US will supply Pakistan with 12 unarmed Shadow drones, which would significantly enhance the country's surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, but are much smaller than the armed Predators and Reapers used by its forces with devastating effect against Al Qaeda and Taliban.
The
decision to supply twelve RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) to Pakistan was announced by visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates during an interaction with the local media.
American forces and security agencies use the Shadow unarmed UAV's as an intelligence asset and for training operatives of Reaper and Predator drones. These UAV's are unarmed and essentially low flying machines used for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
Along with announcing proposed supply of drones to Islamabad, Gates clarified that US has no designs on Pakistan's nuclear weapons and no intension to take them over.
He also said that Washington had no wish to occupy Pakistan or split the country, "The US does not covet a single inch of Pakistani soil".
US has set aside one billion dollars in its Coalition Support Fund to provide weapons and equipment to Pakistan for the war against terrorism and the drones would be part of this package. The Shadow UAV's will help build the Pakistan Army's capacity for intelligence-gathering, he said.