2 What Is Drone Warfare?
-
James Patton Rogers
Abstract
At one level, ‘Drone Warfare’ is the deployment of drone technologies to further the political, strategic, and/or tactical ambitions of an actor in conflict. Nevertheless, with over 20 years of modern drone warfare behind us - wars that have reshaped our culture, our politics, our armed forces, and the lives of thousands - this chapter takes a deeper dive into the concept and asks “does the term drone warfare help us understand more than just the weapon itself?” By placing drones within the broader history of airpower, war, and barbarism, this chapter argues that drone warfare is indeed more than a technological trend and a novel weapon deployed in war. As an epoch-defining concept - one that captures an important moment in modern warfare - drone warfare highlights many of the novel personal, political, strategic, tactical, and technological aspects that remote-controlled and increasingly autonomous aerial systems have introduced into 21st-century conflict. In essence, although the term ‘drone warfare’ may fade away with the sands of time, overtaken by new trends and absorbed into the common lexicon of war, for those trying to explain how the character of war is changing across the political, strategic, tactical and personal elements of conflict, it is an important era-defining concept.
Abstract
At one level, ‘Drone Warfare’ is the deployment of drone technologies to further the political, strategic, and/or tactical ambitions of an actor in conflict. Nevertheless, with over 20 years of modern drone warfare behind us - wars that have reshaped our culture, our politics, our armed forces, and the lives of thousands - this chapter takes a deeper dive into the concept and asks “does the term drone warfare help us understand more than just the weapon itself?” By placing drones within the broader history of airpower, war, and barbarism, this chapter argues that drone warfare is indeed more than a technological trend and a novel weapon deployed in war. As an epoch-defining concept - one that captures an important moment in modern warfare - drone warfare highlights many of the novel personal, political, strategic, tactical, and technological aspects that remote-controlled and increasingly autonomous aerial systems have introduced into 21st-century conflict. In essence, although the term ‘drone warfare’ may fade away with the sands of time, overtaken by new trends and absorbed into the common lexicon of war, for those trying to explain how the character of war is changing across the political, strategic, tactical and personal elements of conflict, it is an important era-defining concept.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- 1 Introduction: Why Study Drones? 1
-
Part 1: Approaches to the Study of Drone Warfare
- 2 What Is Drone Warfare? 9
- 3 Defining Drones 25
- 4 Drones and International Law 41
- 5 Drone Imaginaries 57
- 6 A Gendering of Drones 69
- 7 Critiquing Drone Warfare 87
-
Part 2: The First Drone Age
- 8 What Is ‘The First Drone Age’? 107
- 9 Drone Pilots: The Struggles of War by Remote Control 111
- 10 The Post-9/11 Era: Drones and Just War Theory 125
- 11 The CIA Drone Program 141
- 12 Drones and Civilian Harm 159
- 13 Drone Warfare and Public Opinion 177
- 14 Living Under Drones 197
- 15 The Media and Drone Warfare 215
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Part 3: The Second Drone Age
- 16 What is ‘The Second Drone Age’? 237
- 17 The Islamic State Drone Program 243
- 18 The Use of Drones in West Africa and the Sahel 255
- 19 China’s Drone Diplomacy 267
- 20 Russian Military Drones: Established and Emerging Technologies in Ukraine 285
- 21 Europe’s Military Drone Problem 299
- 22 Violent Nonstate Exploitation of Commercial Drones 313
- 23 Game-Changing Drones? The Record from Libya to Ukraine 325
-
Part 4: A Third Drone Age? Concerns and Visions for the Future
-
Concerns
- 24 Domestic Drones and Domestic Threat: Urban Life in the Drone Age 343
- 25 Autonomous Drones 369
- 26 Swarming Drones 385
- 27 Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems 399
-
Visions
- 28 The Diffusion of Drone Warfare – A Ten Year Review 421
- 29 Drones: A Unique Danger to International Law 437
- 30 Drone Proliferation and IR Theory: Visions for the Future 453
- Contributors to this Volume 475
- Index 485
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- 1 Introduction: Why Study Drones? 1
-
Part 1: Approaches to the Study of Drone Warfare
- 2 What Is Drone Warfare? 9
- 3 Defining Drones 25
- 4 Drones and International Law 41
- 5 Drone Imaginaries 57
- 6 A Gendering of Drones 69
- 7 Critiquing Drone Warfare 87
-
Part 2: The First Drone Age
- 8 What Is ‘The First Drone Age’? 107
- 9 Drone Pilots: The Struggles of War by Remote Control 111
- 10 The Post-9/11 Era: Drones and Just War Theory 125
- 11 The CIA Drone Program 141
- 12 Drones and Civilian Harm 159
- 13 Drone Warfare and Public Opinion 177
- 14 Living Under Drones 197
- 15 The Media and Drone Warfare 215
-
Part 3: The Second Drone Age
- 16 What is ‘The Second Drone Age’? 237
- 17 The Islamic State Drone Program 243
- 18 The Use of Drones in West Africa and the Sahel 255
- 19 China’s Drone Diplomacy 267
- 20 Russian Military Drones: Established and Emerging Technologies in Ukraine 285
- 21 Europe’s Military Drone Problem 299
- 22 Violent Nonstate Exploitation of Commercial Drones 313
- 23 Game-Changing Drones? The Record from Libya to Ukraine 325
-
Part 4: A Third Drone Age? Concerns and Visions for the Future
-
Concerns
- 24 Domestic Drones and Domestic Threat: Urban Life in the Drone Age 343
- 25 Autonomous Drones 369
- 26 Swarming Drones 385
- 27 Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems 399
-
Visions
- 28 The Diffusion of Drone Warfare – A Ten Year Review 421
- 29 Drones: A Unique Danger to International Law 437
- 30 Drone Proliferation and IR Theory: Visions for the Future 453
- Contributors to this Volume 475
- Index 485
