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Two decades ago, the notion of arming an uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) was little more than a niche pursuit. Today, at least 20 countries have weaponised UAV systems in their inventories, with other nations pursuing acquisition, while the capability is also proliferating to non-state actors. The air vehicles range from small, crude, hobbyist-style UAVs favoured by some non-state groups, to large, long-endurance platforms capable of being fitted with a range of sensors and air-to-surface weapons. Technological development continues apace with an increasing emphasis on greater automation and reducing the human workload, along with the emergence of a type of hybrid UAV and air-to-surface munition along side the more established loitering munition. While uninhabited systems are increasingly embraced by many armed forces, they remain an uneasy subject in the wider public realm, where the perceived lack of human control remains an ethical issue. There also continues to be concern in the legal community regarding how increasingly automated – and perhaps one day autonomous – weapon systems fit within the law of armed conflict – legal concept rather than legislation, sometimes also referred to as international humanitarian law. These subjects were the focus of a 21–22 June 2021 seminar organised by IISS Europe to help further the debate and to better understand the implications of weapons-capable uninhabited systems. This paper reflects the discussions and many of the issues raised by the participants.
Since 2018, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) field investigation teams have carried out forensic documentation of the military equipment that has been recovered from armed formations of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ (DPR and LPR) in eastern Ukraine. This report is the result of a three-year study into the supply sources of weapons, ammunition, vehicles, armour, and artillery used in the conflict.
Contemporary military technologies raise political, ethical and legal questions that stretch beyond the operational dynamics of the battlefield. For this reason, their regulation is a matter of international diplomacy to which armed forces, governments, international institutions, and civil society should contribute. In this context, Norway is faced with multiple challenges and opportunities. Whereas the lack of efficient regulation poses operational challenges and increases security risks, it also creates an opportunity for the country to step-up its arms control diplomacy. But how should this happen? What are the key issues at stake? This policy brief by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) summarizes the discussions held at a webinar jointly organized in June 2021 by PRIO and the European Forum on Armed Drones.
After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Congress passed a use of force authorisation that successive presidents have used to expand military action ever further. As part of their series The Legacy of 9/11 and the “War on Terror”, the International crisis Group argues that Washington should enact a new statute that promotes transparency and narrows the war’s scope.
Several European countries are in the process of equipping their armies with armed MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drones. These new weapons are not without controversy. They are redefining military practices and the contours of war as we know it. This analysisexamines the position that the European Union has adopted with regard to these controversial weapons, which belong to its Member States, and the measures taken (or not taken) as a result at the European level. It first notes that the EU has supported the use and acquisition of armed drones and more. This support does not appear to be the result of an institutionalised decision upstream, but rather of a de facto acceptance of a fait accompli established by the Member States. It then examines the legal and ethical considerations that result from this effective support, and which seem to have been left out of a hypothetical debate.
Author: Solène Jomier
Date: 19 May 2021
The use of military drones is rapidly increasing across Africa, according to a new report by peace organization PAX. Drones are used in armed conflicts or counterterrorism operations across the continent, while there are few policies, rules and procedures that are observed when deploying drones. The report, “Remote Horizons: Expanding use and proliferation of military drones in Africa”, shows that in the last 14 years, African and foreign states have been involved in drone operations in at least 20 states in North Africa, the Sahel and Horn of Africa.
The use of armed drones, particularly to conduct targeted killings outside formal war zones, is highly contentious. In the contemporary context, where conflict has moved beyond the theatres of traditional warfare to take place in undefined battle zones, and is chiefly characterized by counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations, drone use has brought to the fore critical questions on civilian casualties, the rule of law, secrecy and lack of accountability, among others.
Reflecting on the ways in which the U.S. drone program has defined and has been defined by the United States’ nearly 20-year-old approach to the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations around the world, the Stimson Center aims to offer an updated inventory of the challenges and consequences wrought by such an approach. This report serves as the fourth installment of our analyses on the U.S. drone program and seeks to emphasize the need for a thorough review and reconfiguration of the United States’ approach to the use of lethal force in order to ensure U.S. policies and activities are responsible and accountable in the short, medium, and long term.
The report Death Falling from the Sky, Civilian Harm from the United States’ Use of Lethal Force in Yemen, provides detailed information regarding 12 operations carried out by the United States in Yemen between January 2017 and January 2019. The 12 incidents in this report include ten airstrikes, all conducted with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and two ground raids in five Yemeni governorates—Abyan, Al Bayda, Shabwah, Hadramawt and Ma’rib.
At least 38 Yemeni civilians, including 13 children, six women, and 19 men, were killed in these operations. At least seven civilians, including six children, five of whom were under the age of ten, and one man, were injured. Civilians were going about their everyday lives—driving to visit friends, bringing food to their families, sleeping in their homes—when killed or injured. These US operations also caused other forms of deep and long-lasting civilian harm. In only one of the documented incidents has the US acknowledged any resulting civilian harm.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March, 2021
The documentary “Violated Lives” highlights the US forces military raid in Al Athal village of Al Jubah district, Marib governorate in Yemen on May 23, 2017. Five people were killed in the raid, including two civilians, two members of the US-aligned Yemeni army, and another man whose status Mwatana was unable to determine. The two civilians who were killed included an elderly shepherd and a 19-year old student. Another four people were injured, including two civilians and two Yemeni army soldiers.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March 22, 2021
As the international community continues discussions on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) in 2020 and 2021 and will focus on the further development and operationalization of the guiding principles, the role of human decision-making will undoubtedly remain one of the core issues.
By drawing on near-term technologies, such as swarms, and related command and control models in deliberations about human control and human-machine interaction, the international community can move to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how control may or may not be exercised in military practice – now and in future operations.
Date: 2020
Authors: Merel Ekelhof & Giacomo Persi Paoli, UNIDIR
This technical manual covers all aspects of having to counter the full spectrum of unmanned aircraft and their respective system components. It should serve to bring together both civilian and military experts by initiating thought and emphasizing NATO’s approach to a comprehensive solution for countering unmanned aircraft systems.
The latest report by Drone Wars UK, ‘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) Chinese drones in Central Asia, and asks why this has happened and what the likely consequences might be.
Conflicts like those in Libya and the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which high-tech armed drones help decide the fate of nations, are becoming increasingly common. Equally concerning is the increasing use of drones for targeted killings in purported self-defense, such as the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and others by the United States in Iraq in January. The proliferation and evolution of drone technology puts such killings within the reach of multiple state and non-state actors, who may kill anonymously and with impunity.
The Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR—a 1980s control mechanism intended to prevent the spread of unmanned systems that can deliver weapons of mass destruction—has not stopped the proliferation of armed drones, and the Trump administration’s decision to re-interpret the MTCR has only made things worse. Instead, nation states must work together to establish a new regime for the new drone age, and President-elect Biden should consider supporting such a move. Call it a Drone Technology Control Regime.
Amid naval patrols, live military drills, island building, trade wars and diplomatic breakdown, drones are making an increasing impact on the security situation in the South China Sea and the relationship between China and the US. Smaller nations in the region are also acquiring further reaching surveillance UAVs, while a number of states are looking to bring armed drones in to service over the next few years.
The world’s attention has been drawn in recent months to a number of spectacular cases of the use of armed drones in military operations.
the targeted killing by the United States of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Qods paramilitary force, at Baghdad airport on 3 January 2020, together with pro-Iranian militia leaders;
strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities at Abqaiq on 14 September 2019 by some 25 drones and missiles. The Houthi movement in Yemen claimed to have carried out these strikes, but the United States and Saudi Arabia attributed the attack to Iran, which denied responsibility; and
reports that Turkey had made intensive use of armed drones in Syria to destroy dozens of Syrian battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and air defence systems after several of its own drones had been shot down by Syrian or Russian forces in early 2020. Previously, Turkey had publicised its manufacture of a new drone, the Songar, armed with a machine gun or grenade launcher, controlled by artificial intelligence, and capable of being used in swarms.
These events are only the visible part of a global phenomenon that started a few decades ago but is now widespread: the resort to uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs) equipped with weapons as a substitute for air strikes previously carried out by crewed aircraft. As a consequence of the attractiveness of the use of drones – for obvious reasons of cost and pilot safety – the international market in armed drones is booming, creating risks of widespread proliferation, especially to non-state actors or states known for their lack of respect for the laws of warfare.This paper analyses these proliferation risks and formulates recommendations on how to mitigate them.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Cholpon Orozobekova and Marc Finaud
Military and “security” actions with military robotic and armed systems have radically changed the war scenarios, which have evolved from concentrating on military and strategic targets to performing attacks that can seriously affect uninvolved civilian population.
Attacks with armed drones often do not appear in newspapers, but they show a steady growth rate in recent years. They are attacks that end up killing civilians, as well as perpetrating summary and extrajudicial executions of supposedly terrorist people. Lately, in addition, the military drones are evolving to incorporate autonomous systems of decision.
This report presents the main concepts related to the new robotic military systems as well as the different types of military drones and the risk that the automation step towards autonomy and the deployment of autonomous and lethal armed systems can mean. The publication seeks to identify the major actors (producing and buying countries, and companies) in the field of armed and autonomous drones, as well as the main types of drones that may include autonomous capacities. The international efforts that aim at the prohibition of these weapons are also presented, as well as the ethical problems that arise in relation to these new weapons, to armed drones and their possible autonomy, in a geopolitical framework in which the business has neglected people and their rights.
Date: November 2019
Authors: Pere Brunet, Tica Font, Xavi Mojal and Joaquín Rodríguez
The rapidly growing use of deadly drones is profoundly shaping state and armed groups’ capacities to wage war, according to new research from peace organization PAX called Violent Skies.
The report Violent Skies demonstrates how all actors involved have quickly learned how to make use of drones in all shapes and sizes in their military operations. In the wars in Yemen and Ukraine alone, 40 types of drones were used from 12 different countries. The outcomes of the report paint a disturbing picture. Remote lethal force with armed drones is being used in conflicts all over the world, spurred by burgeoning drone industries and States seeking to expand their geo-political and military influence with drone sales and support operations. Now even groups that previously had little access to intelligence can easily track their enemies and eliminate them from a distance. Many innocent people fall victim to this. It’s time to control drones.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Alies Jansen, PAX
The new report of Drone Wars UK “Joint Enterprise: An overview of US-UK co-operation on armed drone operations” investigates the co-operation between the UK and the US in relation to armed drone operations. The UK has declared that its armed drone program is independent of the US drone program. The report of Drone Wars UK shows however how the drone operations of the UK and US are closely intertwined.
Date: June 2020
Author: Peter Burt, Drone Wars UK
The use of drones as weapons in the Middle East and North Africa has grown rapidly in recent years, especially as non-state actors from the Houthis in Yemen to militants in Syria seek to level the playing field. Often powered by widely available commercial technology, these systems present a real and present security challenge. What should policymakers do to adapt to this new threat? How can they best structure defenses and leverage available technology to protect key assets?
“Drone Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure,” by Dr. Scott Crino and Conrad “Andy” Dreby, addresses these questions and more. Crino is founder and CEO and Dreby is director of red-teaming at Red Six Solutions, LLC.
The authors analyze developments in the use of weaponized drones in the Middle East and beyond, exploring how regional policymakers can adapt to mitigate this threat.
Date: May 4 2020
Author: Atlantic Council
On today’s battlefield, a whole set of new capabilities has appeared. This calls for a mandatory understanding of how much of a potential game-changer Remotely Piloted Systems, commonly known as drones, are or will be. The porous border between civil and military technologies is one key explanation and has contributed to drone proliferation. Their dual character, presenting a new regulatory challenge, allowed for drone technology to be easily accessible on the market notably for non-state actors seeking air-based capabilities. This paper aims to emphasize the emerging threat posed by the use of Remotely Piloted Systems by non-state actors operating in the Levant, essentially but not only in Syria and Iraq. Studying RPS and their military implications help to design future trends in drone warfare. What happens in Syria and Iraq might be helpful to think how France, and generally speaking NATO and EU member states, should deal with this imminent and continually evolving threat, whether on the tactical, operational, or strategic levels, by taking into consideration the rapid proliferation of drone technology and its use by potential adversaries.
Date: 4 September 2019
Authors: Guillaume Lasconjarias and Hassan Maged, Institut de recherche stratégique de l’École militaire (IRSEM)
In recent years, the policy debate around military drone use has mostly focused on armed drones and largely ignored the much more rapid and widespread proliferation of non-weaponized drones. “Unarmed and Dangerous: The Lethal Applications of Non-Weaponized Drones” of the Center for the Study of the Drone seeks to shed light on the many ways that unarmed drones can directly enable kinetic operations. This detailed study describes six common strike-enabling roles for unarmed drones and explains why the use of drones in each of these roles is significant.
Date: March 2020
Author: The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by War on the Rocks analyses the warfare in Libya, which is probably the biggest drone war theater in the world.
