Israel's military has never acknowledged using the remotely piloted planes to fire missiles.
But he went on to defend drones as the most discriminating aerial bombers available in modern warfare — preferable to piloted aircraft or cruise missiles.
For targeted communities on the ground, being killed in a drone strike is indistinguishable from being killed by a cruise missile or a piloted warplane.
But it has also conducted about 90 missile strikes from piloted aircraft and remotely operated drones, aimed at Libyan air defenses and ground forces, and United States aircraft have flown more than a quarter of the total sorties.
So did aerial surveillance "platforms" like the Predator, a remotely piloted spy plane armed with Hellfire missiles that had been effective at identifying targets in the mountains of Afghanistan.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A missile attack from a remotely piloted American aircraft is believed to have killed a senior member of Al Qaeda in South Waziristan on Thursday, a former member of a militant group in the region said in an interview.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A missile strike from a remotely piloted American aircraft hit the house of a local militant commander in the Frontier Region Bannu killing four people, including two Arabs, residents and intelligence officials said.
The theory Mr. Obama embraced holds that American forces have not been in "hostilities" as envisioned by the War Powers Resolution at least since early April, when NATO took over the responsibility for the no-fly zone and the United States shifted to a supporting role providing refueling assistance and surveillance — although remotely piloted American drones are still periodically firing missiles.
Small remotely piloted planes are now used mainly to gather intelligence and fire missiles at insurgents.
For the first time in Iraq, the Air Force is flying missions this month with the new Reaper, a large remotely controlled vehicle that carries not only advanced surveillance sensors, but also bombs and missiles comparable to those on top-of-the-line piloted fighters.
