“We have just won a war with a lot of heroes flying around in planes. The next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at all. Take everything you’ve learned about aviation in war, throw it out of the window, and let’s go to work on tomorrow’s aviation. It will be different from anything the world has ever seen.”
– General Hap Arnold, V-J Day, August 1945
The word drone is the most widely recognised definition and an umbrella name for a pilotless aircraft; the etymology of the name itself thought to have stemmed from the characteristically low humming noise the machines make, or rather with entomological connotations, from early drones being painted with black stripes on the fuselage, making the aircraft look like a male honeybee (a drone) . As drones have progressed over the years they have developed a number of different names; Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). In a military context, a drone is a small-unmanned aircraft with video surveillance technology, they can be large as commercial plane or as small as a bird; the key attribute of a drone being that they can be controlled from a distance, removing the possibility of danger to a pilot’s life.
‘UAS have been under development for nearly half a century and have been deployed on the battlefield since the Vietnam War.’
-Nurkin & Drewry . (2010)
Over the last decade drones have become pivotal in the modern battlefield: the US Department of Defense having expanded its drone department from 50 to over 7,500 and spent a total of $5 billon; and in the next decade, global spending on the research and manufacturing of drones is expected to reach in excess of $94 billion . As technology natural...
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...nd Conflict Resolution Clinic (2012) Living Under Drones; Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians from US Drone Practices in Pakistan Standford Law School. [Online]. Available at: http://www.livingunderdrones.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Stanford-NYU-Living-Under-Drones.pdf (Accessed: 2nd Jan 2014)
Stanley, J & Crump, C (2011). Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance: Recommendations for Government Use of Drone Aircraft. New York: American Civil Liberties Union. p5-22.
Stanley, J. (2013) "Drones" vs "UAVs" -- What's Behind A Name? [Online]. Available at: https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/should-we-call-them-drones-or-uavs (Accessed: 2nd Jan 2014)
The contribution of ISTAR to operations (2010) [Online]. Available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmdfence/225/225.pdf (Accessed: 2nd Jan 2014)
Controversy has plagued America’s presence in the Middle East and America’s usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) contributes vastly to this controversy. Their usefulness and ability to keep allied troops out of harm’s reach is hardly disputed. However, their presence in countries that are not at war with America, such as Pakistan and Yemen, is something contested. People that see the implications of drone use are paying special attention to the civilian casualty count, world perspective, and the legality of drone operations in non-combative states. The use of drone technology in the countries of Yemen and Pakistan are having negative consequences. In a broad spectrum, unconsented drone strikes are illegal according to the laws of armed conflict, unethical, and are imposing a moral obligation upon those who use them. These issues are all of great importance and need to be addressed. Their legality is also something of great importance and begins with abiding to the Laws of Armed Conflict.
On the use of drones, NYT’s Peter M. Singer (“Do Drones Undermine Democracy?”) makes the comprehensive argument that the use of drones goes against the how wars are meant to be fought—human participation. It can be counter argued that these automatons are better in terms of expendability; personnel are not easily replaced while drones are easily replaceable. The Bush 43 strategy relied more on men, and it did yielded adverse results politically. The switch to drones presented dynamic political benefits, for which Singer argued allowed for circumvention of aggravated/emotive discourse among members of the American populace, academics and mass media. It is imperative to remember that the cost of the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq—increases in casualties—was detrimental to the American credibility and brought about victory to Obama in 2008 elections.
Drones and UAVs are remote control vehicles that need no pilot, instead they use a signal coming from a machine that someone is controlling. Although that is not always been the case for drones, the technology in its primitive stage was available during the late 1800’s. It was seen during the civil war in the form of hot air balloons and both north and south possessed a way to create the machines. They contained a timed mechanism that would release an explosive when the time was over, this seemed very clever, but at the time it was not very effective. Years passed and the Wright brothers and created the airplane in the early 1900’s, and they did needed pilots. The concept of airplanes was moved to the next level when in the 1930’s Britain Royal Navy created one of the first UAVs. This particular UAV was know as “The Queen Bee’’. This particular model was driven by what is said to be a radio signal. Much later Drones became much more complex and that is because years of technological advances were added to old models that were being produced in late 1900’s. Today, ...
Evidence: Drones have many beneficial uses, including in search-and-rescue missions, scientific research, mapping, and more. But deployed without proper regulation, drones equipped with facial recognition software, infrared technology, and speakers capable of monitoring personal conversations would cause unprecedented invasions of our privacy rights. Interconnected drones could enable mass tracking of vehicles and people in wide areas. Tiny drones could go completely unnoticed while peering into the window of a home or place of worship.