“Western governments have watched the battle over Libya’s capital, Tripoli, with disinterest, even as it has drawn in a growing number of foreign powers. But this conflict has more to teach us about the future world order, or disorder, than many observers appreciate. The patterns of warfare in Libya today not only reflect the erosion of the U.S.-led international order, but they directly contribute to its demise. Three aspects in particular highlight the new international disorder. Armed drones embody a trend toward military action that minimizes the risks and costs to the intervening powers, thereby encouraging them to meddle in conflicts where no vital interests are at stake. With arms-length instruments such as drones and mercenaries, intervening states also seek to maintain a degree of deniability. The main reason why for the rise of deniability, however, is that the great powers are increasingly tolerant of even dubious denials of an increasing range of foreign meddlers. The authoritarian states intervening in Libya also lead disinformation campaigns whose scope illustrates dramatically altered international power relations. Warfare in Libya reveals seismic shifts in international order that have invited cavalier meddling by distant powers big and small, amid international indifference.”
Date: 3 March 2020
Author: War on the Rocks
In the second six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 20 January 2020
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by Drone Wars UK 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 accepted, eroding human rights norms.
Date: 19 January 2020
Author: Drone Wars UK
Though it is far from establishing a European Army, the EU is being increasingly adapted for military purposes. New instruments related to the integration, financing, and coordination of military research, development, and operations have been created in quick succession.Military unmanned systems, or drones, have taken a central stage within these developments. Their development is considered to be essential for future military operations, for the EU’s strategic sovereignty, as a future export product, and as a testbed for closer EU cooperation. However, the use of these systems has also raised serious legal, ethical, and humanitarian concerns.
Armed drones have been extensively used to carry out extrajudicial killings, have caused numerous civilian casualties, and there are ethical implications of having a relatively cheap and risk-free tool to use lethal force with. It is therefore worth examining how the developments within the EU might affect the use of military drones by Member States. The findings of this report show that within the EU there is a clear intention to develop armed drones, but that discussions or policies that guide their use are absent. This gap is concerning, as the way in which the EU Defence is developing does not bode well for issues of accountability and transparency.
Date: 5 December 2019
Author: PAX
‘Precise Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives’ is an update of Drone Wars UK’s 2014 report on Israel’s drone wars. The report ‘looks beyond the veil of secrecy that surrounds Israel’s development and deployment of armed drones to explore their use and impact, particularly in Gaza’ since 2014.
Israel has relied extensively on armed drones to carry out targeted killings in Palestine as well other neighboring countries. On the one hand, Israel is praising the perceived precision of drone strikes as ‘humanitarian’, yet on the other hand, they rare disclose information on the use of armed drones. This report shows that not only have Israel’s drone strikes cause large-scale humanitarian harm, but they have also been used to promote the export of armed drones to other countries.
Date: 12 November 2019
Author: Drone Wars UK
The use of armed drones in the European Union has become a topic rife with controversy and misinformation. This report gives a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the approach to, and use of, armed drones in five European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. Further, the report is intended to start a wider debate about armed drones in Europe and to serve as a guide on this topic for the European Parliament.
Date: 7 November 2019
Author: Open Society Foundations
In light of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly First Committee, the Reaching Critical Will programme publishes a briefing book highlighting critical disarmament topics, and what governments can do to achieve progress on these issues. The topic of armed drones has been covered by Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX).
Date: 17 September, 2019
Author: Reaching Critical Will
Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana for Human Rights has published a new report documenting how civilian lives are being harmed by the war in Yemen, including through US drone strikes. The report, titled ‘Withering Life: The Human Rights Situation in Yemen 2018‘ is based on over 2000 interviews with “victims, relatives, eyewitnesses, and medical and humanitarian workers” as well as site visits and inspections of weapons remnants.
Date: 18 July 2019
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) has published a new reflection paper calling upon states to take action on armed drones. The publication, titled “Technology at the Service of Peace”, examines the development, use, and export of armed drones as well as the development of fully autonomous weapons, also known as killerrobots. EFAD members were also consulted for the this report. Based on this reflection, COMECE provides several recommendations to the EU and its Member States on how to address the challenges posed by such ‘uncrewed’ armed systems.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: COMECE
In the first six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
A new research report by IRIAD and EFAD Member Rete Disarmo show widespread opposition of the general public against the use of armed drones. The research surveyed Italian citizens about their approval of the use of military drones by the government. The report, titled: “The Drone: Supporting Actor or Protagonist? The perception of unmanned aircraft in the mass media and in Italian public opinion” provides new insights in how the use of armed drones are perceived among the population and raises questions about the need of governement to be transparent and accountable about their policies.
Date: 10 June 2019
Author: IRIAD, Rete Disarmo
On 15 May 2019, PAX hosted a conference, in collaboration with Chatham House, which explored European perspectives on remote warfare. The event brought together experts on European and international security, emerging technologies, and the ethics and conduct of war, to discuss key issues related to remote warfare. Participants included those working in academia, think-tanks, NGOs and the media.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
Date: May 15, 2019
Author: PAX
A new report by EFAD member Amnesty International details how US airstrikes, carried out with both drones and manned aircraft, have killed more civilians than the Pentagon admits. Under Trump, Somalia was declared an active area of hostilities in 2017. Since then, the frequency of airstrikes has increased rapidly. The US military has maintained the position that there were zero civilian casualties during the more than 100 strikes carried out since early 2017. But research conducted by Amnesty found at least 14 civilian casualties as a result of only 5 of those airstrikes.
Date: 20 March, 2019
Author: Amnesty International
This translation has been prepared for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), one of the NGOs supporting the claimants in this case (Faisal bin Ali Jaber and others v. the Federal Republic of Germany). This is an unofficial translation and is provided for information only. Italicized text added for clarity. The original German text of the court’s press release can be found on the website of the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Date: 19/03/2019
Author: ECCHR
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on armed drones has issued a statement in response to the Pentagon’s decision of undertaking a major review of civilian deaths during military operations. The Pentagon has taken this decision after years of calls by civil society organisations such as Airwars, which have found much higher number of civilian casualties than the Pentagon does. The APPG reiterated its call for the UK government to reavaluate its methodology of assessing civilian casualties in ‘air-only’ operations as well.
Date: 15 February 2019
Author: APPG
The Centre for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is a Washington D.C. based NGO that has worked on behalf of civilians in conflict areas sinds 2003. In an interview for EFAD, we asked how they have been involved with the issues of armed drones and what they want to achieve through their work.
Date: 13 February 2019
Author: EFAD
In response to the rapid proliferation of armed drones during the last few years, Amnesty International has increasingly paid attention to this issue. Youssef Rahman is a Senior Political Affairs Officer at Amnesty International in the Netherlands. In an interview for EFAD, we asked Youssef about Amnesty’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: January 30, 2019
Author: EFAD
The Nuhanovic Foundation (NF) was established in the Netherlands in 2011 to assist war victims who seek access to justice through research and litigation. Marjolein Vlieks, who leads the drone program of Nuhanovic, conducts research on the legal remedies for victims of drone strikes. We interviewed Marjolein about the organization’s experience with working on the issue.
Date: January 17, 2019
Author: EFAD
Drone Wars UK is an NGO based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2010 to undertake research and advocacy around the issue of armed drones. Their work is mainly focused on the scrutiny of British drone use. In a new report published last month by Drone Wars UK, it was revealed that the UK government is actively funding research into technology supporting the development of armed autonomous drones. In a conversation with director Chris Cole, we asked about Drone Wars UK experience with working on the issue.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: EFAD
The almost global capacity to conduct airstrikes anytime, anywhere: that is one of the most distinctive features of armed drones – and therefore a new dimension of warfare. The US military bases at Ramstein (Germany) and Sigonella (Italy) play a crucial role in US drone strikes in Yemen and several other countries. Together with those affected by drone strikes and with its partners around the world, ECCHR uses legal means to seek an end to unlawful killings by armed drones.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: ECCHR
Airwars is a non-profit, collaborative project of journalists and researchers across the Middle East and Europe dedicated to monitor international military actions in conflict zones such as Iraq, Libya and Syria. In an interview with founder Chris Woods, we asked about Airwars work on exposing the shadowy consequences of the use of armed drones.
Chris authored some of the key investigations into covert US drone strikes and their true effects from 2011 onwards. Moreover, he set up and ran the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s award-winning Drones Project, and is the author of Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars.
Date: December 6, 2018
Author: EFAD
An increasing number of European countries is acquiring Medium Altitude, Long Endurance type drones. These drones, which are used for surveillance and can be armed, were acquired from producers outside Europe, such as Israel and the United States. However, a series of EU initiatives is now aiding the proliferation of drone production and use throughout Europe. The growing use of drones by EU countries raises several questions. As this report neatly summarizes:
” Europe is facing a crossroad in drone affairs. It must decide if it will “slide” into the American approach to drone strike policy or create a European arms control regime, including employment standards. Right now, there is a momentum for intensifying EUdefense cooperation, presenting a window of opportunity for taking respective action and establishing an arms control regime for armed MALE-drones. ”
Date: November, 2018
Author: IFSH/IFAR, Johanne Polle
Armed UAVs are rapidly spreading to more States, and future systems are likely to be more survivable. In part because user States have not to date been uniformly transparent, the use of armed UAVs could contribute inadvertently to conflict escalation, particularly in already complex and unstable strategic environments, and in ways that policymakers do not yet seem to have considered. This briefing paper explores these challenges and suggests it would be desirable for States to develop some common understandings to form the basis for appropriate standards and best practices to reduce risks and inform crisis management processes.
Date: 19 November, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
The Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) is a national network of civil society organizations founded in 2014, working to protect and enforce civil rights and freedoms of all through a combination of legal action, advocacy and public education. We interviewed Antonella Napolitano, former Communications Manager at CILD about the organization’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 15, 2018
Author: EFAD
The issues pertaining to the use of armed drones have so far been mostly caused by larger ones, such as the Predator, Wing Loong, and Reaper drones. A new report by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament (UNIDIR) has investigated “whether small armed UAVs may provide a disruptive capability far more rapidly than their larger cousins”, and the findings are worrying.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
Article 36 is a UK-based non-profit organisation doing research, policy and advocacy to address the humanitarian impact of weapons and methods of warfare. In an interview with Elizabeth Minor from Article 36, we asked about the organization’s experience with working on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: EFAD
This report, published the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), examines the efforts currently underway in Europe and the US to develop new combat aircraft over the next fifteen to twenty years. It considers the advantages of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, such as expendability, the simplicity of manufacturing and deploying one, and the combat endurance. The report ends with the suggestion that a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft would offer a pathway to a capable and maintainable air force for NATO countries.
Date: November 2, 2018
Author: RUSI
The report Human Rights and Human Realities: Local perspectives on drone strikes and international law sets stories of drone victims in the context of international law.
Since 2003, thousands of armed drone strikes targeted suspected terrorists in these countries, but instead killed and wounded thousands of civilians. Interviews with survivors of drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan reveal what legal concepts such as ‘transparency’, ‘the protection of life’, and the ‘right to remedy’ mean for victims of drone strikes.
Date: October 24, 2018
Author: PAX
Here you can find more information on ongoing litigation in Germany on behalf of the Bin Ali Jaber family who lost relatives to a drone strike in Yemen in 2012. The family is asking Germany to prevent the use of the US Air Base at Ramstein for carrying out drone strikes in Yemen.
Date: October 22, 2018
Author: ECCHR
EFAD member Article36 released two new policy papers addressing the harm arising from the use of force through drones. As an increasing number of states are seeking to acquire armed drone capabilities, international norms on what constitutes an acceptable role for drones in the use of force need to be developed. During this year’s First Committee at the UN General Assembly, states have the opportunity to develop clear and effective international standards for the use of armed drones.
Date: October 15, 2018
Author: Article36
The US Department of Defense has released its latest roadmap for unmanned systems, describing how such systems might be integrated in defense operations across all domains. It discusses manned-unmanned teaming, autonomy, and weaponization, amongst other things.
Date: August 13, 2018
Author: Pentagon
In recent years, dozens of drone development projects have attracted hundreds of millions of euros from EU public research funds with little accountability and scarce political oversight. This article relates the ongoing exponential growth of the drone industry in Europe with the vast amounts of EU public research funding channeled to drone research.
Date: August 31, 2018
Author: Bruno Oliveira Martins, from Malmö University an Peace Research Institute Oslo, and Christian Küster, from Aarhus University
The Stimson Center has conducted an analysis of how drones relate to various multilateral regulatory regimes. Based on these findings, they have published a report offering a particular focus on the International Arms Trade Treaty, examining the ways in which it regulates the transfers and use of drones.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
This report outlines the impending growth in the global market for drones. Government and commercial investments in developing drone technologies is at a high and shows no sign of abating. Of the currently 450 drone manufacturers globally, two thirds are working on military drones in the hopes of gaining a substantial slice of the projected market value of US$21 billion by 2021. A snapshot is offered by this report of the most recent technological developments in the area of drones used for military purposes in order to illustrate the rapid pace with which new drone technologies and capacities develop and are likely to proliferate.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: PAX
What are the blind spots, lessons learned, and good and bad habits in the relationship between US policymakers and military drones? What effects is the use of drones generating, what are they achieving, and are they the best means to accomplish set goals? The Centre for New American Security has delved deep into the relationship between policymakers and drones, and found several disconcerting issues.
