Neither Australiaâs Department of Defence nor Britainâs Ministry of Defence have formally announced Australian involvement in the drone strikes, which are apparently the consequence of a shortage of British pilots due to âstresses of piloting deadly unmanned aircraftâ. The secretive Australian involvement in the Middle East drone strikes was revealed by Drone Wars (a monitor of unmanned aircraft use) after it was detailed in attachments to Britainâs Infrastructure and Projects Authority â an overseer of major UK public spending projects. It was subsequently reported in the Guardian and in the defence industry magazines UAS and Aviation. Despite even having being re-reported in the Australian air forceâs own magazine, Wings, the defence department has still refused to provide any meaningful details at all.