Military Drones Are a Two-Edged Sword

The U.S. military is using drones very effectively in finding and killing terrorist leaders. No country has a monopoly on the technology, which will likely be used against our country in the future. Quoting the Newsweek article, “Defending Against Drones”, “This year the Pentagon will buy more unmanned aircraft than manned, and train more UAV pilots than traditional bomber and fighter pilots combined.”

Using UAVs, (unmanned aerial vehicles) has transformed this form of modern warfare into a reality video game. The Predator is a UAV that can be flown by two operators sitting at a TV screen, thousands of miles away, and is armed with two “Hellfire” missiles plus other armament. It is very efficient at killing terrorists and also unlucky civilians. It can circle with near invisibility, surveil the target for 10 hours or more, and then strike without warning. The missiles are laser-guided with deadly accuracy. The video game ambiance, has the effect of emotionally sanitizing warfare, allowing combatants to kill in an impersonal way. They fight a war as a day job and go home to their families at the end of the day.

A Smithsonian article, “Drones are Ready for Takeoff”, tells of the many present and future peacetime uses of UAVs. They are already being used for crop-dusting, border patrol, wildlife monitoring, assessing natural disaster damage, and monitoring crops.

The technology is used by some commercial passenger jets to takeoff and land with no assistance from the pilots. Some experts believe that, in the future, planes that carry freight, will fly as drones with no pilots. Pilot-less passenger flights will inevitably follow.

As technologically advanced as the science is, it is not beyond the understanding of individual inventors. Several technologically-savvy civilians are building UAVs in their garages. A man named Tad McGeer, a Stanford graduate in aeronautical engineering, has invented a UAV, which successfully flew from Newfoundland to Scotland. He launched four planes. One completed the flight.

The Newsweek article also states “— a 77-year-old blind man from Canada designed an unmanned system that in 2003 hopped the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland.”

The lengthy Smithsonian article discusses the peacetime promise of the wonderful UAV technology. The Newsweek article explores the dark side of the technology. Like any technology, it can be used for “good or evil.”

The U.S. tends to believe that they are so technologically advanced, that they do not need to worry much about being attacked. A Department of Homeland Security official is quoted as saying that the idea of a terrorist possessing a Predator is ridiculous. That is probably correct, but it ignores the fact that 40 or more different countries, from Iran to Belarus, already own and use UAVs. Some models are commercially available and are used for the civilian uses already listed.

They could be easily used by terrorists, homegrown or foreign, as carriers for explosives or to distribute biological agents. A robotics expert is quoted as saying that a terrorist with $50,000 could attain a UAV and use it to terrorize Manhattan.

It was difficult enough to rid a post office building of anthrax contamination. Decontaminating a large area of a city, would be impossible. Think of the economic and psychological consequences to our country of such an attack.

The Newsweek article states emphatically that our present-day weapons will not defend us against UAVs and that we must give this matter the highest priority.

“Drones are Ready for Takeoff”/Smithsonian.com

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Drones-are-Ready-for-Takeoff.html?c=y&page=1

“Defending Against Drones”/Newsweek

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/25/defending-against-drones.print.html

“MQ-1 Predator Aircraft”/Time.com

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2074830_2074827_2074846,00.html

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