Date: July 31, 2018
Author: CNAS
The UK’s way of fighting a war at a distance, including through the use of drones, is generally believed to be effective, cheap, and clean. A new report by the Remote Warfare Programme of the Oxford’s Research Group dispels these and other myths.
Date: 27 June, 2018
Author: Oxford Research Group – Remote Warfare Programme
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones (APPG) has released its findings after a two year-long inquiry into the issues of the UK’s drone program. Together, these issues not only put innocent civilians harms way, but also open up pathways which may lead to the prosecution of UK personnel for violation of international law.
Date: July 18, 2018
Author: APPG on Drones
This report by the RAND corporation explores the impact of export controls related to drones on US political, economical, and security interests. Particularly the Missile Technology Control Regime is being considered, and the authors conclude that even though the MTCR had some success in limiting the proliferation of large drones, the rise of non-MTCR members and the production of drones just below the MTCR category limit have both contributed to the erosion of the MTCR’s efficacy.
Date: June 14, 2018
Author: RAND Corporation
Despite the long-term and wide-spread recognition of problems with the legality of dronestrikes, drone-using states continue to claim they are legal whatever other opinions may suggest. This research article, written by Alex Holder, Elizabeth Minor, and Michael Mair, explores the legal reasoning done by military personnel to justify drone strikes.
Date: June 18, 2018
Author: Article 36
Despite the ethical, legal, and strategic issues surrounding the use of drones, the Trump administrations has weakenend relevant principles, guidelines, and policies. The result is less transparancy and accountability for the drone program, as well as an increase in the frequency and geographical spread of US drone strikes. In this report, the Stimson Centre puts forward 18 recommendations to the US Congress and the Trump administration, which aim to ensure accountability and proper use of drones.
Date: June 7, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published a report detailing the proliferation of armed drone usage to both states and non-state actors. The use of armed drones has sky-rocketed in the past five years, from only 3 users in 2013 to 12 in 2018. On top of that, the number of states in the process of either developing or acquiring armed drones has risen dramatically too. The increase in usage is problematic considering the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of armed drones. Drone Wars UK therefor calls upon all states to address the concerns regarding the use and proliferation of armed drones through multilateral processes.
Date: March 17, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
19 NGOs urge European States to refrain from assisting in US drone strikes that may violate international law and to implement safeguards. Members of the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are deeply concerned by the secretive provision of assistance by European States to the United States’ (US) lethal drone operations, particularly in light of a dramatic expansion in US drone strikes and reports that President Trump has dismantled already inadequate Obama-era restrictions on use of force meant to minimize civilian casualties and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Author: 19 NGO’s including EFAD Members
Date: April 25, 2018
Amnesty International, with the help of several EFAD members, has mapped out the ways in which Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and Italy are aiding the United States in its controversial drone program. The new report, titled “Deadly Assistance, The role of European states in US Drone Strikes”, shows how these states can potentially be held responsible for violations of international law.
Date: 19/April/2018
Author: Amnesty International
Google employees launch petition agianst work on Pentagon drone project.
Google is under fire from its own employees. The technology giant is helping the Pentagon develop artificial intelligence which can be used to analyze drone footage. The use of drones by the military is controversial due to their legal, ethical, and military strategic issues. The US has also frequently used armed drones to carry out extrajudicial killings. Read the full petition.
Date: April 5, 2018
Author: Google Employees
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published an intriguing interview with a retired Royal Air Force officer who served as Deputy Commander Operations. In this interview, Air Marshall Greg Bagwell discussed many different aspects of the UK’s use of Reapers, including the recruitment of pilots, Rules of Engagement, close cooperation with the United States, and the killing of British citizen Reyaad Khan.
Date: January 8, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
Early December 2017, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) published a study with possible ways to address the risks and challenges surrounding the use of armed drones. The report is an outcome of consultations held with States, civil society and experts over the course of a year. EFAD members Elizabeth Minor (Article36) and Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX) were part of these consultations.
Date: 20/Oct/17
Author: UNIDIR
The use of remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles, most commonly known as drones, has grown rapidly in recent years. Given the increasing trend towards use of armed drones and their rapid proliferation, it is crucial that their use is brought in line with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Date: 20/Oct/2017
Author: Amnesty International
Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Rights Watch (UK) welcome the opportunity to provide the Human Rights Committee (the Committee) with the following observations on its draft General Comment on Article 6 (the draft) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the Covenant) on the right to life, ahead of its second reading.
Date: 06/Oct/2017
Authors: the American Civil Liberties Union, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, and Rights Watch (UK)
Article 36 has published a report on the humanitarian impacts of armed drones, together with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University. This collaborative study aims to refocus the debate about drones on the harm caused to people by these weapons as specific technologies of violence.
Date: 01/Oct/2017
Author: Article 36; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; International Disarmament Institute, Pace University
PAX urges States to develop a strong, legally binding instrument that aims to effectively regulate the use and export of armed drones and addresses key concerns over the use of armed drones in relation to international legal principles. Such a process should be undertaken in a transparent and inclusive manner. This policy paper provides a background to the wider discussion of developing drone standards and provides recommendations on the content of and process for building these international norms.
Date: 13/Sep/2017
Author: Wim Zwijnenburg
The U.S.’ government policy and practices of lethal force overseas remain unjustifiably and excessively secret, although it took some steps towards improving transparency between 2010 and 2016. Far too much remains unknown, with nearly all past strikes and civilian casualties unexplained, strikes in Pakistan remaining almost wholly unacknowledged, little information on accountability and the legal basis for strikes in specific cases, and a continued lack of clarity regarding the application of key legal and policy rules.
Date: 01/Jul/2017
Author: Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies
Drones are changing the conception of war, making it a series of unilateral strikes. In doing so, they demonstrate the incapacity to find political solutions for political problems. Moreover, nowadays the public opinion is less and less willing to accept wars, and drones are the technical tool to wage wars without needing a real public debate and its consequences. In Italy, as well as in Europe, the use of drones, their deployment on the field, their improvements and their funding have never been publicly discussed. Until now.
Date: 01/Apr/2017
Author: IRIAD- Istituto di Ricerche Internazionali Archivio Disarmo and Italian Disarmament Network
Remote Control Project’s March 2017 report tracks the UK’s secretive but growing military commitments abroad by analysing the rise in the use of drones for targeted killing, the use of Special Forces, and the provision of capabilities such as intelligence and embedded troops to allied forces.
Date: 01/Mar/2017
Author: Remote Control Project
In order to clarify the positions of political parties regarding the acquisition and deployment of armed drones, PAX has conducted a survey amongst relevant political parties. The information gathered from this research can be used to inform voters on the positions of political parties, but it also contributes to a broader societal debate on the desirability of using armed drones in current and future conflicts and counterterrorism operations.
Date: 01/Feb/2017
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Foeke Postma (PAX)
“Dear President Obama, We write to request that, as part of a robust effort to implement the Executive Order this fall, your administration investigate ten past drone strikes as well as other strikes where there are credible allegations of harm to civilians…”
Date: 06/Oct/2016
Authors: American Civil Liberties Union; Amnesty International; Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC); Center for Constitutional Rights; European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Human Rights Clinic (Columbia Law School); Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Open Society Foundations and Reprieve
Belgium began its air campaign against so-called Islamic State in Iraq on October 5th 2014 – targeting Daesh alongside other international Coalition partners. In nine months, six Belgian F-16s carried out approximately 113 airstrikes, a significant contribution to the war effort.
Date: 01/May/2016
Author: Airwars
Airwars reported that the Netherlands began military operations against so-called Islamic State on October 7th 2014. According to the Ministerie van Defensie, to early February 2016 Dutch F-16s had released more than 1,300 bombs, missiles and cannon shells against Daesh targets. According to our analysis, this makes the Netherlands the fourth most active partner in the military campaign – after the United States, the UK and France.
Date: 02/Mar/2016
Author: Airwars
This report provides the reader with a technical overview of small UAV systems, their technologies, capabilities and applications, as well as addressing broad market trends and horizon developments within the COTS small UAV sector. This report further provides an indicative use history of UAV systems in service with non-state armed groups and an assessment of operation trends associated with this use and proliferation, followed by an examination of current and proposed regulatory controls and counter-measures.
Date: 01/Feb/2016
Authors: Larry Friese, N.R. Jenzen-Jones and Michael Smallwood (ARES)
In this report, Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, describe how reliance on the precision capabilities and touted effectiveness of drone technology threatens to obscure the impact on civilians.
Date: 01/Jan/2016
Author: Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School
Here one can find the press information of a court hearing on 27 May 2015 by the Administrative Court in Cologne and the declaration of Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who addresses Germany’s role in the US drone warfare.
Date: 27/May/2015
Published by: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
This report looks at the intersection between two phenomena: the Kill List and the covert drone programme in Pakistan and Yemen. While the US refuses to say who is on the Kill List, a look at the reporting around drone strikes gives the names of dozens of individuals who have been targeted or report killed once, only to be targeted again, and again, and again.
Date: 20/Nov/2014
Author: Reprieve
This paper addresses concerns that the sex of individuals is being used as a signifier to designate people as militants in drone strike targeting decisions and post-strike analysis of casualties.
Date: 01/Oct/2014
Authors: Ray Acheson (from Reaching Critical Will), Richard Moyes and Thomas Nash (both from Article 36)
Amnesty International made a qualitative assessment based on detailed field research into nine of the 45 reported strikes that occurred in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal agency between January 2012 and August 2013 and a survey of publicly available information on all reported drone strikes in Pakistan over the same period.
Date: 01/Oct/2013
Author: Amnesty International
This report, published in 2011, argues that unmanned systems can play a useful role in supporting troop operations. At the same time it draws attention to the downside of unmanned systems: unmanned systems cannot win a war. Basically it is always, and possibly even more so now, a matter of boots on the ground. Moreover, there are several important ethical objections to using armed, unmanned systems.
Date: 01/Mar/2011
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Cor Oudes (PAX)
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Two decades ago, the notion of arming an uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) was little more than a niche pursuit. Today, at least 20 countries have weaponised UAV systems in their inventories, with other nations pursuing acquisition, while the capability is also proliferating to non-state actors. The air vehicles range from small, crude, hobbyist-style UAVs favoured by some non-state groups, to large, long-endurance platforms capable of being fitted with a range of sensors and air-to-surface weapons. Technological development continues apace with an increasing emphasis on greater automation and reducing the human workload, along with the emergence of a type of hybrid UAV and air-to-surface munition along side the more established loitering munition. While uninhabited systems are increasingly embraced by many armed forces, they remain an uneasy subject in the wider public realm, where the perceived lack of human control remains an ethical issue. There also continues to be concern in the legal community regarding how increasingly automated – and perhaps one day autonomous – weapon systems fit within the law of armed conflict – legal concept rather than legislation, sometimes also referred to as international humanitarian law. These subjects were the focus of a 21–22 June 2021 seminar organised by IISS Europe to help further the debate and to better understand the implications of weapons-capable uninhabited systems. This paper reflects the discussions and many of the issues raised by the participants.
Since 2018, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) field investigation teams have carried out forensic documentation of the military equipment that has been recovered from armed formations of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ (DPR and LPR) in eastern Ukraine. This report is the result of a three-year study into the supply sources of weapons, ammunition, vehicles, armour, and artillery used in the conflict.
Contemporary military technologies raise political, ethical and legal questions that stretch beyond the operational dynamics of the battlefield. For this reason, their regulation is a matter of international diplomacy to which armed forces, governments, international institutions, and civil society should contribute. In this context, Norway is faced with multiple challenges and opportunities. Whereas the lack of efficient regulation poses operational challenges and increases security risks, it also creates an opportunity for the country to step-up its arms control diplomacy. But how should this happen? What are the key issues at stake? This policy brief by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) summarizes the discussions held at a webinar jointly organized in June 2021 by PRIO and the European Forum on Armed Drones.
After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Congress passed a use of force authorisation that successive presidents have used to expand military action ever further. As part of their series The Legacy of 9/11 and the “War on Terror”, the International crisis Group argues that Washington should enact a new statute that promotes transparency and narrows the war’s scope.
Several European countries are in the process of equipping their armies with armed MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drones. These new weapons are not without controversy. They are redefining military practices and the contours of war as we know it. This analysisexamines the position that the European Union has adopted with regard to these controversial weapons, which belong to its Member States, and the measures taken (or not taken) as a result at the European level. It first notes that the EU has supported the use and acquisition of armed drones and more. This support does not appear to be the result of an institutionalised decision upstream, but rather of a de facto acceptance of a fait accompli established by the Member States. It then examines the legal and ethical considerations that result from this effective support, and which seem to have been left out of a hypothetical debate.
