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Military

Drones

Military Drones and It Uses


Lilian Nguyen Vo
George Mason University
IT 104-002
October 6, 2015
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Military Drones

I.

Introduction
Back in the 1800s, no one would even imagine using an unmanned aerial vehicle in the

military. Through the years, however, technology has changed the way we live our life and how
we fight our wars. From having to fight only on grounds to killing a target using an aircraft that
is being controlled thousand of miles away. This paper will concentrate on the military usage of
unmanned aerial vehicle also known as drones. The United States military uses two types of
drones: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV).
II.

Background

Some people would think that drones are new technology, however the technology could
be traced back as early as the First World War. During the First World Wars, the United States
started several radio control aircraft projects, but those projects were never finished (Hart, p.6).
However during the second World Wars, the United States military brought an unmanned
aircraft technology, developed by a toy company, to use in its training (Hart, p6). In the 1950 a
drone known as Firebee was created and was used on missions to capture pictures and videos,
however it was not until December 14th, 1971, that drones were used as weapons (Hart, p6). The
governments interest in improving drone technologies increased during the Cold War period
with the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union (Hart. P7). According to
Hart article, it was not until the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 that the popularity and
uses of armed drones increased.
All military drones require a pilot and two sensory operators, who control the cameras
and the radars. An UCAV is equipped with sensors; cameras and radar that have the ability to
identify targets through smoke, fog, haze and clouds; laser guidance technology and two missiles

Military Drones

(Pugliese). On the nose of the drone is a laser designator that locks on the target and guide the
missiles once it is launched. Even though the United States Air Force uses 3% of drones on
combat missions, all drones are fully equipped in case of an emergency.
III.

Current Uses
The roles of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle have change overtime. Today the military uses of

drones include killing key terrorist leaders, air strikes, surveillancing and gathering intelligence
from other countries. The War on Terror has one unique quality that differentiate it from the
other wars and that is the enemys ability to blend in with the civilian populations and the vast
land of Afghanistan and Iraq. Majority of drones is used for surveillance (Himes, 12). With that
being said the United States military need to monitor the combat zones for the enemy (Hart, p.7).
In 1992, one drone captures an image of Iraqi soldiers attempting to surrender to the drone by
waving their shirts in the air. According to the New America Foundation, United States drones
have killed approximately 3,300 jihadist operatives in Pakistan and Yemen. On November 3rd,
2002 two missiles from a drone strike the Marib desert in Yemen, destroying a car that was
allegedly carrying a senior al-Qaeda leader (Pugliese). In a 2011 drone strike in the Waziristan
region of Pakistan, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Osama bin Ladens chief aide, was killed. From the
Bush administration to Obama administration, there have been approximately 222 authorized air
attacks (Pugliese). Both the military and the CIA can conduct drones strikes. Requests for drones
strikes are send to the CIAs Counter-terrorism, where lawyers analysis if the target is a threat to
the United States or not (Pugliese).
IV.

Pro and Cons


Like other technologies today, there are numerous advantages and disadvantages of using

drones in the military. Before this technology was invented in order to collect intelligence,

Military Drones

human lives were put at risk. Drones minimize those risk and offer information with precision
(Lewis). With the defense budgets under pressure, the usage of drone could offer another
alternative to manned aircraft as it costs less than the latest combat aircraft. But one of the
biggest advantages of drones are their ability to endure long hours, allowing them to surveillance
a target for longer hour compare to manned aircraft that needs to be refueled every few hours
(Lewis). With that being said, it allows time for the military to properly identify the target and
lawyers to assess the situation if weapons should be released or not. Unlike other weapons,
drones response to command quickly and drone missiles can be diverted anytime (Himes, p
15). Drone offers lower civilian casualties than the other alternative methods and it minimizes
the number of soldiers we put on the field (Byman). With experience leaders of terrorist group
being eliminated in drone strikes, the rise of new leaders who are not as experiences as the
former, making the terrorist groups more prone to making errors and miscalculations. According
to Byman, eliminations of those in the lower position also hurt the terrorist organization as they
are often specialize in forging passports, bomb making, recruiting new members, and
fundraising.
Compare to other aircraft drones are slow, making it an easy target for enemy manned
combat aircraft. Drones weapons are less sophisticated than manned combat aircraft. Since
drones relies on signals from their operators to keep them moving, any disruption or jamming
with the signal could make the drone vulnerable (Lewis). Drone strikes eliminate terrorist leaders
and operatives, but it has also injured and killed innocent bystanders. According to the Bureau of
Investigative Journalism, there were a total of 415 strikes in Pakistan from 2004 to 2015 and the
total killed were approximately 3,949. Out of those 3,949 killed, 1,167 civilians and children
were killed and 1,722 were injured from the strikes (Hart, p.9).

