War
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XLUUVs, Swarms, and STARTLE: New developments in the UK’s military autonomous systems
In November 2018 Drone Wars UK published ‘Off The Leash’, an in-depth research report outlining how the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was actively supporting research into technology to support the development of armed autonomous drones despite the government’s public claims that it “does not possess fully autonomous weapons and has no intention of developing them”. … Continue reading
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Backing the Wrong Horseman
Nobody knows how many people died as a result of the UK/US Coalition of Death led destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and, by proxy, Syria and Yemen. Nobody even knows how many people western forces themselves killed directly. That is a huge number, but still under 10% of the total. To add to that you… Continue reading
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COVID-19 MAY NOT ONLY KILL THROUGH INFECTION, BUT THROUGH RADIATION AS WELL!
Under the consistent (sic) hand of helmsman Trump, official estimates for the death toll in the USA are ranging up to 200,000. More worrying from the perspective of profits, talk is now centring on the probability of a six month lockdown. If the economy of the USA collapses while China’s recovers, then the US’s global… Continue reading
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The UK will spend over £350bn on extravagant military projects while failing to ensure national health security
New analysis shows that Britain plans to spend hundreds of billions of pounds on expensive military projects while the UK’s under-funded public health system struggles to address pandemics such as Covid-19. Continue reading
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U.S. Army invades virus plagued Europe
In the midst of a staggering virus epidemic that has shut much of Europe down, the insane and arrogant United States is presently sending 30,000 Army troops throughout Europe for war games. Continue reading
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FoI reveals UK flying Reaper drone missions outside of operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed in response to an FoI request from Drone Wars UK that British Reaper drones are undertaking missions outside of Operation Shader, the UK’s military operation against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The MoD has refused to say how many ‘non-Shader’ sorties there have been, or where they are… Continue reading
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Book Review ‘Eyes In The Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare’ by Arthur Holland Michel
Arthur Holland Michel, author of ‘Eyes In The Sky’, is one of the co-founders of the Centre for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York State. The Centre for the Study of the Drone has done extraordinary work in monitoring the spread in the use of drones, including publication of ‘The… Continue reading
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Dresden Terror Bombing, Like Hiroshima, a Maniacal Warning to Moscow
This weekend 75 years ago, the German city of Dresden was razed to the ground by British and American aerial bombardment. At least 25,000 mainly civilians were destroyed in raid after raid by over 1,200 heavy bombers, indiscriminately dropping high explosives and incendiaries. It took seven years just to clear the rubble. Continue reading
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Armed Drone Proliferation Update, January 2020
27 January 2020 — Drone Wars Joanna Frew The third of our twice-yearly updates details new operators and other significant developments around the proliferation of armed drones. For our complete list of states operating, or close to operating, armed drones see Who Has Armed Drones? Continue reading
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New Report – In the Frame: UK media coverage of drone targeted killing
Our new report looks at UK involvement in drone targeted killing and in particular at media coverage of British citizens killed in such strikes. It argues that the government’s refusal to discuss key details or policy issues around these operations has helped to curtail coverage, creating a climate where targeted killing has become normalised and… Continue reading
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Nuclear War Planning and the Challenge of Civilian Oversight
Washington D.C., January 22, 2020 – In an unusual episode in the early 1970s, the Joint Chiefs Staff tried to keep Defense Secretary Melvin Laird in the dark about an aspect of secret nuclear targeting policy involving China, according to a recently declassified archival document requested by the National Security Archive. Laird only discovered the… Continue reading
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The US’s Inalienable Right to Violence
Even when critical of US actions, media commentary on recent US bombings and assassinations in the Middle East is premised on the assumption that the US has the right to use violence (or the threat of it) to assert its will, anytime, anywhere. Conversely, corporate media coverage suggests that any countermeasure—such as resistance to the US presence… Continue reading
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PEPE ESCOBAR: You Say You Want a (Russian) Revolution?
Once in a blue moon an indispensable book comes out making a clear case for sanity in what is now a post-MAD world. That’s the responsibility carried by “The (Real) Revolution in Military Affairs,” by Andrei Martyanov (Clarity Press), arguably the most important book of 2019. Continue reading
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The Hidden Military Use of 5G Technology by Manlio Dinucci
The operation organised by the “Five Eyes” against Huawei aims exclusively to ensure that 5G technology in the West will not be controlled by a Chinese company. As a Pentagon report attests, this civilian technology is primarily used for military purposes. Continue reading
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A bloody month in the drone wars: 7 separate drone strikes kill dozens of civilians across 4 war zones
November 2019 saw seven civilian casualties incidents from drone strikes in four different war-zones illustrating the growing spread of drone warfare. The seven strikes between them are thought to have killed 41 civilians including 11 children. Continue reading
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‘Precise’ Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives – An update on Israel’s drone wars
Five years ago, Drone Wars published a ground breaking report examining Israel’s production, use and proliferation of military drones. Today we are pleased to publish ‘Precise Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives’ which brings our 2014 report up-to-date. The report looks beyond the veil of secrecy that surrounds Israel’s development and deployment of armed drones to explore… Continue reading
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UK drones more likely to target individuals than infrastructure data analysis reveals
Examination of UK air strike data from the past two years shows that British unmanned drones have been used far more often to attack individuals on the ground in Iraq and Syria than the UK’s other strike aircraft, the Tornado or the Typhoon. Continue reading
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What Does the U.S. Public Think of Its Government Arming and Bombing the World?
Data for Progress for quite a while appeared to be yet another U.S. PEP group (Progressive Except for Peace). They were producing useful polling reports on all sorts of topics as if 96% of humanity didn’t exist. Foreign policy just couldn’t be found. They told me they were just getting around to it. You still… Continue reading
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Trump admits US killed millions in war based on lies
Amid the storm of denunciations—extending from right-wing Republicans to the Democratic Party, the New York Times and the pseudo-left Jacobin magazine—of his decision to pull US troops out of Syria, President Donald Trump issued an extraordinary tweet on Wednesday in defense of his policy: Continue reading
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OPCW: A Site of Struggle for Impartiality, Independence and International Legitimacy in War Crimes Investigations
The use of chemical weapons is a war crime. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) – signed by almost every nation[1] – aims to expunge their use from the face of our planet. Charged with implementing the Convention is the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Part of its task is to investigate such… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 