Author: Solène Jomier
Date: 19 May 2021
The use of military drones is rapidly increasing across Africa, according to a new report by peace organization PAX. Drones are used in armed conflicts or counterterrorism operations across the continent, while there are few policies, rules and procedures that are observed when deploying drones. The report, “Remote Horizons: Expanding use and proliferation of military drones in Africa”, shows that in the last 14 years, African and foreign states have been involved in drone operations in at least 20 states in North Africa, the Sahel and Horn of Africa.
The use of armed drones, particularly to conduct targeted killings outside formal war zones, is highly contentious. In the contemporary context, where conflict has moved beyond the theatres of traditional warfare to take place in undefined battle zones, and is chiefly characterized by counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations, drone use has brought to the fore critical questions on civilian casualties, the rule of law, secrecy and lack of accountability, among others.
Reflecting on the ways in which the U.S. drone program has defined and has been defined by the United States’ nearly 20-year-old approach to the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations around the world, the Stimson Center aims to offer an updated inventory of the challenges and consequences wrought by such an approach. This report serves as the fourth installment of our analyses on the U.S. drone program and seeks to emphasize the need for a thorough review and reconfiguration of the United States’ approach to the use of lethal force in order to ensure U.S. policies and activities are responsible and accountable in the short, medium, and long term.
The report Death Falling from the Sky, Civilian Harm from the United States’ Use of Lethal Force in Yemen, provides detailed information regarding 12 operations carried out by the United States in Yemen between January 2017 and January 2019. The 12 incidents in this report include ten airstrikes, all conducted with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and two ground raids in five Yemeni governorates—Abyan, Al Bayda, Shabwah, Hadramawt and Ma’rib.
At least 38 Yemeni civilians, including 13 children, six women, and 19 men, were killed in these operations. At least seven civilians, including six children, five of whom were under the age of ten, and one man, were injured. Civilians were going about their everyday lives—driving to visit friends, bringing food to their families, sleeping in their homes—when killed or injured. These US operations also caused other forms of deep and long-lasting civilian harm. In only one of the documented incidents has the US acknowledged any resulting civilian harm.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March, 2021
The documentary “Violated Lives” highlights the US forces military raid in Al Athal village of Al Jubah district, Marib governorate in Yemen on May 23, 2017. Five people were killed in the raid, including two civilians, two members of the US-aligned Yemeni army, and another man whose status Mwatana was unable to determine. The two civilians who were killed included an elderly shepherd and a 19-year old student. Another four people were injured, including two civilians and two Yemeni army soldiers.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March 22, 2021
As the international community continues discussions on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) in 2020 and 2021 and will focus on the further development and operationalization of the guiding principles, the role of human decision-making will undoubtedly remain one of the core issues.
By drawing on near-term technologies, such as swarms, and related command and control models in deliberations about human control and human-machine interaction, the international community can move to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how control may or may not be exercised in military practice – now and in future operations.
Date: 2020
Authors: Merel Ekelhof & Giacomo Persi Paoli, UNIDIR
This technical manual covers all aspects of having to counter the full spectrum of unmanned aircraft and their respective system components. It should serve to bring together both civilian and military experts by initiating thought and emphasizing NATO’s approach to a comprehensive solution for countering unmanned aircraft systems.
The latest report by Drone Wars UK, ‘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) Chinese drones in Central Asia, and asks why this has happened and what the likely consequences might be.
Conflicts like those in Libya and the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which high-tech armed drones help decide the fate of nations, are becoming increasingly common. Equally concerning is the increasing use of drones for targeted killings in purported self-defense, such as the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and others by the United States in Iraq in January. The proliferation and evolution of drone technology puts such killings within the reach of multiple state and non-state actors, who may kill anonymously and with impunity.
The Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR—a 1980s control mechanism intended to prevent the spread of unmanned systems that can deliver weapons of mass destruction—has not stopped the proliferation of armed drones, and the Trump administration’s decision to re-interpret the MTCR has only made things worse. Instead, nation states must work together to establish a new regime for the new drone age, and President-elect Biden should consider supporting such a move. Call it a Drone Technology Control Regime.
Amid naval patrols, live military drills, island building, trade wars and diplomatic breakdown, drones are making an increasing impact on the security situation in the South China Sea and the relationship between China and the US. Smaller nations in the region are also acquiring further reaching surveillance UAVs, while a number of states are looking to bring armed drones in to service over the next few years.
The world’s attention has been drawn in recent months to a number of spectacular cases of the use of armed drones in military operations.
the targeted killing by the United States of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Qods paramilitary force, at Baghdad airport on 3 January 2020, together with pro-Iranian militia leaders;
strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities at Abqaiq on 14 September 2019 by some 25 drones and missiles. The Houthi movement in Yemen claimed to have carried out these strikes, but the United States and Saudi Arabia attributed the attack to Iran, which denied responsibility; and
reports that Turkey had made intensive use of armed drones in Syria to destroy dozens of Syrian battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and air defence systems after several of its own drones had been shot down by Syrian or Russian forces in early 2020. Previously, Turkey had publicised its manufacture of a new drone, the Songar, armed with a machine gun or grenade launcher, controlled by artificial intelligence, and capable of being used in swarms.
These events are only the visible part of a global phenomenon that started a few decades ago but is now widespread: the resort to uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs) equipped with weapons as a substitute for air strikes previously carried out by crewed aircraft. As a consequence of the attractiveness of the use of drones – for obvious reasons of cost and pilot safety – the international market in armed drones is booming, creating risks of widespread proliferation, especially to non-state actors or states known for their lack of respect for the laws of warfare.This paper analyses these proliferation risks and formulates recommendations on how to mitigate them.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Cholpon Orozobekova and Marc Finaud
Military and “security” actions with military robotic and armed systems have radically changed the war scenarios, which have evolved from concentrating on military and strategic targets to performing attacks that can seriously affect uninvolved civilian population.
Attacks with armed drones often do not appear in newspapers, but they show a steady growth rate in recent years. They are attacks that end up killing civilians, as well as perpetrating summary and extrajudicial executions of supposedly terrorist people. Lately, in addition, the military drones are evolving to incorporate autonomous systems of decision.
This report presents the main concepts related to the new robotic military systems as well as the different types of military drones and the risk that the automation step towards autonomy and the deployment of autonomous and lethal armed systems can mean. The publication seeks to identify the major actors (producing and buying countries, and companies) in the field of armed and autonomous drones, as well as the main types of drones that may include autonomous capacities. The international efforts that aim at the prohibition of these weapons are also presented, as well as the ethical problems that arise in relation to these new weapons, to armed drones and their possible autonomy, in a geopolitical framework in which the business has neglected people and their rights.
Date: November 2019
Authors: Pere Brunet, Tica Font, Xavi Mojal and Joaquín Rodríguez
The rapidly growing use of deadly drones is profoundly shaping state and armed groups’ capacities to wage war, according to new research from peace organization PAX called Violent Skies.
The report Violent Skies demonstrates how all actors involved have quickly learned how to make use of drones in all shapes and sizes in their military operations. In the wars in Yemen and Ukraine alone, 40 types of drones were used from 12 different countries. The outcomes of the report paint a disturbing picture. Remote lethal force with armed drones is being used in conflicts all over the world, spurred by burgeoning drone industries and States seeking to expand their geo-political and military influence with drone sales and support operations. Now even groups that previously had little access to intelligence can easily track their enemies and eliminate them from a distance. Many innocent people fall victim to this. It’s time to control drones.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Alies Jansen, PAX
The new report of Drone Wars UK “Joint Enterprise: An overview of US-UK co-operation on armed drone operations” investigates the co-operation between the UK and the US in relation to armed drone operations. The UK has declared that its armed drone program is independent of the US drone program. The report of Drone Wars UK shows however how the drone operations of the UK and US are closely intertwined.
Date: June 2020
Author: Peter Burt, Drone Wars UK
The use of drones as weapons in the Middle East and North Africa has grown rapidly in recent years, especially as non-state actors from the Houthis in Yemen to militants in Syria seek to level the playing field. Often powered by widely available commercial technology, these systems present a real and present security challenge. What should policymakers do to adapt to this new threat? How can they best structure defenses and leverage available technology to protect key assets?
“Drone Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure,” by Dr. Scott Crino and Conrad “Andy” Dreby, addresses these questions and more. Crino is founder and CEO and Dreby is director of red-teaming at Red Six Solutions, LLC.
The authors analyze developments in the use of weaponized drones in the Middle East and beyond, exploring how regional policymakers can adapt to mitigate this threat.
Date: May 4 2020
Author: Atlantic Council
On today’s battlefield, a whole set of new capabilities has appeared. This calls for a mandatory understanding of how much of a potential game-changer Remotely Piloted Systems, commonly known as drones, are or will be. The porous border between civil and military technologies is one key explanation and has contributed to drone proliferation. Their dual character, presenting a new regulatory challenge, allowed for drone technology to be easily accessible on the market notably for non-state actors seeking air-based capabilities. This paper aims to emphasize the emerging threat posed by the use of Remotely Piloted Systems by non-state actors operating in the Levant, essentially but not only in Syria and Iraq. Studying RPS and their military implications help to design future trends in drone warfare. What happens in Syria and Iraq might be helpful to think how France, and generally speaking NATO and EU member states, should deal with this imminent and continually evolving threat, whether on the tactical, operational, or strategic levels, by taking into consideration the rapid proliferation of drone technology and its use by potential adversaries.
Date: 4 September 2019
Authors: Guillaume Lasconjarias and Hassan Maged, Institut de recherche stratégique de l’École militaire (IRSEM)
In recent years, the policy debate around military drone use has mostly focused on armed drones and largely ignored the much more rapid and widespread proliferation of non-weaponized drones. “Unarmed and Dangerous: The Lethal Applications of Non-Weaponized Drones” of the Center for the Study of the Drone seeks to shed light on the many ways that unarmed drones can directly enable kinetic operations. This detailed study describes six common strike-enabling roles for unarmed drones and explains why the use of drones in each of these roles is significant.
Date: March 2020
Author: The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by War on the Rocks analyses the warfare in Libya, which is probably the biggest drone war theater in the world.
“Western governments have watched the battle over Libya’s capital, Tripoli, with disinterest, even as it has drawn in a growing number of foreign powers. But this conflict has more to teach us about the future world order, or disorder, than many observers appreciate. The patterns of warfare in Libya today not only reflect the erosion of the U.S.-led international order, but they directly contribute to its demise. Three aspects in particular highlight the new international disorder. Armed drones embody a trend toward military action that minimizes the risks and costs to the intervening powers, thereby encouraging them to meddle in conflicts where no vital interests are at stake. With arms-length instruments such as drones and mercenaries, intervening states also seek to maintain a degree of deniability. The main reason why for the rise of deniability, however, is that the great powers are increasingly tolerant of even dubious denials of an increasing range of foreign meddlers. The authoritarian states intervening in Libya also lead disinformation campaigns whose scope illustrates dramatically altered international power relations. Warfare in Libya reveals seismic shifts in international order that have invited cavalier meddling by distant powers big and small, amid international indifference.”
Date: 3 March 2020
Author: War on the Rocks
In the second six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 20 January 2020
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by Drone Wars UK 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 accepted, eroding human rights norms.
Date: 19 January 2020
Author: Drone Wars UK
Though it is far from establishing a European Army, the EU is being increasingly adapted for military purposes. New instruments related to the integration, financing, and coordination of military research, development, and operations have been created in quick succession.Military unmanned systems, or drones, have taken a central stage within these developments. Their development is considered to be essential for future military operations, for the EU’s strategic sovereignty, as a future export product, and as a testbed for closer EU cooperation. However, the use of these systems has also raised serious legal, ethical, and humanitarian concerns.
Armed drones have been extensively used to carry out extrajudicial killings, have caused numerous civilian casualties, and there are ethical implications of having a relatively cheap and risk-free tool to use lethal force with. It is therefore worth examining how the developments within the EU might affect the use of military drones by Member States. The findings of this report show that within the EU there is a clear intention to develop armed drones, but that discussions or policies that guide their use are absent. This gap is concerning, as the way in which the EU Defence is developing does not bode well for issues of accountability and transparency.
Date: 5 December 2019
Author: PAX
‘Precise Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives’ is an update of Drone Wars UK’s 2014 report on Israel’s drone wars. The report ‘looks beyond the veil of secrecy that surrounds Israel’s development and deployment of armed drones to explore their use and impact, particularly in Gaza’ since 2014.
Israel has relied extensively on armed drones to carry out targeted killings in Palestine as well other neighboring countries. On the one hand, Israel is praising the perceived precision of drone strikes as ‘humanitarian’, yet on the other hand, they rare disclose information on the use of armed drones. This report shows that not only have Israel’s drone strikes cause large-scale humanitarian harm, but they have also been used to promote the export of armed drones to other countries.