Military Drones
V.

Legal, Ethical, and Security Concerns

One legal concerns of usage of military drones is killing terrorists. Since terrorists are
considered being civilians, they should be captured and be prosecuted and punished accordingly
to the justice system. One of the IHL, International Human Rights Law, requirement for lethal
force to be employed is offering the target an opportunity to surrender. However, as drones are
not capable of offering surrender before the uses of lethal force, the used of UCAV is not legal in
situations governed by the IHRL (Lewis). According to the international law, targeted lethal
force may be used only under specific and narrowly defined circumstances- against combatants
in a recognized armed conflict and those directly participating in hostilities or who pose an
immediate threat to innocent life and when capture is not feasible and would involve significant
military risk and potential loss of life (Cortright, p 12-13). With the amount of drone strikes
conducted, many questions whether if those strikes really satisfy the requirement of the
international law (Pugliese).
Before the CIA was only allowed to kill those who is on the approved list, but now they
have received secret permission to attack a wide range of target which created a risk of killing
innocent civilians (Pugliese). Targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan are seen as low life organisms
that needed to be exterminated and with the drones ability to eliminate these targets rapidly, the
question if life really matters to those ordering the strikes. The question about how this
generation military personnel value the right to life came up, because this generation grew up
with video games that involve killing targets and other violent things. Drones missiles are
launched to eliminate certain targets, but it also brings harm to innocent civilians who happen to
be near the target (Cortright, p9). However the biggest ethical concern is whether if political
leaders increase their use of force since they do not need to risk the lives of soldiers.

Military Drones

Since drones are vulnerable to hacking, many feared that one day someone would hack
the drone and retrieve classified information. Hackers could interfere with drones operations as
software for radio advances and GPS signal simulators is more available (Elias, p15). Others
feared that terrorist groups could get their hands on drones, since they are inexpensive, and using
it in plans similar to September 11 or using it to spy on us.
VI.

Conclusion
From the First World War to present day, drones has change from what was once a

project to a weapon and tool that the military now uses. Drone has helped us fight the War on
Terror, as one distinctive characteristic of the war is the need to identify terrorist leaders and
operatives among civilians. Though there are many advantages in the usage of drones in the
military, including minimizing the need to send soldiers in dangerous situations, there are still
drawbacks that need to be considered like the total civilians injured and killed during a drone
strike. As it is considered a weapon, there are legal and ethical concerns with the usage of drone
in target killing. Like many technologies today, drones also face security issues like being prone
to hacking. Unmanned aerial vehicle is now one of the methods used in the military and CIA to
eliminate terrorist leaders and operatives as well as surveillancing other countries.

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7
Reference Page

Lewis, M. W. (2012). Drones and the boundaries of the battlefield. Texas International Law
Journal, 47(2), 293-314. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1013534882?accountid=14541
This journal talks the legal challenges of military drones on the battlefield. For example, drones
can not be employed in situations listed in the international human rights law 32. The article also
provide readers the capabilities and limitations of drones. The source is reliable because it is a
scholarly journal published by University of Texas, Austin and it is in two of ProQuest
databases. The author was able to provide an unbiased view on the subject.
Wagner, M. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (March 24, 2015). Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public
International Law, Rdiger Wolfrum, ed., Oxford University Press, Forthcoming; University of
Miami Legal Studies Research Paper No. 15-12. Retrieved from SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2584652
The journals gave a definition of what an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drones is and how
drones today are different from drones in the past. After giving readers the definition of UAV,
the author goes on to talk about the history of UAV and how the use of UAV can be dated back
to the Spanish-American War in the 19th century. The author also talked about the legal
challenges of both civilian and military uses of UAV.
Byman, D. (2013). Why drones work: The case for washington's weapon of choice. Foreign
Affairs, 92(4), 32-43. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1411622851?accountid=14541
This article offers several advantages and disadvantages of the usage of military drones. It also
offers foreign views and domestic view on the technology. The article explained why the usage

