drones
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RAF’s new armed drone given approval to fly freely over UK
The UK’s Military Aviation Authority (MAA) has issued ‘Military Type Certification’ to the UK’s new ‘Protector’ armed drone, meaning that it is now free to fly within UK airspace, including over populated areas. Continue reading
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Israel killing children in Jenin with drones
Israeli forces started to withdraw Thursday from the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp following a major military offensive that lasted more than 60 hours and killed at least 12 Palestinians, including four children. Continue reading
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The West bullies Iran, again
The manner in which Tehran handled its drone deal with Russia has been somewhat clumsy. The fact that the first ‘leak’ on this topic originated from none other than President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan should have alerted Tehran that something sinister was afoot. Continue reading
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Drones. Death and Data
We have all become familiar with the drones and UAVs that have been used by the US over recent years that have caused such death and hardship across the Middle East and elsewhere, but current hostilities in the Ukraine have highlighted the value of smaller aircraft and brought the advent of a new form of… Continue reading
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No, Iran Will Not Deliver Armed Drones To Russia
In March this year we were treated to an onslaught of obviously false claims that China would deliver weapons to Russia for the fight in Ukraine. Continue reading
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Military Spy Drones: How Domestic U.S. Drone Integration is Propelling Next Wave of Killer Drone Proliferation
Drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), were developed for war. The idea was first conceived in World War I and they were first adopted for surveillance purposes at the end of World War II and in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Then military drones like the Predator became armed during the “Global War on Terror.” Continue reading
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Skyborg: AI control of military drones begins to take off
The influential State of AI Report 2021, published in October, makes the alarming observation that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) for military purposes is now moving from research into the production phase. The report highlights three indicators which it argues shows this development, one of which is the progress that the US Air Force Research… Continue reading
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Long read: Six strikes that show the reality of drone warfare today
Weddings. Hospitals. Refugee camps. Aid workers. All have become the target of lethal strikes this year due to the spreading use of drones by a growing number of states. Here we detail six particular strikes and, below, reflect on what they show about the reality of drone warfare today. Continue reading
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On the horizon: drone spies coming to UK skies
On the horizon: drone spies coming to UK skies 26/10/2021Tim Street SkyGuardian flight trials over the UK in September 2021 In the last few months Drone Wars and UK Drone Watch have organised protests outside RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and RAF Lossiemouth in North East Scotland. We were protesting the decision to allow US arms… Continue reading
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Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale In Carceral Limbo While US Generals Shirk Responsibility For Deadly Strikes
Around two months ago, drone whistleblower Daniel Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison after he stood before a federal judge and delivered a statement that demonstrated he was a person of conscience. Continue reading
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MoD report urges embrace of human augmentation to fully exploit drones and AI for warfighting
The MoD’s internal think-tank, the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) along with the German Bundeswehr Office for Defence Planning (BODP) has published a disturbing new report urging greater investigation of – and investment in – human augmentation for military purposes. The following is a brief summary of the 100+ page document with short comment… Continue reading
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Ban Killer Drones: International Grassroots Movement to Ban Weaponized Drones Launched (Part 1)
An international grassroots movement to ban weaponized drones and military and police surveillance, entitled Ban Killer Drones, has been launched. Go to www.bankillerdrones.org to see the teamwork results of this excellent resource on the United States’s not-so-secret assassinations around the world. Continue reading
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UK: The Overseas Operations Act, drone strikes, and the presumption of lawfulness
The Overseas Operations Act, which recently became law, aims to limit the exposure of members of the armed forces to prosecution for crimes committed in the course of armed conflict. Unsurprisingly its passage through Parliament was fraught with controversy. In addition, the Parliamentary debate surrounding the Act highlighted that government thinking around the use of… Continue reading
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The iWars Survey: Mapping the IT sector’s involvement in developing autonomous weapons
A new survey by Drone Wars has begun the process of mapping the involvement of information technology corporations in military artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics programmes, an area of rapidly increasing focus for the military. ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’, the recently published integrated review of security, defence, development, and foreign policy, highlighted the… Continue reading
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Drone Wars continues to pursue details of secret UK drone operations
Drone Wars is undertaking legal action in an attempt to gain details of secret British Reaper drone operations that has been taking place since at least 2019. Appealing against the MoD’s refusal to answer both FoI requests and parliamentary questions about these missions, Drone Wars is seeking answers before an Information Tribunal. Continue reading
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War Mongering for Artificial Intelligence
The ghost of Edward Teller must have been doing the rounds between members of the National Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The father of the hydrogen bomb was never one too bothered by the ethical niggles that came with inventing murderous technology. It was not, for instance, “the scientist’s job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb… Continue reading
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All the warfare of the future’: Drones, new technology and the Integrated Review
At the beginning of March, the government will publish its long-awaited Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, known (thankfully) as ‘The Integrated Review’. It’s purpose is to “define the Government’s ambition for the UK’s role in the world and the long-term strategic aims for our national security and foreign policy.” Continue reading
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General Atomics plan flights of its new drone in UK – safety fears rerouted previous flights in the US
General Atomics is to bring a company-owned SkyGuardian drone to the UK in the summer to undertake “a series of operational capability demonstrations” for the UK and other NATO members. The RAF’s soon to be acquired Protector drone is a version of the SkyGuardian with a range of UK modifications. The aircraft is being shipped… Continue reading
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On the Edge: Security, protracted conflicts and the role of drones in Eurasia
Our new report, ‘On the Edge: Security, protracted conflicts and the role of drones in Eurasia’ examines the proliferation of drones and loitering munitions (often descried as suicide drones) across Eurasia. It charts their increasing use along the borders of separatist areas, aims to shed some light on the acquisition of large Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE)… Continue reading
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Intervention ‘without the need to consider the human cost’: MoD thinking on UK’s new drone revealed
Overall, the presentations provide an important insight into the thinking of the British military and security establishment on Protector, and their belief that our “blood and treasure” are what primarily matters when the UK undertakes overseas interventions. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 