Date: 12 November 2019
Author: Drone Wars UK
The use of armed drones in the European Union has become a topic rife with controversy and misinformation. This report gives a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the approach to, and use of, armed drones in five European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. Further, the report is intended to start a wider debate about armed drones in Europe and to serve as a guide on this topic for the European Parliament.
Date: 7 November 2019
Author: Open Society Foundations
In light of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly First Committee, the Reaching Critical Will programme publishes a briefing book highlighting critical disarmament topics, and what governments can do to achieve progress on these issues. The topic of armed drones has been covered by Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX).
Date: 17 September, 2019
Author: Reaching Critical Will
Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana for Human Rights has published a new report documenting how civilian lives are being harmed by the war in Yemen, including through US drone strikes. The report, titled ‘Withering Life: The Human Rights Situation in Yemen 2018‘ is based on over 2000 interviews with “victims, relatives, eyewitnesses, and medical and humanitarian workers” as well as site visits and inspections of weapons remnants.
Date: 18 July 2019
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) has published a new reflection paper calling upon states to take action on armed drones. The publication, titled “Technology at the Service of Peace”, examines the development, use, and export of armed drones as well as the development of fully autonomous weapons, also known as killerrobots. EFAD members were also consulted for the this report. Based on this reflection, COMECE provides several recommendations to the EU and its Member States on how to address the challenges posed by such ‘uncrewed’ armed systems.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: COMECE
In the first six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
A new research report by IRIAD and EFAD Member Rete Disarmo show widespread opposition of the general public against the use of armed drones. The research surveyed Italian citizens about their approval of the use of military drones by the government. The report, titled: “The Drone: Supporting Actor or Protagonist? The perception of unmanned aircraft in the mass media and in Italian public opinion” provides new insights in how the use of armed drones are perceived among the population and raises questions about the need of governement to be transparent and accountable about their policies.
Date: 10 June 2019
Author: IRIAD, Rete Disarmo
On 15 May 2019, PAX hosted a conference, in collaboration with Chatham House, which explored European perspectives on remote warfare. The event brought together experts on European and international security, emerging technologies, and the ethics and conduct of war, to discuss key issues related to remote warfare. Participants included those working in academia, think-tanks, NGOs and the media.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
Date: May 15, 2019
Author: PAX
A new report by EFAD member Amnesty International details how US airstrikes, carried out with both drones and manned aircraft, have killed more civilians than the Pentagon admits. Under Trump, Somalia was declared an active area of hostilities in 2017. Since then, the frequency of airstrikes has increased rapidly. The US military has maintained the position that there were zero civilian casualties during the more than 100 strikes carried out since early 2017. But research conducted by Amnesty found at least 14 civilian casualties as a result of only 5 of those airstrikes.
Date: 20 March, 2019
Author: Amnesty International
This translation has been prepared for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), one of the NGOs supporting the claimants in this case (Faisal bin Ali Jaber and others v. the Federal Republic of Germany). This is an unofficial translation and is provided for information only. Italicized text added for clarity. The original German text of the court’s press release can be found on the website of the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Date: 19/03/2019
Author: ECCHR
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on armed drones has issued a statement in response to the Pentagon’s decision of undertaking a major review of civilian deaths during military operations. The Pentagon has taken this decision after years of calls by civil society organisations such as Airwars, which have found much higher number of civilian casualties than the Pentagon does. The APPG reiterated its call for the UK government to reavaluate its methodology of assessing civilian casualties in ‘air-only’ operations as well.
Date: 15 February 2019
Author: APPG
The Centre for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is a Washington D.C. based NGO that has worked on behalf of civilians in conflict areas sinds 2003. In an interview for EFAD, we asked how they have been involved with the issues of armed drones and what they want to achieve through their work.
Date: 13 February 2019
Author: EFAD
In response to the rapid proliferation of armed drones during the last few years, Amnesty International has increasingly paid attention to this issue. Youssef Rahman is a Senior Political Affairs Officer at Amnesty International in the Netherlands. In an interview for EFAD, we asked Youssef about Amnesty’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: January 30, 2019
Author: EFAD
The Nuhanovic Foundation (NF) was established in the Netherlands in 2011 to assist war victims who seek access to justice through research and litigation. Marjolein Vlieks, who leads the drone program of Nuhanovic, conducts research on the legal remedies for victims of drone strikes. We interviewed Marjolein about the organization’s experience with working on the issue.
Date: January 17, 2019
Author: EFAD
Drone Wars UK is an NGO based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2010 to undertake research and advocacy around the issue of armed drones. Their work is mainly focused on the scrutiny of British drone use. In a new report published last month by Drone Wars UK, it was revealed that the UK government is actively funding research into technology supporting the development of armed autonomous drones. In a conversation with director Chris Cole, we asked about Drone Wars UK experience with working on the issue.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: EFAD
The almost global capacity to conduct airstrikes anytime, anywhere: that is one of the most distinctive features of armed drones – and therefore a new dimension of warfare. The US military bases at Ramstein (Germany) and Sigonella (Italy) play a crucial role in US drone strikes in Yemen and several other countries. Together with those affected by drone strikes and with its partners around the world, ECCHR uses legal means to seek an end to unlawful killings by armed drones.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: ECCHR
Airwars is a non-profit, collaborative project of journalists and researchers across the Middle East and Europe dedicated to monitor international military actions in conflict zones such as Iraq, Libya and Syria. In an interview with founder Chris Woods, we asked about Airwars work on exposing the shadowy consequences of the use of armed drones.
Chris authored some of the key investigations into covert US drone strikes and their true effects from 2011 onwards. Moreover, he set up and ran the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s award-winning Drones Project, and is the author of Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars.
Date: December 6, 2018
Author: EFAD
An increasing number of European countries is acquiring Medium Altitude, Long Endurance type drones. These drones, which are used for surveillance and can be armed, were acquired from producers outside Europe, such as Israel and the United States. However, a series of EU initiatives is now aiding the proliferation of drone production and use throughout Europe. The growing use of drones by EU countries raises several questions. As this report neatly summarizes:
” Europe is facing a crossroad in drone affairs. It must decide if it will “slide” into the American approach to drone strike policy or create a European arms control regime, including employment standards. Right now, there is a momentum for intensifying EUdefense cooperation, presenting a window of opportunity for taking respective action and establishing an arms control regime for armed MALE-drones. ”
Date: November, 2018
Author: IFSH/IFAR, Johanne Polle
Armed UAVs are rapidly spreading to more States, and future systems are likely to be more survivable. In part because user States have not to date been uniformly transparent, the use of armed UAVs could contribute inadvertently to conflict escalation, particularly in already complex and unstable strategic environments, and in ways that policymakers do not yet seem to have considered. This briefing paper explores these challenges and suggests it would be desirable for States to develop some common understandings to form the basis for appropriate standards and best practices to reduce risks and inform crisis management processes.
Date: 19 November, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
The Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) is a national network of civil society organizations founded in 2014, working to protect and enforce civil rights and freedoms of all through a combination of legal action, advocacy and public education. We interviewed Antonella Napolitano, former Communications Manager at CILD about the organization’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 15, 2018
Author: EFAD
The issues pertaining to the use of armed drones have so far been mostly caused by larger ones, such as the Predator, Wing Loong, and Reaper drones. A new report by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament (UNIDIR) has investigated “whether small armed UAVs may provide a disruptive capability far more rapidly than their larger cousins”, and the findings are worrying.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
Article 36 is a UK-based non-profit organisation doing research, policy and advocacy to address the humanitarian impact of weapons and methods of warfare. In an interview with Elizabeth Minor from Article 36, we asked about the organization’s experience with working on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: EFAD
This report, published the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), examines the efforts currently underway in Europe and the US to develop new combat aircraft over the next fifteen to twenty years. It considers the advantages of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, such as expendability, the simplicity of manufacturing and deploying one, and the combat endurance. The report ends with the suggestion that a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft would offer a pathway to a capable and maintainable air force for NATO countries.
Date: November 2, 2018
Author: RUSI
The report Human Rights and Human Realities: Local perspectives on drone strikes and international law sets stories of drone victims in the context of international law.
Since 2003, thousands of armed drone strikes targeted suspected terrorists in these countries, but instead killed and wounded thousands of civilians. Interviews with survivors of drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan reveal what legal concepts such as ‘transparency’, ‘the protection of life’, and the ‘right to remedy’ mean for victims of drone strikes.
Date: October 24, 2018
Author: PAX
Here you can find more information on ongoing litigation in Germany on behalf of the Bin Ali Jaber family who lost relatives to a drone strike in Yemen in 2012. The family is asking Germany to prevent the use of the US Air Base at Ramstein for carrying out drone strikes in Yemen.
Date: October 22, 2018
Author: ECCHR
EFAD member Article36 released two new policy papers addressing the harm arising from the use of force through drones. As an increasing number of states are seeking to acquire armed drone capabilities, international norms on what constitutes an acceptable role for drones in the use of force need to be developed. During this year’s First Committee at the UN General Assembly, states have the opportunity to develop clear and effective international standards for the use of armed drones.
Date: October 15, 2018
Author: Article36
The US Department of Defense has released its latest roadmap for unmanned systems, describing how such systems might be integrated in defense operations across all domains. It discusses manned-unmanned teaming, autonomy, and weaponization, amongst other things.
Date: August 13, 2018
Author: Pentagon
In recent years, dozens of drone development projects have attracted hundreds of millions of euros from EU public research funds with little accountability and scarce political oversight. This article relates the ongoing exponential growth of the drone industry in Europe with the vast amounts of EU public research funding channeled to drone research.
Date: August 31, 2018
Author: Bruno Oliveira Martins, from Malmö University an Peace Research Institute Oslo, and Christian Küster, from Aarhus University
The Stimson Center has conducted an analysis of how drones relate to various multilateral regulatory regimes. Based on these findings, they have published a report offering a particular focus on the International Arms Trade Treaty, examining the ways in which it regulates the transfers and use of drones.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
This report outlines the impending growth in the global market for drones. Government and commercial investments in developing drone technologies is at a high and shows no sign of abating. Of the currently 450 drone manufacturers globally, two thirds are working on military drones in the hopes of gaining a substantial slice of the projected market value of US$21 billion by 2021. A snapshot is offered by this report of the most recent technological developments in the area of drones used for military purposes in order to illustrate the rapid pace with which new drone technologies and capacities develop and are likely to proliferate.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: PAX
What are the blind spots, lessons learned, and good and bad habits in the relationship between US policymakers and military drones? What effects is the use of drones generating, what are they achieving, and are they the best means to accomplish set goals? The Centre for New American Security has delved deep into the relationship between policymakers and drones, and found several disconcerting issues.
Date: July 31, 2018
Author: CNAS
The UK’s way of fighting a war at a distance, including through the use of drones, is generally believed to be effective, cheap, and clean. A new report by the Remote Warfare Programme of the Oxford’s Research Group dispels these and other myths.
Date: 27 June, 2018
Author: Oxford Research Group – Remote Warfare Programme
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones (APPG) has released its findings after a two year-long inquiry into the issues of the UK’s drone program. Together, these issues not only put innocent civilians harms way, but also open up pathways which may lead to the prosecution of UK personnel for violation of international law.
Date: July 18, 2018
Author: APPG on Drones
This report by the RAND corporation explores the impact of export controls related to drones on US political, economical, and security interests. Particularly the Missile Technology Control Regime is being considered, and the authors conclude that even though the MTCR had some success in limiting the proliferation of large drones, the rise of non-MTCR members and the production of drones just below the MTCR category limit have both contributed to the erosion of the MTCR’s efficacy.
Date: June 14, 2018
Author: RAND Corporation
Despite the long-term and wide-spread recognition of problems with the legality of dronestrikes, drone-using states continue to claim they are legal whatever other opinions may suggest. This research article, written by Alex Holder, Elizabeth Minor, and Michael Mair, explores the legal reasoning done by military personnel to justify drone strikes.
Date: June 18, 2018
Author: Article 36
Despite the ethical, legal, and strategic issues surrounding the use of drones, the Trump administrations has weakenend relevant principles, guidelines, and policies. The result is less transparancy and accountability for the drone program, as well as an increase in the frequency and geographical spread of US drone strikes. In this report, the Stimson Centre puts forward 18 recommendations to the US Congress and the Trump administration, which aim to ensure accountability and proper use of drones.
Date: June 7, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published a report detailing the proliferation of armed drone usage to both states and non-state actors. The use of armed drones has sky-rocketed in the past five years, from only 3 users in 2013 to 12 in 2018. On top of that, the number of states in the process of either developing or acquiring armed drones has risen dramatically too. The increase in usage is problematic considering the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of armed drones. Drone Wars UK therefor calls upon all states to address the concerns regarding the use and proliferation of armed drones through multilateral processes.
