I think we’re really going to regret our heavy use of military drones in the coming years. This Voice of America article reports the first drone attack against U. S. forces, by an Iranian-made drone in Syria.
IMO promoting an international accord banning the use of drones in warfare would have been a better choice but it’s too late for that now.
Could be but I don’t think it will make much difference. Anyone who has the tech and means will use them regardless of what we do.
Steve
Exactly the same could be said of chemical and bacteriological weapons. We’ve entered into international accords to ban them nonetheless.
Indeed, way too late. Drone are cheap effective and lethal. Everything that these fiscally austere times call for.
Drones are just airplanes w/o pilots. They don’t have the potential for mass killings, absent the ability to deliver chemical weapons or nukes. They are not as threatening to the great powers as were nukes and chemicals. There just won’t be that much interest.
Steve
I don’t see a problem with remote-controlled weapons, which is what drones are. Autonomous weapons, on the other hand, are extremely problematic and probably already illegal under the existing laws of warfare.