To begin, the war gave a new perspective of aircraft, ostensibly revisiting and rewriting the previous role and feeling towards aircraft. During major battles, airplanes were used primarily to report enemy infantry and artillery. While it was true aircraft were very useful for reconnaissance purposes, they were capable of much more. Pilots at first had only a pistol to protect themselves in case of danger. When pilots demanded that machine guns be fitted to their airplanes, the air f...
First of all both authors agree that drone strikes cause casualties among civilians. They agree that drones can cause harm among civilians as far as drones hovering above for days or weeks at a time and that; that causes fear, paranoia, and mental health problems for civilians. But where they
A modification within the paradigm of armed conflict has begun to manifest itself, due to no small part of the United States self-proclaimed war on terror; it is the use of military drones. In addition, this war is being conducted on a global scale, these drones provide a more nimble and swifter approach, however, can these devices be compliant under IHL? In addition, the case against drones includes violations of sovereignty, excess death of civilian along with destruction of civilian infra structures and extra-judicial killings. These are legitimate concerns and depend-ing on how these devices re used will determine how these concerns are dealt with
The military use of lethally autonomous robots (LAR) is not science fiction – it is happening right now. A robot is a mechanism guided by automatic controls. Autonomous robots are able to independently maintain stability and plan action. The first generation of military robots have operated under direct human control. The most well-known military robots are “drones” or unmanned aerial vehicles. The drone system currently in use is the unmanned aerial vehicles IAI Pioneer & RQ-1 Predator which can be armed with air-to-ground missiles and remotely operated from a command center. Drones have already been used by the U.S. military for unmanned air attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other war zones. (Merchant, 276).
Ground forces throughout the military rely heavily on the aerial systems used by their aviation assets in order to accomplish their missions. Advances in technology have evolved the types of aircraft used in battle, and while the manned aviation asset is still the leading system used, unmanned systems are steadily moving forward. Manned aircraft systems have both advantages and disadvantages as well as unmanned aircraft systems. The military utilizes both of these systems to complement each other in the battlefield. In this topic, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages for both systems.
The use of drones as weapons of war and delivery and surveillance systems should not be dismissed because many people do not realize the real capabilities of drones and how they can be used to better the world through efficient air strikes, faster delivery times, and useful surveillance. Some of the most common misconceptions about drones arise due to the lack of knowledge about what drones are. A drone is a remote controlled, pilotless aircraft that can be used to survey an area, conduct stealth missions, and deliver supplies into difficult to reach areas (Drone). Unmanned aircraft are also, contrary to popular belief, not solely machines that kill without even a thought to who is being fired upon. They have proved to be effective surveillance units in areas that may be dangerous for manned aircraft to fly, along with the potential to be reliable delivery units (Drones).
Another name for drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS). These are “aircraft either controlled by ‘pilots’ from the ground or increasingly, autonomously following a pre-programmed mission” (Cole 4). Even though there are many unique types of drones, but they usually fall under two main categories: ones that are armed and equipped with missiles and bombs and others that are used for surveillance. In the past couple of years the use of drones has increased dramatically. The reason being because “unlike manned aircraft they can stay aloft for many hours and are flown remotely so there is no danger to the flight crew” (Cole 13). There are drones that can actually fly over more than fifty hours. In countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, the Predator and U.S Reaper are physically there. Cause of the power of technology th...
Drones are also called unmanned aerial vehicles. They come in various sizes for many uses. Drones are known by different names such as “Killer Drone” or “Spy” or “Surveillance Drone” as they are mostly used to decimate enemy and harm civilians, which is why drones receive negative feedback from the public. Not all people use drones in warfare, they also use them as a hobby to film and entertain. Despite the fact that drones have negative sides, they also have positive sides as well.
The current technology that embodies our society and which will provide our future with the most potential for benefit, and also for threat, is the concept of militarized autonomous robotics and drones. The overwhelming importance behind militarized autonomous robotics is that this concept will change the way that conflict is resolved at the
Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS) are controlled via two ways which are by pilots from ground or by a self directed pre-programmed mission. Cole and Wright (2010) identify that having various types, drones basically meant to serves the following two purposes:
Drones are an emerging technology that has countless benefits and a myriad of intangible side-effects. I will clearly explain how drones effect on our lives by exploring the Social, Cultural, Political and Environmental impacts drone technology presents in our lives today.