Date: March 17, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
19 NGOs urge European States to refrain from assisting in US drone strikes that may violate international law and to implement safeguards. Members of the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are deeply concerned by the secretive provision of assistance by European States to the United States’ (US) lethal drone operations, particularly in light of a dramatic expansion in US drone strikes and reports that President Trump has dismantled already inadequate Obama-era restrictions on use of force meant to minimize civilian casualties and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Author: 19 NGO’s including EFAD Members
Date: April 25, 2018
Amnesty International, with the help of several EFAD members, has mapped out the ways in which Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and Italy are aiding the United States in its controversial drone program. The new report, titled “Deadly Assistance, The role of European states in US Drone Strikes”, shows how these states can potentially be held responsible for violations of international law.
Date: 19/April/2018
Author: Amnesty International
Google employees launch petition agianst work on Pentagon drone project.
Google is under fire from its own employees. The technology giant is helping the Pentagon develop artificial intelligence which can be used to analyze drone footage. The use of drones by the military is controversial due to their legal, ethical, and military strategic issues. The US has also frequently used armed drones to carry out extrajudicial killings. Read the full petition.
Date: April 5, 2018
Author: Google Employees
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published an intriguing interview with a retired Royal Air Force officer who served as Deputy Commander Operations. In this interview, Air Marshall Greg Bagwell discussed many different aspects of the UK’s use of Reapers, including the recruitment of pilots, Rules of Engagement, close cooperation with the United States, and the killing of British citizen Reyaad Khan.
Date: January 8, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
Early December 2017, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) published a study with possible ways to address the risks and challenges surrounding the use of armed drones. The report is an outcome of consultations held with States, civil society and experts over the course of a year. EFAD members Elizabeth Minor (Article36) and Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX) were part of these consultations.
Date: 20/Oct/17
Author: UNIDIR
The use of remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles, most commonly known as drones, has grown rapidly in recent years. Given the increasing trend towards use of armed drones and their rapid proliferation, it is crucial that their use is brought in line with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Date: 20/Oct/2017
Author: Amnesty International
Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Rights Watch (UK) welcome the opportunity to provide the Human Rights Committee (the Committee) with the following observations on its draft General Comment on Article 6 (the draft) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the Covenant) on the right to life, ahead of its second reading.
Date: 06/Oct/2017
Authors: the American Civil Liberties Union, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, and Rights Watch (UK)
Article 36 has published a report on the humanitarian impacts of armed drones, together with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University. This collaborative study aims to refocus the debate about drones on the harm caused to people by these weapons as specific technologies of violence.
Date: 01/Oct/2017
Author: Article 36; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; International Disarmament Institute, Pace University
PAX urges States to develop a strong, legally binding instrument that aims to effectively regulate the use and export of armed drones and addresses key concerns over the use of armed drones in relation to international legal principles. Such a process should be undertaken in a transparent and inclusive manner. This policy paper provides a background to the wider discussion of developing drone standards and provides recommendations on the content of and process for building these international norms.
Date: 13/Sep/2017
Author: Wim Zwijnenburg
The U.S.’ government policy and practices of lethal force overseas remain unjustifiably and excessively secret, although it took some steps towards improving transparency between 2010 and 2016. Far too much remains unknown, with nearly all past strikes and civilian casualties unexplained, strikes in Pakistan remaining almost wholly unacknowledged, little information on accountability and the legal basis for strikes in specific cases, and a continued lack of clarity regarding the application of key legal and policy rules.
Date: 01/Jul/2017
Author: Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies
Drones are changing the conception of war, making it a series of unilateral strikes. In doing so, they demonstrate the incapacity to find political solutions for political problems. Moreover, nowadays the public opinion is less and less willing to accept wars, and drones are the technical tool to wage wars without needing a real public debate and its consequences. In Italy, as well as in Europe, the use of drones, their deployment on the field, their improvements and their funding have never been publicly discussed. Until now.
Date: 01/Apr/2017
Author: IRIAD- Istituto di Ricerche Internazionali Archivio Disarmo and Italian Disarmament Network
Remote Control Project’s March 2017 report tracks the UK’s secretive but growing military commitments abroad by analysing the rise in the use of drones for targeted killing, the use of Special Forces, and the provision of capabilities such as intelligence and embedded troops to allied forces.
Date: 01/Mar/2017
Author: Remote Control Project
In order to clarify the positions of political parties regarding the acquisition and deployment of armed drones, PAX has conducted a survey amongst relevant political parties. The information gathered from this research can be used to inform voters on the positions of political parties, but it also contributes to a broader societal debate on the desirability of using armed drones in current and future conflicts and counterterrorism operations.
Date: 01/Feb/2017
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Foeke Postma (PAX)
“Dear President Obama, We write to request that, as part of a robust effort to implement the Executive Order this fall, your administration investigate ten past drone strikes as well as other strikes where there are credible allegations of harm to civilians…”
Date: 06/Oct/2016
Authors: American Civil Liberties Union; Amnesty International; Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC); Center for Constitutional Rights; European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Human Rights Clinic (Columbia Law School); Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Open Society Foundations and Reprieve
Belgium began its air campaign against so-called Islamic State in Iraq on October 5th 2014 – targeting Daesh alongside other international Coalition partners. In nine months, six Belgian F-16s carried out approximately 113 airstrikes, a significant contribution to the war effort.
Date: 01/May/2016
Author: Airwars
Airwars reported that the Netherlands began military operations against so-called Islamic State on October 7th 2014. According to the Ministerie van Defensie, to early February 2016 Dutch F-16s had released more than 1,300 bombs, missiles and cannon shells against Daesh targets. According to our analysis, this makes the Netherlands the fourth most active partner in the military campaign – after the United States, the UK and France.
Date: 02/Mar/2016
Author: Airwars
This report provides the reader with a technical overview of small UAV systems, their technologies, capabilities and applications, as well as addressing broad market trends and horizon developments within the COTS small UAV sector. This report further provides an indicative use history of UAV systems in service with non-state armed groups and an assessment of operation trends associated with this use and proliferation, followed by an examination of current and proposed regulatory controls and counter-measures.
Date: 01/Feb/2016
Authors: Larry Friese, N.R. Jenzen-Jones and Michael Smallwood (ARES)
In this report, Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, describe how reliance on the precision capabilities and touted effectiveness of drone technology threatens to obscure the impact on civilians.
Date: 01/Jan/2016
Author: Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School
Here one can find the press information of a court hearing on 27 May 2015 by the Administrative Court in Cologne and the declaration of Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who addresses Germany’s role in the US drone warfare.
Date: 27/May/2015
Published by: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
This report looks at the intersection between two phenomena: the Kill List and the covert drone programme in Pakistan and Yemen. While the US refuses to say who is on the Kill List, a look at the reporting around drone strikes gives the names of dozens of individuals who have been targeted or report killed once, only to be targeted again, and again, and again.
Date: 20/Nov/2014
Author: Reprieve
This paper addresses concerns that the sex of individuals is being used as a signifier to designate people as militants in drone strike targeting decisions and post-strike analysis of casualties.
Date: 01/Oct/2014
Authors: Ray Acheson (from Reaching Critical Will), Richard Moyes and Thomas Nash (both from Article 36)
Amnesty International made a qualitative assessment based on detailed field research into nine of the 45 reported strikes that occurred in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal agency between January 2012 and August 2013 and a survey of publicly available information on all reported drone strikes in Pakistan over the same period.
Date: 01/Oct/2013
Author: Amnesty International
This report, published in 2011, argues that unmanned systems can play a useful role in supporting troop operations. At the same time it draws attention to the downside of unmanned systems: unmanned systems cannot win a war. Basically it is always, and possibly even more so now, a matter of boots on the ground. Moreover, there are several important ethical objections to using armed, unmanned systems.
Date: 01/Mar/2011
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Cor Oudes (PAX)
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Two decades ago, the notion of arming an uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) was little more than a niche pursuit. Today, at least 20 countries have weaponised UAV systems in their inventories, with other nations pursuing acquisition, while the capability is also proliferating to non-state actors. The air vehicles range from small, crude, hobbyist-style UAVs favoured by some non-state groups, to large, long-endurance platforms capable of being fitted with a range of sensors and air-to-surface weapons. Technological development continues apace with an increasing emphasis on greater automation and reducing the human workload, along with the emergence of a type of hybrid UAV and air-to-surface munition along side the more established loitering munition. While uninhabited systems are increasingly embraced by many armed forces, they remain an uneasy subject in the wider public realm, where the perceived lack of human control remains an ethical issue. There also continues to be concern in the legal community regarding how increasingly automated – and perhaps one day autonomous – weapon systems fit within the law of armed conflict – legal concept rather than legislation, sometimes also referred to as international humanitarian law. These subjects were the focus of a 21–22 June 2021 seminar organised by IISS Europe to help further the debate and to better understand the implications of weapons-capable uninhabited systems. This paper reflects the discussions and many of the issues raised by the participants.
Since 2018, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) field investigation teams have carried out forensic documentation of the military equipment that has been recovered from armed formations of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ (DPR and LPR) in eastern Ukraine. This report is the result of a three-year study into the supply sources of weapons, ammunition, vehicles, armour, and artillery used in the conflict.
Contemporary military technologies raise political, ethical and legal questions that stretch beyond the operational dynamics of the battlefield. For this reason, their regulation is a matter of international diplomacy to which armed forces, governments, international institutions, and civil society should contribute. In this context, Norway is faced with multiple challenges and opportunities. Whereas the lack of efficient regulation poses operational challenges and increases security risks, it also creates an opportunity for the country to step-up its arms control diplomacy. But how should this happen? What are the key issues at stake? This policy brief by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) summarizes the discussions held at a webinar jointly organized in June 2021 by PRIO and the European Forum on Armed Drones.
After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Congress passed a use of force authorisation that successive presidents have used to expand military action ever further. As part of their series The Legacy of 9/11 and the “War on Terror”, the International crisis Group argues that Washington should enact a new statute that promotes transparency and narrows the war’s scope.
Several European countries are in the process of equipping their armies with armed MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drones. These new weapons are not without controversy. They are redefining military practices and the contours of war as we know it. This analysisexamines the position that the European Union has adopted with regard to these controversial weapons, which belong to its Member States, and the measures taken (or not taken) as a result at the European level. It first notes that the EU has supported the use and acquisition of armed drones and more. This support does not appear to be the result of an institutionalised decision upstream, but rather of a de facto acceptance of a fait accompli established by the Member States. It then examines the legal and ethical considerations that result from this effective support, and which seem to have been left out of a hypothetical debate.
Author: Solène Jomier
Date: 19 May 2021
The use of military drones is rapidly increasing across Africa, according to a new report by peace organization PAX. Drones are used in armed conflicts or counterterrorism operations across the continent, while there are few policies, rules and procedures that are observed when deploying drones. The report, “Remote Horizons: Expanding use and proliferation of military drones in Africa”, shows that in the last 14 years, African and foreign states have been involved in drone operations in at least 20 states in North Africa, the Sahel and Horn of Africa.
The use of armed drones, particularly to conduct targeted killings outside formal war zones, is highly contentious. In the contemporary context, where conflict has moved beyond the theatres of traditional warfare to take place in undefined battle zones, and is chiefly characterized by counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations, drone use has brought to the fore critical questions on civilian casualties, the rule of law, secrecy and lack of accountability, among others.
Reflecting on the ways in which the U.S. drone program has defined and has been defined by the United States’ nearly 20-year-old approach to the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations around the world, the Stimson Center aims to offer an updated inventory of the challenges and consequences wrought by such an approach. This report serves as the fourth installment of our analyses on the U.S. drone program and seeks to emphasize the need for a thorough review and reconfiguration of the United States’ approach to the use of lethal force in order to ensure U.S. policies and activities are responsible and accountable in the short, medium, and long term.
The report Death Falling from the Sky, Civilian Harm from the United States’ Use of Lethal Force in Yemen, provides detailed information regarding 12 operations carried out by the United States in Yemen between January 2017 and January 2019. The 12 incidents in this report include ten airstrikes, all conducted with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and two ground raids in five Yemeni governorates—Abyan, Al Bayda, Shabwah, Hadramawt and Ma’rib.
At least 38 Yemeni civilians, including 13 children, six women, and 19 men, were killed in these operations. At least seven civilians, including six children, five of whom were under the age of ten, and one man, were injured. Civilians were going about their everyday lives—driving to visit friends, bringing food to their families, sleeping in their homes—when killed or injured. These US operations also caused other forms of deep and long-lasting civilian harm. In only one of the documented incidents has the US acknowledged any resulting civilian harm.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March, 2021
The documentary “Violated Lives” highlights the US forces military raid in Al Athal village of Al Jubah district, Marib governorate in Yemen on May 23, 2017. Five people were killed in the raid, including two civilians, two members of the US-aligned Yemeni army, and another man whose status Mwatana was unable to determine. The two civilians who were killed included an elderly shepherd and a 19-year old student. Another four people were injured, including two civilians and two Yemeni army soldiers.
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
Date: March 22, 2021
As the international community continues discussions on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) in 2020 and 2021 and will focus on the further development and operationalization of the guiding principles, the role of human decision-making will undoubtedly remain one of the core issues.
