by Loud explosions rock the evening sky. Streams of light are like comets. Missiles rain down. Below, people are looking for cover. The wounded are taken on stretchers – the dead, buried.
Such is daily life in Ukraine, where unmanned vehicles known as drones litter the skies in a never-ending – but very real – video game war with Russia.
Both Russia and Ukraine are using drones in this war to remotely locate targets and drop bombs, among other purposes.
Today, drones are used in various other conflicts, but they are also used to deliver packages, track weather, reduce pesticides and entertain drone hobbyists.
Welcome to the world of drones. They range from small consumer quadcopters to remotely piloted warplanes – and all types are used by militaries around the world.
As a scholar of public diplomacy and foreign policy – and former US secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs – I know how important it is for people to understand drones and their proliferation, given the risks of war, terrorism and accident. drone fights around the world today.
A buying spree
The US is among more than 100 countries that use drones in times of conflict.
Terrorists have also known to deploy drones because they are relatively low-cost weapons with high levels of civilian damage.
Consumer drone shipments, worldwide, reached 5 million units in 2020 and are expected to exceed 7 million by 2025.
There was a 57% increase in drone sales worldwide from 2021 to 2022.
With the exponential increase in drone purchases, there are few restrictions on buyers, creating a wild, wild west of unregulated access and use.
Each country is free to decide when and where drones fly, without answering to any other country or international authority that regulates drones. The skies are often filled with drone drones, with little guidance on the ground about the rules of the sky.
Different purposes
Each country has a particular interest in acquiring and using drones.
China is increasingly using sophisticated drones for surveillance, particularly in international waters to patrol disputed islands in the South China Sea. Its growing drone program is influencing other countries like the US to invest more in the technology as well.
The Turkish military has an extremely sophisticated drone, the Bayraktar TB2, that can carry laser-guided bombs and is small enough to fit into a pickup truck.
The United Arab Emirates imports drones from China and Turkey for deployment in Yemen and Libya to monitor warlords in case of conflict.
And South Korea is considering starting a special drone unit after it failed to respond to North Korea’s recent drone invasion. When North Korea deployed five drones to its southern neighbor in December 2022, South Korea had to foil its fighter jets to issue warning shots.
No rules in the air
The countries that have armed drones are making their own rules on their own instead of an agreed set of international regulations.
International law prohibits the use of armed force unless the United Nations Security Council authorizes an attack, or in self-defense.
But short of waging an all-out war, drones can be legally deployed for counterterrorism operations, surveillance and other non-self-defense needs, creating a slippery slope to military conflict.
National and international rules of the sky regarding drone use are difficult to ascertain.
Over the past two decades, experts have tried to create international agreements on weapons – and some countries have supported an informal 2016 UN agreement that recommends countries document the import and export of unmanned aerial vehicles.
But these efforts have not evolved into serious, comprehensive standards and laws that have kept up with technology. There are several reasons for that: To protect their national sovereignty, governments do not want to release drone data. They also want to avoid duplicating their technology and maintain their market share of the drone trade.
USA and drones
For decades, the United States has grappled with how to balance drone warfare while engaging in overseas operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other conflict zones.
The US killed al-Qaida leader with a drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022.
But there have been other cases of drone strikes resulting in unintended casualties and damage.
In 2021, the New York Times reported that a US drone strike on a vehicle believed to be carrying an Islamic State bomb killed ten children – not three civilians, as the US said might have happened.
There is little research on public opinion on how Americans feel about the use of drones abroad, making it difficult to build public support for their military use.
Dangers of drones
Drone dangers are real. Many drone experts, myself included, believe that it is not safe for each country’s military to make their own decisions on drones without any rules guiding the transfer, export, import and use of drones – and without any major forum to discuss drones, as technology continues to develop.
Multiple drones can communicate with each other remotely, creating shared objectives rather than a single drone path or pattern. Like a swarm of bees, these drones form a deadly autonomous air force ripe for accidents.
With the advent of artificial intelligence and more sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, drones can change speed, altitude and targeting in seconds, making them even more difficult to track and investigate. Attacks seem to happen out of the blue.
I think the world needs new and consistent rules for drone use in the next decade – better international monitoring of drone attacks and more transparency about the results of drone attacks.
Knowledge of the impact of the military use of drones is not only important for historical purposes, but also for mobilizing societies and reducing their motivation to engage in conflict. It’s time to get serious about drones.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit, independent news organization that brings you reliable facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Tara Sonenshine, Tufts University
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Tara Sonenshine does not work for, consult with, share in, or be funded by any company or organization that would benefit from this article, nor has she disclosed any material interests beyond her academic appointment.
