigger challenge than Libya’s arsenal did before the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Clapper said he expected Al-Qaeda’s role, rifts within rebel ranks and the presence of chemical weapons would “affect any discussion (about) coming to some assistance” in support of the opposition.

Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance said it has agreed to begin evacuating its long-time base in a camp in central Iraq to transfer to a UN-approved site near Baghdad.

According to a statement issued by the exiled group’s base in Paris, NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi has agreed that the first 400 of 3,400 refugees based in Ashraf camp will be transferred to Camp Liberty, a former US military base.

The NCRI, which includes the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, demanded Iraqi police be removed from the Liberty site before any more of the group leave Ashraf, which Baghdad has vowed to close.

This demand was necessary “to avoid tension, violence and another massacre of the residents. This is particularly important for the security and peace of female residents.”

In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: “The United States urges this voluntary movement to Hurriya (Liberty in Arabic) to begin on schedule February 17.

“The US will not walk away from the people at Camp Hurriya,” she said in a statement.

The NCRI has been in revolt against Tehran’s Islamic regime for more than three decades. While many of its members are living in exile around the world, its biggest base is in Ashraf in Iraq, near the Iranian border.

From there, the People’s Mujahedeen fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces against their Iranian countrymen during the Iran-Iraq war.

The United States vowed to retain close military ties to its European allies after unveiling plans to withdraw more than 11,000 troops from Germany and Italy as part of a strategic shift to Asia.

“No one should equate lower numbers of US troops permanently stationed in Europe with declining engagement with our European partners,” Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters.

The details of the troop reduction, which include two Army brigades and two air squadrons, were announced as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hosted his German counterpart, Thomas de Maiziere, for talks at the Pentagon.

Both men endorsed the drawdown at a joint press conference, with Panetta promising the move would not alter Washington’s commitment to the NATO alliance.

The Pentagon chief said over 40,000 American troops would remain in Germany and that “the new US defense strategy reaffirms the lasting strategic importance of the trans-Atlantic partnership with NATO allies such as Germany.”

He added that de Maiziere “understands the necessity of the shifts we are making as we work to implement our new defense strategy while meeting our fiscal responsibilities.”

De Maiziere said Germany would still serve a crucial role for US forces and said he could not complain about the Pentagon’s downsizing as his own government was carrying out a similar approach for German forces.

He added that the withdrawal of the American unit would have a “moderate” effect on the local economy.

A Baltimore man who voluntarily fought with Libyan anti-government rebels a year ago, was jailed in solitary confinement, then freed, says he’s preparing to go back.

Matthew VanDyke, 32, gained international attention last year when he was captured by the military of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. VanDyke left Baltimore Feb. 26, 2011, was captured March 13 near Brega and jailed in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison for 166 days. When he was freed in August, he said he returned to fighting before heading back to the United States in November.

With the anniversary of his departure approaching, VanDyke told United Press International in a telephone interview and e-mail exchanges that he’s working on a book and a documentary about his mission as a rebel fighter, which he has decided isn’t complete.

VanDyke said he befriended several Libyans in earlier personal travels in the Middle East and feels an affinity for them. Asked if he would be willing to fight in any other Arabic countries still undergoing political upheaval, he said he wouldn’t rule it out.

“There are some Libyans who are going to Syria and I would join them,” he said. “I’m watching and waiting for the right conditions and the right time.”

VanDyke has a master’s degree from Georgetown University in political science with a specialty in Middle East security studies.

He spoke haltingly with UPI on the telephone, carefully choosing his words as he alleges media and other organizations misquoted and misrepresented him in the past.

Indeed, reviewing reports on him from U.S. and foreign media, there are inconsistencies, which VanDyke said he would eventually clarify.

A Russian space engineer received a 13-year jail sentence on charges of passing secret strategic missile data to the US Central Intelligence Agency in return for cash.

Russia’s FSB security service said test engineer Vladimir Nesterets from the country’s northern Plesetsk cosmodrome admitted receiving cash payments for information about “tests on Russia’s latest strategic missile systems.”

Analysts said the apparent security breach marks a significant blow for Russia because its military uses the northwestern site to test and launch every type of missile in production and development today.

The military is currently developing a new generation of missiles and warheads that Moscow hopes will soon replace an ageing Soviet-era arsenal that was developed at great expense at the height of the Cold War.

These powerful warheads are meant to penetrate the various defenses designed by Washington and remain instrumental to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s promise of overseeing a military resurgence if elected to a third term as president in March.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said Nesterets had himself volunteered the information to the CIA and received just $1,000 for his work.

It said the lieutenant colonel had worked with the older Topol-M model that has been in service for more than 15 years.

Nesterets’ conviction came just days after Russia’s outgoing leader Dmitry Medvedev told an FSB meeting that foreign governments were stepping up their spying activities in the country.

Medvedev said the FSB had uncovered 199 foreign spies and agents last year. He added that some of those detained were Russian nationals working for Western states.

Russia often discloses the arrest or conviction of foreign agents at a time of diplomatic tensions with the West.

Discounting US intelligence reports of a limited armed conflict between India and China, a senior Indian Air Force officer ruled out any war in the near future but said Indian forces were fully prepared to protect the country’s strategic interests.

“I don’t see any war in the near future. At the same time, we are fully prepared to protect our borders and strategic interests as a deterrent force,” Indian Air Force (IAF) training command chief Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja told reporters here.

Clarifying that India was a peace-loving country and had no territorial ambitions, Kukreja said the IAF and the other two services (army and navy) were battle-ready to cut off any “evil eye” that may want to destabilize the nation.

Declining to comment on media reports that Indian military was preparing to fight a limited conflict with China, the air marshal said he had no information on the basis of such an assessment being made and the motive behind it.

Kukreja’s observation was in light of US director of national intelligence James Clapper telling the senate select intelligence committee Tuesday that India was increasingly concerned about China’s posture along their disputed border and Beijing’s perceived aggressive posture in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific region.

Stressing on maintaining a strong armed force even during peace times, the former fighter pilot said the responsibility of the services had increased due to hostile neighborhood and growing security concerns from non-state actors

Air Force leaders sought to sustain and modernize the capabilities that enable the service to support the Department of Defense’s new strategic guidance, Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton told reporters.

The U.S. military continues to rely heavily on Air Force space programs for a wide variety of activities that allow the military to be effective on the battlefield, she said.

As the Air Force went into the current budget cycle, she said, Air Force leaders were committed to aligning the service with the new DOD strategic guidance released Jan. 5, which included protecting programs in the budget that support main Air Force mission areas such as space.

Conaton said that key capabilities such as missile warning, satellite communications, launch and space situational awareness were protected in this year’s budget to ensure continued support to warfighters and space operations around the globe.

Addressing the reduction in overall funding levels for the fiscal 2013 space program budget over last year, the undersecretary explained that this was due to four reasons.

“First, a lot of our programs have moved out of the developmental phase and are in production at this point,” Conaton said. “Obviously, that has a different funding profile.

“Second, our partners in Congress were incredibly generous in helping to robust the Wideband Global Satellite communications program, which allowed us to not have to fund additional satellites in that program this year,” she said.