By drawing on near-term technologies, such as swarms, and related command and control models in deliberations about human control and human-machine interaction, the international community can move to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how control may or may not be exercised in military practice – now and in future operations.
Date: 2020
Authors: Merel Ekelhof & Giacomo Persi Paoli, UNIDIR
This technical manual covers all aspects of having to counter the full spectrum of unmanned aircraft and their respective system components. It should serve to bring together both civilian and military experts by initiating thought and emphasizing NATO’s approach to a comprehensive solution for countering unmanned aircraft systems.
The latest report by Drone Wars UK, ‘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) Chinese drones in Central Asia, and asks why this has happened and what the likely consequences might be.
Conflicts like those in Libya and the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which high-tech armed drones help decide the fate of nations, are becoming increasingly common. Equally concerning is the increasing use of drones for targeted killings in purported self-defense, such as the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and others by the United States in Iraq in January. The proliferation and evolution of drone technology puts such killings within the reach of multiple state and non-state actors, who may kill anonymously and with impunity.
The Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR—a 1980s control mechanism intended to prevent the spread of unmanned systems that can deliver weapons of mass destruction—has not stopped the proliferation of armed drones, and the Trump administration’s decision to re-interpret the MTCR has only made things worse. Instead, nation states must work together to establish a new regime for the new drone age, and President-elect Biden should consider supporting such a move. Call it a Drone Technology Control Regime.
Amid naval patrols, live military drills, island building, trade wars and diplomatic breakdown, drones are making an increasing impact on the security situation in the South China Sea and the relationship between China and the US. Smaller nations in the region are also acquiring further reaching surveillance UAVs, while a number of states are looking to bring armed drones in to service over the next few years.
The world’s attention has been drawn in recent months to a number of spectacular cases of the use of armed drones in military operations.
the targeted killing by the United States of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Qods paramilitary force, at Baghdad airport on 3 January 2020, together with pro-Iranian militia leaders;
strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities at Abqaiq on 14 September 2019 by some 25 drones and missiles. The Houthi movement in Yemen claimed to have carried out these strikes, but the United States and Saudi Arabia attributed the attack to Iran, which denied responsibility; and
reports that Turkey had made intensive use of armed drones in Syria to destroy dozens of Syrian battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and air defence systems after several of its own drones had been shot down by Syrian or Russian forces in early 2020. Previously, Turkey had publicised its manufacture of a new drone, the Songar, armed with a machine gun or grenade launcher, controlled by artificial intelligence, and capable of being used in swarms.
These events are only the visible part of a global phenomenon that started a few decades ago but is now widespread: the resort to uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs) equipped with weapons as a substitute for air strikes previously carried out by crewed aircraft. As a consequence of the attractiveness of the use of drones – for obvious reasons of cost and pilot safety – the international market in armed drones is booming, creating risks of widespread proliferation, especially to non-state actors or states known for their lack of respect for the laws of warfare.This paper analyses these proliferation risks and formulates recommendations on how to mitigate them.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Cholpon Orozobekova and Marc Finaud
Military and “security” actions with military robotic and armed systems have radically changed the war scenarios, which have evolved from concentrating on military and strategic targets to performing attacks that can seriously affect uninvolved civilian population.
Attacks with armed drones often do not appear in newspapers, but they show a steady growth rate in recent years. They are attacks that end up killing civilians, as well as perpetrating summary and extrajudicial executions of supposedly terrorist people. Lately, in addition, the military drones are evolving to incorporate autonomous systems of decision.
This report presents the main concepts related to the new robotic military systems as well as the different types of military drones and the risk that the automation step towards autonomy and the deployment of autonomous and lethal armed systems can mean. The publication seeks to identify the major actors (producing and buying countries, and companies) in the field of armed and autonomous drones, as well as the main types of drones that may include autonomous capacities. The international efforts that aim at the prohibition of these weapons are also presented, as well as the ethical problems that arise in relation to these new weapons, to armed drones and their possible autonomy, in a geopolitical framework in which the business has neglected people and their rights.
Date: November 2019
Authors: Pere Brunet, Tica Font, Xavi Mojal and Joaquín Rodríguez
The rapidly growing use of deadly drones is profoundly shaping state and armed groups’ capacities to wage war, according to new research from peace organization PAX called Violent Skies.
The report Violent Skies demonstrates how all actors involved have quickly learned how to make use of drones in all shapes and sizes in their military operations. In the wars in Yemen and Ukraine alone, 40 types of drones were used from 12 different countries. The outcomes of the report paint a disturbing picture. Remote lethal force with armed drones is being used in conflicts all over the world, spurred by burgeoning drone industries and States seeking to expand their geo-political and military influence with drone sales and support operations. Now even groups that previously had little access to intelligence can easily track their enemies and eliminate them from a distance. Many innocent people fall victim to this. It’s time to control drones.
Date: August 2020
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Alies Jansen, PAX
The new report of Drone Wars UK “Joint Enterprise: An overview of US-UK co-operation on armed drone operations” investigates the co-operation between the UK and the US in relation to armed drone operations. The UK has declared that its armed drone program is independent of the US drone program. The report of Drone Wars UK shows however how the drone operations of the UK and US are closely intertwined.
Date: June 2020
Author: Peter Burt, Drone Wars UK
The use of drones as weapons in the Middle East and North Africa has grown rapidly in recent years, especially as non-state actors from the Houthis in Yemen to militants in Syria seek to level the playing field. Often powered by widely available commercial technology, these systems present a real and present security challenge. What should policymakers do to adapt to this new threat? How can they best structure defenses and leverage available technology to protect key assets?
“Drone Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure,” by Dr. Scott Crino and Conrad “Andy” Dreby, addresses these questions and more. Crino is founder and CEO and Dreby is director of red-teaming at Red Six Solutions, LLC.
The authors analyze developments in the use of weaponized drones in the Middle East and beyond, exploring how regional policymakers can adapt to mitigate this threat.
Date: May 4 2020
Author: Atlantic Council
On today’s battlefield, a whole set of new capabilities has appeared. This calls for a mandatory understanding of how much of a potential game-changer Remotely Piloted Systems, commonly known as drones, are or will be. The porous border between civil and military technologies is one key explanation and has contributed to drone proliferation. Their dual character, presenting a new regulatory challenge, allowed for drone technology to be easily accessible on the market notably for non-state actors seeking air-based capabilities. This paper aims to emphasize the emerging threat posed by the use of Remotely Piloted Systems by non-state actors operating in the Levant, essentially but not only in Syria and Iraq. Studying RPS and their military implications help to design future trends in drone warfare. What happens in Syria and Iraq might be helpful to think how France, and generally speaking NATO and EU member states, should deal with this imminent and continually evolving threat, whether on the tactical, operational, or strategic levels, by taking into consideration the rapid proliferation of drone technology and its use by potential adversaries.
Date: 4 September 2019
Authors: Guillaume Lasconjarias and Hassan Maged, Institut de recherche stratégique de l’École militaire (IRSEM)
In recent years, the policy debate around military drone use has mostly focused on armed drones and largely ignored the much more rapid and widespread proliferation of non-weaponized drones. “Unarmed and Dangerous: The Lethal Applications of Non-Weaponized Drones” of the Center for the Study of the Drone seeks to shed light on the many ways that unarmed drones can directly enable kinetic operations. This detailed study describes six common strike-enabling roles for unarmed drones and explains why the use of drones in each of these roles is significant.
Date: March 2020
Author: The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by War on the Rocks analyses the warfare in Libya, which is probably the biggest drone war theater in the world.
“Western governments have watched the battle over Libya’s capital, Tripoli, with disinterest, even as it has drawn in a growing number of foreign powers. But this conflict has more to teach us about the future world order, or disorder, than many observers appreciate. The patterns of warfare in Libya today not only reflect the erosion of the U.S.-led international order, but they directly contribute to its demise. Three aspects in particular highlight the new international disorder. Armed drones embody a trend toward military action that minimizes the risks and costs to the intervening powers, thereby encouraging them to meddle in conflicts where no vital interests are at stake. With arms-length instruments such as drones and mercenaries, intervening states also seek to maintain a degree of deniability. The main reason why for the rise of deniability, however, is that the great powers are increasingly tolerant of even dubious denials of an increasing range of foreign meddlers. The authoritarian states intervening in Libya also lead disinformation campaigns whose scope illustrates dramatically altered international power relations. Warfare in Libya reveals seismic shifts in international order that have invited cavalier meddling by distant powers big and small, amid international indifference.”
Date: 3 March 2020
Author: War on the Rocks
In the second six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 20 January 2020
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
‘In the Frame: UK Media Coverage of Drone Targeted Killing’ by Drone Wars UK 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 accepted, eroding human rights norms.
Date: 19 January 2020
Author: Drone Wars UK
Though it is far from establishing a European Army, the EU is being increasingly adapted for military purposes. New instruments related to the integration, financing, and coordination of military research, development, and operations have been created in quick succession.Military unmanned systems, or drones, have taken a central stage within these developments. Their development is considered to be essential for future military operations, for the EU’s strategic sovereignty, as a future export product, and as a testbed for closer EU cooperation. However, the use of these systems has also raised serious legal, ethical, and humanitarian concerns.
Armed drones have been extensively used to carry out extrajudicial killings, have caused numerous civilian casualties, and there are ethical implications of having a relatively cheap and risk-free tool to use lethal force with. It is therefore worth examining how the developments within the EU might affect the use of military drones by Member States. The findings of this report show that within the EU there is a clear intention to develop armed drones, but that discussions or policies that guide their use are absent. This gap is concerning, as the way in which the EU Defence is developing does not bode well for issues of accountability and transparency.
Date: 5 December 2019
Author: PAX
‘Precise Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives’ is an update of Drone Wars UK’s 2014 report on Israel’s drone wars. The report ‘looks beyond the veil of secrecy that surrounds Israel’s development and deployment of armed drones to explore their use and impact, particularly in Gaza’ since 2014.
Israel has relied extensively on armed drones to carry out targeted killings in Palestine as well other neighboring countries. On the one hand, Israel is praising the perceived precision of drone strikes as ‘humanitarian’, yet on the other hand, they rare disclose information on the use of armed drones. This report shows that not only have Israel’s drone strikes cause large-scale humanitarian harm, but they have also been used to promote the export of armed drones to other countries.
Date: 12 November 2019
Author: Drone Wars UK
The use of armed drones in the European Union has become a topic rife with controversy and misinformation. This report gives a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the approach to, and use of, armed drones in five European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. Further, the report is intended to start a wider debate about armed drones in Europe and to serve as a guide on this topic for the European Parliament.
Date: 7 November 2019
Author: Open Society Foundations
In light of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly First Committee, the Reaching Critical Will programme publishes a briefing book highlighting critical disarmament topics, and what governments can do to achieve progress on these issues. The topic of armed drones has been covered by Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX).
Date: 17 September, 2019
Author: Reaching Critical Will
Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana for Human Rights has published a new report documenting how civilian lives are being harmed by the war in Yemen, including through US drone strikes. The report, titled ‘Withering Life: The Human Rights Situation in Yemen 2018‘ is based on over 2000 interviews with “victims, relatives, eyewitnesses, and medical and humanitarian workers” as well as site visits and inspections of weapons remnants.
Date: 18 July 2019
Author: Mwatana for Human Rights
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) has published a new reflection paper calling upon states to take action on armed drones. The publication, titled “Technology at the Service of Peace”, examines the development, use, and export of armed drones as well as the development of fully autonomous weapons, also known as killerrobots. EFAD members were also consulted for the this report. Based on this reflection, COMECE provides several recommendations to the EU and its Member States on how to address the challenges posed by such ‘uncrewed’ armed systems.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: COMECE
In the first six months of 2019 Internazionale and VoxEurop produced six press reviews for the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD), monitoring how the topic of armed drones is developed and observed on the European press. This report is based on the articles published by the main European newspapers.
Date: 1 July 2019
Author: Internazionale & VoxEurop
A new research report by IRIAD and EFAD Member Rete Disarmo show widespread opposition of the general public against the use of armed drones. The research surveyed Italian citizens about their approval of the use of military drones by the government. The report, titled: “The Drone: Supporting Actor or Protagonist? The perception of unmanned aircraft in the mass media and in Italian public opinion” provides new insights in how the use of armed drones are perceived among the population and raises questions about the need of governement to be transparent and accountable about their policies.
Date: 10 June 2019
Author: IRIAD, Rete Disarmo
On 15 May 2019, PAX hosted a conference, in collaboration with Chatham House, which explored European perspectives on remote warfare. The event brought together experts on European and international security, emerging technologies, and the ethics and conduct of war, to discuss key issues related to remote warfare. Participants included those working in academia, think-tanks, NGOs and the media.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
The conference included a keynote speech, followed by four different panels which covered different issues on remote warfare. Each of the panel discussions was also preceded by a short, interactive poll where the audience answered questions on the European role and perspectives in regard to remote warfare.
