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7 Critiquing Drone Warfare

  • Amos C. Fox
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De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare
This chapter is in the book De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare

Abstract

Precision strike has assumed an outsized role in modern warfare. Within the First Drone Age, drone-based precision strike promises to deliver accurate, firsttime hit percentages. Further, the prophets of precision strike and drone warfare assert that drone-based precision strike and precision strike-based strategies appear to offer a more civilized and antiseptic method of waging war. The marketing of precision strike, as well as how governments and militaries market it to the media and their domestic audience, foists the perceived benefits of precision strategies to the fore. Nonetheless, precision-based strategies, regardless of delivery platform, also come with serious shortfalls. To be sure, precision strategies often generate a set of counter-intuitive outcomes which are at odds with the availed benefits of precision strike munitions. The incongruence between benefit and outcome is referred to within this chapter as the Precision Paradox. The Precision Paradox is a cautionary heuristic to illustrate the potential shortcomings of precision strategies, thereby allowing decision-makers to incorporate a modicum of realism into their thinking. Further, the Precision Paradox also helps illustrate the need to return to military thought rooted in realism and reason, instead of military thought based on linear, best-case scenario suppositions.

Abstract

Precision strike has assumed an outsized role in modern warfare. Within the First Drone Age, drone-based precision strike promises to deliver accurate, firsttime hit percentages. Further, the prophets of precision strike and drone warfare assert that drone-based precision strike and precision strike-based strategies appear to offer a more civilized and antiseptic method of waging war. The marketing of precision strike, as well as how governments and militaries market it to the media and their domestic audience, foists the perceived benefits of precision strategies to the fore. Nonetheless, precision-based strategies, regardless of delivery platform, also come with serious shortfalls. To be sure, precision strategies often generate a set of counter-intuitive outcomes which are at odds with the availed benefits of precision strike munitions. The incongruence between benefit and outcome is referred to within this chapter as the Precision Paradox. The Precision Paradox is a cautionary heuristic to illustrate the potential shortcomings of precision strategies, thereby allowing decision-makers to incorporate a modicum of realism into their thinking. Further, the Precision Paradox also helps illustrate the need to return to military thought rooted in realism and reason, instead of military thought based on linear, best-case scenario suppositions.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: Why Study Drones? 1
  4. Part 1: Approaches to the Study of Drone Warfare
  5. 2 What Is Drone Warfare? 9
  6. 3 Defining Drones 25
  7. 4 Drones and International Law 41
  8. 5 Drone Imaginaries 57
  9. 6 A Gendering of Drones 69
  10. 7 Critiquing Drone Warfare 87
  11. Part 2: The First Drone Age
  12. 8 What Is ‘The First Drone Age’? 107
  13. 9 Drone Pilots: The Struggles of War by Remote Control 111
  14. 10 The Post-9/11 Era: Drones and Just War Theory 125
  15. 11 The CIA Drone Program 141
  16. 12 Drones and Civilian Harm 159
  17. 13 Drone Warfare and Public Opinion 177
  18. 14 Living Under Drones 197
  19. 15 The Media and Drone Warfare 215
  20. Part 3: The Second Drone Age
  21. 16 What is ‘The Second Drone Age’? 237
  22. 17 The Islamic State Drone Program 243
  23. 18 The Use of Drones in West Africa and the Sahel 255
  24. 19 China’s Drone Diplomacy 267
  25. 20 Russian Military Drones: Established and Emerging Technologies in Ukraine 285
  26. 21 Europe’s Military Drone Problem 299
  27. 22 Violent Nonstate Exploitation of Commercial Drones 313
  28. 23 Game-Changing Drones? The Record from Libya to Ukraine 325
  29. Part 4: A Third Drone Age? Concerns and Visions for the Future
  30. Concerns
  31. 24 Domestic Drones and Domestic Threat: Urban Life in the Drone Age 343
  32. 25 Autonomous Drones 369
  33. 26 Swarming Drones 385
  34. 27 Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems 399
  35. Visions
  36. 28 The Diffusion of Drone Warfare – A Ten Year Review 421
  37. 29 Drones: A Unique Danger to International Law 437
  38. 30 Drone Proliferation and IR Theory: Visions for the Future 453
  39. Contributors to this Volume 475
  40. Index 485
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742039-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: Why Study Drones? 1
  4. Part 1: Approaches to the Study of Drone Warfare
  5. 2 What Is Drone Warfare? 9
  6. 3 Defining Drones 25
  7. 4 Drones and International Law 41
  8. 5 Drone Imaginaries 57
  9. 6 A Gendering of Drones 69
  10. 7 Critiquing Drone Warfare 87
  11. Part 2: The First Drone Age
  12. 8 What Is ‘The First Drone Age’? 107
  13. 9 Drone Pilots: The Struggles of War by Remote Control 111
  14. 10 The Post-9/11 Era: Drones and Just War Theory 125
  15. 11 The CIA Drone Program 141
  16. 12 Drones and Civilian Harm 159
  17. 13 Drone Warfare and Public Opinion 177
  18. 14 Living Under Drones 197
  19. 15 The Media and Drone Warfare 215
  20. Part 3: The Second Drone Age
  21. 16 What is ‘The Second Drone Age’? 237
  22. 17 The Islamic State Drone Program 243
  23. 18 The Use of Drones in West Africa and the Sahel 255
  24. 19 China’s Drone Diplomacy 267
  25. 20 Russian Military Drones: Established and Emerging Technologies in Ukraine 285
  26. 21 Europe’s Military Drone Problem 299
  27. 22 Violent Nonstate Exploitation of Commercial Drones 313
  28. 23 Game-Changing Drones? The Record from Libya to Ukraine 325
  29. Part 4: A Third Drone Age? Concerns and Visions for the Future
  30. Concerns
  31. 24 Domestic Drones and Domestic Threat: Urban Life in the Drone Age 343
  32. 25 Autonomous Drones 369
  33. 26 Swarming Drones 385
  34. 27 Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems 399
  35. Visions
  36. 28 The Diffusion of Drone Warfare – A Ten Year Review 421
  37. 29 Drones: A Unique Danger to International Law 437
  38. 30 Drone Proliferation and IR Theory: Visions for the Future 453
  39. Contributors to this Volume 475
  40. Index 485
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