THE IMPORTANCE OF DRONES IN MODERN WARFARE AND ARMED CONFLICTS

2020

Reason(s) for writing and research problem(s): The lack of research on drone attacks in the West Balkans, but also within the European Union, has influenced our decision to conduct case study analysis of drone incidents occurring in the world, but also in our surrounding, in order to think how to prevent those in our own "backyard". Aims of the paper (scientific and/or social): This article intends to present significant security and operational information on drone attacks from cases detected in various surroundings. Methodology/Design: Methodology used in the paper includes case studies of drone attacks in certain countries, in order to evaluate these incidents from security and operational aspects. Research/paper limitations: Limitations refer to possible unregistered activities in the form of new modus operandi of perpetrators involving drone attacks. Results/Findings: The findings presented in this paper show a cross-section of attack vectors and modus operandi used by perpetrators, as well as vulnerabilities found at targeted institutions and objects. Those findings are to be considered for future prevention of perpetrators activities. General conclusion: There is a real need to improve and modernize general security measures related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. This article points to such necessity at several different levels and aspects through the analysis of attack vectors, modus operandi, and the weaknesses of the attacked targets. Research/paper validity: Findings presented in this article can be used to direct future research in this field, in order to strengthen and develop various measures to combat existing and persistent threats posed by drones.

2012

Wars and the strategies used to fight them have constantly evolved throughout the history of mankind, simultaneously revealing our innovative brilliance and our inherent inability to avoid conflict with one another. The current state of the United States' "War on Terror," composed of the Afghanistan conflict and outlying operations in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere around the world, has spurred exemplary advances used to combat a new type of enemy. Thus enters the drone, a remotely piloted aircraft that can be used for reconnaissance purposes or offensive targeting operations. The drone is unique in that the pilot is not located in the aircraft, but instead remotely controls the aircraft from a distance that can range from a few miles to halfway around the world. At a cruising altitude, cameras on the drone can zoom in on an object or person with such clarity that they can read license plate numbers and even allow the pilot to identify individuals on the ground. Such a tool has infinite uses in warfare, particularly against the insurgent enemy that the United States fights today. However, since their debut to the battlefield, the use of drones has been met with skepticism and claims of illegality. The purpose of this capstone thesis will be to analyze the drone as an instrument of warfare and to determine: (1) whether drones are even a "legal weapon" to use in war; (2) whether the manner in which the United States' drones are being used in the Middle East today is legal and ethical; (3) and lastly, if indeed drones are a legitimate weapon of war, are they an effective contribution to the United States' strategy of counterinsurgency and counter-network operations worldwide. To accomplish these three goals, an analysis will be conducted of both domestic and international laws regarding the conduct of warfare to establish whether drones and the manner in which the United States has been employing drones are legal. Secondly, this thesis will break down the United States' strategy and tactics in combating hostile non-state actors worldwide to first see what the objectives and end goals are, and then to see if the benefits of using drones outweigh the costs.

Insight Turkey

Recent developments in conflict zones show the proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or combat drones and how they transform and shape new warfare. A rapidly growing literature examines UAV’s performance and utilization by the first generation of drone producers and users like the U.S. and Israel. However, the acquisition, proliferation, and production of combat drones by middle and small states and how these new technologies are applied in warfare by these countries have attracted less attention. The paper explores Türkiye as a producer and active user of UAVs in conflicts in Africa and the Middle East and Azerbaijan as a small state that is a consumer of Turkish and Israeli drones. The paper argues that drones provide an advantage on the battlefield, increase precision in wars, and expand the methods used in wars against insurgency; however, the proliferation of drones simultaneously makes states prone to war and so increases the vulnerability of regional peace and secur...

2014

This collection aims to clarify the effects of drones on the conduct of modern warfare. Its editors (all Univ. of Notre Dame) and ten of fourteen contributors work at law and policy-oriented institutions and academic departments, mostly in the United States. Their specific objectives, according to the preface by United Nations Special Rapporteur Cristof Heyns (Univ. of Pretoria), is to enhance precaution standards, suggest a role for the UN, improve monitoring of drone killings, and shed light on state complicity in drone strikes. Though these are global issues, the authors concentrate on US policies and practice in light of ethical norms embodied in international law and just war theory (6). Following Cortright and Fairhurst's chapter 1 overview, "Assessing the Debate on Drone Warfare," the book's other chapters concern three major subjects: the morality of drone warfare; its strategic implications for counterterrorism policy; and its impacts on political accountability, freedom of information, and human rights. In chapter 2, "The Morality of 'Drone Warfare,'" Jennifer Welsh (European Univ. Inst., Florence) proffers an astute analysis of the human dimension of drone killing. She attempts to redefine "combatant" and to assess the difference between killings in war and non-war situations. She criticizes the loose equivalence between "imminence of" and "generally engaged in" terrorist activity. She concludes that drone killing is neither good nor bad in itself and may be a legitimate instrument of war in some circumstances. Martin Cook (US Naval War College), in chapter 3, "Drone Warfare and Military Ethics," addresses the morality of drone killing, through tactical, operational, and strategic "lenses," before turning to international law and grand strategy. He approves of drones as a means to an end, except in the case of "signature" strikes against all fighting age males. Operationally, he believes drone use has been appropriate in Afghanistan, but not always elsewhere. Strategically, drones often do more harm than good to users regardless of their tactical and operational efficacy. Some US attacks on al-Qaeda have conformed to international law, but not, Cook writes, the George W. Bush administration's concept of "anticipatory self-defense" (National Security Strategy of 2002). Since the United States is no longer the sole user of military drones (62), meaningful international standards for their deployment are a pressing need. In chapter 4, "International Law and Drone Attacks beyond Armed Conflict Zones," Mary Ellen O'Connell (Notre Dame School of Law) refutes eight supposed legal justifications of drone killings outside combat zones, arguing notably that appeals to some global war are counterfactual even as to Afghanistan; so a self-defense justification based on such a war fails (65-68). For example, a nation's "consent" to an outsider's intervention because it is "unable or unwilling" to deal with terrorists inside its borders is no legitimate reason for such intervention. Other justifications do not comply with the International Committee of the Red Cross definition of "continuous combat functions." Karen Greenberg (Fordham Univ.), in chapter 5, "Drone Strikes and the Law," exposes legal flaws in US drone policy. Under George W. Bush, "enemy" might denote not just a given nation but also

