February 12, 2013:
They fly at 20,000 feet, carrying laser guided bombs and missiles, and are flown by satellite by pilots who are often half a world away. On a typical day, the pilot might be monitoring a group of people inside a small compound in Pakistan (or Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia). The pilot and his commanding officers determine that the people on the ground are militants training new recruits. Authorization is given, the pilot marks the target with a targeting laser and releases the bombs. Two, 500 pound Paveway bombs follow the laser to the target. The people below never hear a sound (the drone is too small, too quiet, and too high to be detected) before the bomb explodes on top of them. They are there one minute and gone the next. A successful strike is recorded, no U.S. soldiers' lives are endangered, and the drone flies on, searching for its next target.
Military use of remotely piloted aircraft (drones, UAVs, Reapers, Predators, etc.) has increased dramatically in the past 10 years and will continue to go up. President Obama, in the last 4 years, has already ordered 300+ drone attacks in the Middle East--6x more than President Bush ordered in his 8 years in office. The U.S. military used them in Iraq and uses them in Afghanistan for surveillance and for air strikes. The CIA flies "semi-secret" missions in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere (without permission from the countries themselves). In America, drones are largely viewed as a positive--preferable to endangering U.S. pilots and soldiers--there is a growing unease with our policies toward their use.
However, the recent release of a memo from the Justice Department detailing drone strike policy, which includes authorizing attacks on American born Islamic militants in the Middle East, has caused alarm where previously there was little. In the rest of the world, especially the Middle East and Africa, attitudes are much more negative toward American drone use. The main issue being the significant number of civilian casualties that result from drone attacks. Studies vary on the number and impact of civilian deaths from drone strikes, but there is no doubt that many civilians have been killed.
The CIA covert drone program aside, there is no doubt that UAV's are an important advancement in military technology. Unmanned vehicles will be able to accomplish missions without ever jeopardizing a single soldier's life. But they also come with significant new ethical questions which societies and their leaders will have to decide how to address as they develop.
Further Reading:
For more information on civilian casualties in the Middle East from drone strikes, take a look at the site from LivingUnderDrones.org, from Stanford University. They claim that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have killed 2,500-3,300 and between 470-880 were civilians, with an estimated 176 children.
Also, check out the New York Times' "Room for Debate" feature on the drone strike question. It's a good, examination of both sides of the ethical issues:
Drone use in the United States raises entirely different issues. For more on this topic, try out some of the links below:
Also, for an excellent, if one hour long overview of drone technology and issues around drone use, check out Nova's program: Rise of the Drones
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