Military Drones

of drones works and talks about a different danger that the United States might face. This article
is a reliable one since it is publish on a scholarly book and students can access it on ProQuest
Research Library database. The author also does not have a biased view on the subject, he offers
views on both side.
Henriques, J. (2014). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV): Drones for Military and Civilian Use.
(2014, March 21). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.globalresearch.ca/unmannedaerial-vehicles-uav-drones-for-military-and-civilian-use/5374666
The website provides information on how drones are being used in different ways, such as
military uses and environmental uses. Not only does this website provide information on the
usage of drones, it also include the military makeup of drones, government spending on drones,
and the number of drone strikes in the Middle East. The website also offers facts on the military
drones such as number of death caused by drones. This website is a reliable one since it is a
research database.
Drones: A military revolution [Motion picture]. (2014). France: France 24 English. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbnmpi49vg4.
The reporter went to an Air Force base in New Mexico to look into how drones works and how
the operators of drones are trained. Drones required a pilot and a sensory operator, who control
the cameras and the radars. According to the reporter, only 3% of U.S. Air Force is a combat
mission, but all drones are fully equipped in case of an emergency. The video mentioned about
new drones being made and how there are those who oppose the use of drone because it is killing
innocent lives. One interviewee said that the CIA is responsible for most U.S, air strikes and that
the U.S. government does not need to acknowledge CIAs air strikes.

Military Drones

Himes, K. (2105). Drones and the Ethics of Targeted Killing. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &
Littlefield. Retrieved from
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cjaCCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=backg
round+on+drones&ots=p6K08ZBK_4&sig=Ht2A_mNT9ShD9Wng0kFw2JIpL54#v=onepage&
q=background%20on%20drones&f=false.
This book offers information on the ethic of drones strikes. Not only does this book offer
information on ethic but also the uses of military drones and advantages of using drones. This is
a reliable source since it could be found on scholar google. The author also does not have any
bias options about the usage of drones.
Elias, B. (2010). Pilotless Drones: Background and Considerations for Congress Regarding
Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System. 15-15. Retrieved from
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/crs/R42718.pdf
This journal offers a lot of information about the drones for example the background of it. It also
offers information on the security issue like hacking the signal and signal jamming. This is a
reliable source since it could be found on scholar google and the Congressional Research Service
publishes it.
Hart, A. (2015). The art of Drone Warfare: Artistic Representations of Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles. Retrieved from
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54657a76e4b0f780392fedcd/t/55a95a5de4b0ca41a09f9e26/
1437162077378/Art and Drones Thesis.pdf
This journal offers a lot of information on drones is use in the War of Terror. It also offers a lot
of background information on the invention of drones and how it was used through the years.
This is a reliable source since it is found on scholar google.

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Pugliese, J. (2011). PROSTHETICS OF LAW AND THE ANOMIC VIOLENCE OF DRONES.


Griffith Law Review, 20(4), 931-961. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/917174524?accountid=14541
This article is about the legal aspect of using drones in the military. This article also has
background information and military usage of drones. This article is reliable because it could be
found on ProQuest Research Library. The author has numerous articles in the ProQuest database.
Cortright, D., Fairhurst, R., & Wall, K. (Eds.). (2015). Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AjitCQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=ethical
+issues+of+drone&ots=f84Y_MtTTo&sig=T3ZWKVG3sFennAHxUYaYFDl6R8#v=onepage&q&f=true
This book is about the legal and ethic of drone usage. The book offers information on when
lethal force is legal in international law. The book also offers a lot of information about the ethic
of using drones for target killing. This book could be found on scholar google.

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