The recent practice consisting in the use of drones in combat operations against non-state actors has provoked a large debate among international actors and legal scholars. Considered a nontraditional instrument of the use of force, the first issue of concern regards the ius ad bellum, which is the legal grounds of recourse to force and, on the other side, the ius in bello which explains the modalities of the use of force, once an armed conflict already exists. For these reasons, beside the fulfillment of the criteria established by art. 51 and Chapter VII of UN Charter on the use of force, the use of drones should also, in the context of legitimate armed attack, fully respect the criteria imposed by humanitarian international law such as proportionality, necessity and immediacy. With regard to self-defense, the use of drones under international law raises several legal questions mostly related to the pre-emptive or anticipatory nature of the use of force. Under current conventional and customary international law, the pre-emptive use of force is severally prohibited and thus, considered a violation of art. 2 (4) of the UN Charter. Self-defense, in order to be considered in conformity with art. 51 of the Charter, could be exercised in anticipatory way if an armed attack of the counter-part has already started. Outside the cases of self-defense and SC authorization, the use of drones (as a form of use of force) could be acceptable only in case of express territorial state consent. In the areas outside the combat zone (where ius in bello applies) the use of drones is not lawful. In these cases applies enforcement measures law and the drone targeted killings are to be considered "extra-judicial killings". For these reasons, the practice of the use of drones in different areas of the world not Rivista elettronica del Centro di Documentazione Europea dell'Università Kore di Enna 2 involved in an armed conflict contrast with current international law and compromise the achievement of global security. Keywords: drones, ius in bello, ius ad bellum, international law, global security, use of force, selfdefense, armed attack. Content: 1. Global security and use of force: introductive considerations -2. Use of drones between ius ad bellum and ius in bello -3. Legality of targeted killings by using drones

2010

Washington College of Law, American University, Washington DC, and a member of the Hoover Task Force on National Security and Law, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford CA. My areas of specialty include the laws of war and armed conflict, international law, and national security law. I have attached a brief biography as an appendix to this statement.

Revista Tecnológica - ESPOL

This article aims to characterize the unmanned drones used in the new global military defense strategies, considering the technological developments associated with artificial intelligence and robotics. In this sense, a documentary study was carried out to identify the most representative developments in the market of autonomous military drones, observing their implications in present and future war scenarios. The study established the implications that autonomous weapons are taking in global geopolitics, assuming changes in the way of incorporating intelligent technologies to improve the autonomy of drones to face the requirements of defense and attack demanded by the new battlefield scenarios. This scenario gives a glimpse of the coming years of the increase of drones as lethal weapons of low cost and high precision, whose deployment in various scenarios will be more effective in military operations of various kinds.

Behemoth : a Journal on Civilisation, 2015

The article argues that armed drones are weapons made for unconventional warfare and have little value for conventional interstate conflict. The rise of armed drones to prominence has to be considered as an indicator for the changed nature of contemporary armed conflict that has now become focused on countering terrorism, insurgencies, transnational organized crime and fighting ‘hybrid wars’ globally. The US military is preparing for both global counterinsurgency and for civil unrest at home as they are creating a global surveillance architecture reaching from outer space to cyber space, where everything and everybody can be continuously identified, tracked and located. Unmanned systems assist in global surveillance and provide the global reach for intervening in internal conflicts without the need of deploying large ground forces. The new technological capabilities, including drones, biometrics and cyber warfare, are very useful for global manhunts in the context of the ongoing war...

Published in Research Methods in Critical Security Studies: An Introduction, M. Salter and C. Mutlu, eds, London and New York: Routledge, 2012, chap. 31.

Over the past few years, there has been some noise over "drone" 1 attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While it remains true that the vast majority of drones in service are still used for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, 2 new prototypes (exemplified by the MQ-9 Reapermore or less an "armed" Predator drone) are designed for combat missions and have become weapon systems specifically made to kill people, being able to take out targets with advanced guided weaponry.