Moammar Gadhafi’s forces are killing Libyan civilians and pushing back rebel forces, NATO air strikes be damned. So it’s time to send in the drones.

Thursday marks the end of U.S. strike missions in Libya. In a press conference, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that armed Predator drones have been approved for use in Libya. They flew for the first time on Thursday, but “the weather wasn’t good enough, so we had to bring them back,” Cartwright said.

Recall Gates told Congress three weeks ago that the U.S. strike role would end once NATO took command of the war. U.S. pilots continued to bomb targets to enforce the no-fly zone, but left the hard work of attacking Gadhafi’s ground forces to NATO pilots. The arrival of the Predators — two combat air patrols, Cartwright said, so probably five drones — reverses all that.

Cartwright justified the move by saying the drones are “uniquely suited” for attacking dug-in forces in “urban areas,” where Gadhafi’s loyalists are. The Predators fly lower than gunships like the AC-130 or attack planes like the A-10. Their sensor and camera suites give them better visibility than human pilots have, reducing the risk of collateral damage. And they can fly for 24 hours at a time, providing “extended persistence.” It’s quite a contrast to the archaic weapons used by Libyan rebels.

Gates played down the idea that the arrival of the drones represented a return to a U.S. combat role — or, worse, mission creep. He said they provided merely a “modest contribution” to the strike mission, which remains led by U.S. allies.

Nor did Gates and Cartwright specify where the drones will fly from. Cartwright merely said they’ll be based in “theater.” The Predator can’t fly from an aircraft carrier. General Atomics is still developing a carrier-based Predator cousin, the Sea Avenger, and Northrop Grumman’s future carrier drone of death, the X-47B, just took its first flight — from dry, dry land — in February. Nor, for that matter, does the U.S. even have carriers supporting the Libya war.

So where are the Predators flying from? Italy? Egypt? Tunisia? Gates didn’t say — and he pointedly reiterated that no “boots on the ground” from the U.S. military will touch Libyan soil. So no one’s going to spot for the drones in Libya? That could lead to targeting inaccuracies. Unless — you don’t think –the CIA… ?

After the briefing, Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman, said he couldn’t specify where the drones are based. But, he told Danger Room, “they are land-based in a NATO country in the region.”

So — viva Italia? Our favorite Libya snoop, Huub, tweets at us that previous drones have flown for Libya out of Italy’s Sigonella air base, using the call sign “Forte.”

But chalk up another milestone for drone warfare. First they hunted terrorists and insurgents. Now they’re going to shoot missiles at dug-in armor and mobile infantry forces, all so the United States can pretend it’s not expanding its involvement in a war conceived on the fly. What can’t robots do?

Or, as the sublime @DrunkenPredator tweeted, “Libya is Big Bob’s show now. I got a new party to rock.” Maybe he got jealous of the Tomahawks.

Thanks to Danger Room pal Sam LaGrone of Jane’s for correcting me on confusing the number of Predators with the number of Predator patrols.

Photo: U.S. Air Force