Greetings!
Drones are the latest profit driven tool of the military/industrial/congressional complex. In some ways it’s surprising that it’s taken so long for drone technology to advance- we’ve had remote control hobby planes for decades; putting cameras and laser guided bombs on them doesn’t seem like a very big leap. In fact the US has used drones from WWII on, and we did it fairly heavily in Vietnam. The modern drone era started with a couple flights in the Gulf Wars, but got serious in 2001 when the Bush administration used Predator drones to assassinate terrorist leaders in Afghanistan. Since then the Obama administration has put the program on steroids, executing more than six times as many strikes as the Bush administration, although the program was only publicly acknowledged in 2012.
Today the military is backing drone warfare in a big way. The NOVA program, “Rise of the Drones”, reviewed drone technology in depth. Currently the US military has about 2300 manned aircraft of all types, and they are targeting 1/3 of the combat fleet to be made up of drones within a decade. Drone pilots can be trained in less than half the time of a manned pilot, which may explain why we currently have more remote pilots than fighter and bomber pilots combined. Perhaps the most telling fact from the program was that right now no defense contracting company is researching new manned aircraft of any kind. Drones are here to stay.
Drones can hover unseen over potential targets for hours or days, gathering intelligence and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. They can probe deep into enemy territory to find their target, eliminating the need for large troop contingents or support bases that could cause diplomatic problems or cost huge sums of money. Perhaps the greatest strength of drone aircraft is what they don’t do… they don’t expose live pilots to risk. The US gets irate when a drone is lost, but there is no grieving family to comfort and less diplomatic or press blowback.
Like other new technologies, drones raise serious questions about their implementation. They are said to be “surgically precise”, but results from the battlefield dispute this. What limits are there to this powerful new weapon in war? And, as drones prove their effectiveness abroad, should they find other uses domestically? Can these weapons be used on American Citizens? Can police or intelligence agencies use them here at home? What about private surveillance companies?
The use of drones opens doors to massive abuse, and we the people can’t blindly wait and hope politicians build a coherent policy around them. They have already changed the face of war, and I worry their domestic use is another freight train bearing down on us. Drones are a huge issue that will occupy our public debate for decades to come, and I think responsible citizens should get out front on this issue before it’s too late.
Take Care and Make a Great Day!