Date: May 15, 2019
Author: PAX
A new report by EFAD member Amnesty International details how US airstrikes, carried out with both drones and manned aircraft, have killed more civilians than the Pentagon admits. Under Trump, Somalia was declared an active area of hostilities in 2017. Since then, the frequency of airstrikes has increased rapidly. The US military has maintained the position that there were zero civilian casualties during the more than 100 strikes carried out since early 2017. But research conducted by Amnesty found at least 14 civilian casualties as a result of only 5 of those airstrikes.
Date: 20 March, 2019
Author: Amnesty International
This translation has been prepared for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), one of the NGOs supporting the claimants in this case (Faisal bin Ali Jaber and others v. the Federal Republic of Germany). This is an unofficial translation and is provided for information only. Italicized text added for clarity. The original German text of the court’s press release can be found on the website of the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Date: 19/03/2019
Author: ECCHR
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on armed drones has issued a statement in response to the Pentagon’s decision of undertaking a major review of civilian deaths during military operations. The Pentagon has taken this decision after years of calls by civil society organisations such as Airwars, which have found much higher number of civilian casualties than the Pentagon does. The APPG reiterated its call for the UK government to reavaluate its methodology of assessing civilian casualties in ‘air-only’ operations as well.
Date: 15 February 2019
Author: APPG
The Centre for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is a Washington D.C. based NGO that has worked on behalf of civilians in conflict areas sinds 2003. In an interview for EFAD, we asked how they have been involved with the issues of armed drones and what they want to achieve through their work.
Date: 13 February 2019
Author: EFAD
In response to the rapid proliferation of armed drones during the last few years, Amnesty International has increasingly paid attention to this issue. Youssef Rahman is a Senior Political Affairs Officer at Amnesty International in the Netherlands. In an interview for EFAD, we asked Youssef about Amnesty’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: January 30, 2019
Author: EFAD
The Nuhanovic Foundation (NF) was established in the Netherlands in 2011 to assist war victims who seek access to justice through research and litigation. Marjolein Vlieks, who leads the drone program of Nuhanovic, conducts research on the legal remedies for victims of drone strikes. We interviewed Marjolein about the organization’s experience with working on the issue.
Date: January 17, 2019
Author: EFAD
Drone Wars UK is an NGO based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2010 to undertake research and advocacy around the issue of armed drones. Their work is mainly focused on the scrutiny of British drone use. In a new report published last month by Drone Wars UK, it was revealed that the UK government is actively funding research into technology supporting the development of armed autonomous drones. In a conversation with director Chris Cole, we asked about Drone Wars UK experience with working on the issue.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: EFAD
The almost global capacity to conduct airstrikes anytime, anywhere: that is one of the most distinctive features of armed drones – and therefore a new dimension of warfare. The US military bases at Ramstein (Germany) and Sigonella (Italy) play a crucial role in US drone strikes in Yemen and several other countries. Together with those affected by drone strikes and with its partners around the world, ECCHR uses legal means to seek an end to unlawful killings by armed drones.
Date: December 13, 2018
Author: ECCHR
Airwars is a non-profit, collaborative project of journalists and researchers across the Middle East and Europe dedicated to monitor international military actions in conflict zones such as Iraq, Libya and Syria. In an interview with founder Chris Woods, we asked about Airwars work on exposing the shadowy consequences of the use of armed drones.
Chris authored some of the key investigations into covert US drone strikes and their true effects from 2011 onwards. Moreover, he set up and ran the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s award-winning Drones Project, and is the author of Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars.
Date: December 6, 2018
Author: EFAD
An increasing number of European countries is acquiring Medium Altitude, Long Endurance type drones. These drones, which are used for surveillance and can be armed, were acquired from producers outside Europe, such as Israel and the United States. However, a series of EU initiatives is now aiding the proliferation of drone production and use throughout Europe. The growing use of drones by EU countries raises several questions. As this report neatly summarizes:
” Europe is facing a crossroad in drone affairs. It must decide if it will “slide” into the American approach to drone strike policy or create a European arms control regime, including employment standards. Right now, there is a momentum for intensifying EUdefense cooperation, presenting a window of opportunity for taking respective action and establishing an arms control regime for armed MALE-drones. ”
Date: November, 2018
Author: IFSH/IFAR, Johanne Polle
Armed UAVs are rapidly spreading to more States, and future systems are likely to be more survivable. In part because user States have not to date been uniformly transparent, the use of armed UAVs could contribute inadvertently to conflict escalation, particularly in already complex and unstable strategic environments, and in ways that policymakers do not yet seem to have considered. This briefing paper explores these challenges and suggests it would be desirable for States to develop some common understandings to form the basis for appropriate standards and best practices to reduce risks and inform crisis management processes.
Date: 19 November, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
The Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) is a national network of civil society organizations founded in 2014, working to protect and enforce civil rights and freedoms of all through a combination of legal action, advocacy and public education. We interviewed Antonella Napolitano, former Communications Manager at CILD about the organization’s work and future prospects on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 15, 2018
Author: EFAD
The issues pertaining to the use of armed drones have so far been mostly caused by larger ones, such as the Predator, Wing Loong, and Reaper drones. A new report by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament (UNIDIR) has investigated “whether small armed UAVs may provide a disruptive capability far more rapidly than their larger cousins”, and the findings are worrying.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: UNIDIR
Article 36 is a UK-based non-profit organisation doing research, policy and advocacy to address the humanitarian impact of weapons and methods of warfare. In an interview with Elizabeth Minor from Article 36, we asked about the organization’s experience with working on the issue of armed drones.
Date: November 9, 2018
Author: EFAD
This report, published the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), examines the efforts currently underway in Europe and the US to develop new combat aircraft over the next fifteen to twenty years. It considers the advantages of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, such as expendability, the simplicity of manufacturing and deploying one, and the combat endurance. The report ends with the suggestion that a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft would offer a pathway to a capable and maintainable air force for NATO countries.
Date: November 2, 2018
Author: RUSI
The report Human Rights and Human Realities: Local perspectives on drone strikes and international law sets stories of drone victims in the context of international law.
Since 2003, thousands of armed drone strikes targeted suspected terrorists in these countries, but instead killed and wounded thousands of civilians. Interviews with survivors of drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan reveal what legal concepts such as ‘transparency’, ‘the protection of life’, and the ‘right to remedy’ mean for victims of drone strikes.
Date: October 24, 2018
Author: PAX
Here you can find more information on ongoing litigation in Germany on behalf of the Bin Ali Jaber family who lost relatives to a drone strike in Yemen in 2012. The family is asking Germany to prevent the use of the US Air Base at Ramstein for carrying out drone strikes in Yemen.
Date: October 22, 2018
Author: ECCHR
EFAD member Article36 released two new policy papers addressing the harm arising from the use of force through drones. As an increasing number of states are seeking to acquire armed drone capabilities, international norms on what constitutes an acceptable role for drones in the use of force need to be developed. During this year’s First Committee at the UN General Assembly, states have the opportunity to develop clear and effective international standards for the use of armed drones.
Date: October 15, 2018
Author: Article36
The US Department of Defense has released its latest roadmap for unmanned systems, describing how such systems might be integrated in defense operations across all domains. It discusses manned-unmanned teaming, autonomy, and weaponization, amongst other things.
Date: August 13, 2018
Author: Pentagon
In recent years, dozens of drone development projects have attracted hundreds of millions of euros from EU public research funds with little accountability and scarce political oversight. This article relates the ongoing exponential growth of the drone industry in Europe with the vast amounts of EU public research funding channeled to drone research.
Date: August 31, 2018
Author: Bruno Oliveira Martins, from Malmö University an Peace Research Institute Oslo, and Christian Küster, from Aarhus University
The Stimson Center has conducted an analysis of how drones relate to various multilateral regulatory regimes. Based on these findings, they have published a report offering a particular focus on the International Arms Trade Treaty, examining the ways in which it regulates the transfers and use of drones.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
This report outlines the impending growth in the global market for drones. Government and commercial investments in developing drone technologies is at a high and shows no sign of abating. Of the currently 450 drone manufacturers globally, two thirds are working on military drones in the hopes of gaining a substantial slice of the projected market value of US$21 billion by 2021. A snapshot is offered by this report of the most recent technological developments in the area of drones used for military purposes in order to illustrate the rapid pace with which new drone technologies and capacities develop and are likely to proliferate.
Date: August 23, 2018
Author: PAX
What are the blind spots, lessons learned, and good and bad habits in the relationship between US policymakers and military drones? What effects is the use of drones generating, what are they achieving, and are they the best means to accomplish set goals? The Centre for New American Security has delved deep into the relationship between policymakers and drones, and found several disconcerting issues.
Date: July 31, 2018
Author: CNAS
The UK’s way of fighting a war at a distance, including through the use of drones, is generally believed to be effective, cheap, and clean. A new report by the Remote Warfare Programme of the Oxford’s Research Group dispels these and other myths.
Date: 27 June, 2018
Author: Oxford Research Group – Remote Warfare Programme
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones (APPG) has released its findings after a two year-long inquiry into the issues of the UK’s drone program. Together, these issues not only put innocent civilians harms way, but also open up pathways which may lead to the prosecution of UK personnel for violation of international law.
Date: July 18, 2018
Author: APPG on Drones
This report by the RAND corporation explores the impact of export controls related to drones on US political, economical, and security interests. Particularly the Missile Technology Control Regime is being considered, and the authors conclude that even though the MTCR had some success in limiting the proliferation of large drones, the rise of non-MTCR members and the production of drones just below the MTCR category limit have both contributed to the erosion of the MTCR’s efficacy.
Date: June 14, 2018
Author: RAND Corporation
Despite the long-term and wide-spread recognition of problems with the legality of dronestrikes, drone-using states continue to claim they are legal whatever other opinions may suggest. This research article, written by Alex Holder, Elizabeth Minor, and Michael Mair, explores the legal reasoning done by military personnel to justify drone strikes.
Date: June 18, 2018
Author: Article 36
Despite the ethical, legal, and strategic issues surrounding the use of drones, the Trump administrations has weakenend relevant principles, guidelines, and policies. The result is less transparancy and accountability for the drone program, as well as an increase in the frequency and geographical spread of US drone strikes. In this report, the Stimson Centre puts forward 18 recommendations to the US Congress and the Trump administration, which aim to ensure accountability and proper use of drones.
Date: June 7, 2018
Author: Stimson Center
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published a report detailing the proliferation of armed drone usage to both states and non-state actors. The use of armed drones has sky-rocketed in the past five years, from only 3 users in 2013 to 12 in 2018. On top of that, the number of states in the process of either developing or acquiring armed drones has risen dramatically too. The increase in usage is problematic considering the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of armed drones. Drone Wars UK therefor calls upon all states to address the concerns regarding the use and proliferation of armed drones through multilateral processes.
Date: March 17, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
19 NGOs urge European States to refrain from assisting in US drone strikes that may violate international law and to implement safeguards. Members of the European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are deeply concerned by the secretive provision of assistance by European States to the United States’ (US) lethal drone operations, particularly in light of a dramatic expansion in US drone strikes and reports that President Trump has dismantled already inadequate Obama-era restrictions on use of force meant to minimize civilian casualties and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Author: 19 NGO’s including EFAD Members
Date: April 25, 2018
Amnesty International, with the help of several EFAD members, has mapped out the ways in which Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and Italy are aiding the United States in its controversial drone program. The new report, titled “Deadly Assistance, The role of European states in US Drone Strikes”, shows how these states can potentially be held responsible for violations of international law.
Date: 19/April/2018
Author: Amnesty International
Google employees launch petition agianst work on Pentagon drone project.
Google is under fire from its own employees. The technology giant is helping the Pentagon develop artificial intelligence which can be used to analyze drone footage. The use of drones by the military is controversial due to their legal, ethical, and military strategic issues. The US has also frequently used armed drones to carry out extrajudicial killings. Read the full petition.
Date: April 5, 2018
Author: Google Employees
EFAD member Drone Wars UK has published an intriguing interview with a retired Royal Air Force officer who served as Deputy Commander Operations. In this interview, Air Marshall Greg Bagwell discussed many different aspects of the UK’s use of Reapers, including the recruitment of pilots, Rules of Engagement, close cooperation with the United States, and the killing of British citizen Reyaad Khan.
Date: January 8, 2018
Author: Drone Wars UK
Early December 2017, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) published a study with possible ways to address the risks and challenges surrounding the use of armed drones. The report is an outcome of consultations held with States, civil society and experts over the course of a year. EFAD members Elizabeth Minor (Article36) and Wim Zwijnenburg (PAX) were part of these consultations.
Date: 20/Oct/17
Author: UNIDIR
The use of remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles, most commonly known as drones, has grown rapidly in recent years. Given the increasing trend towards use of armed drones and their rapid proliferation, it is crucial that their use is brought in line with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Date: 20/Oct/2017
Author: Amnesty International
Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Rights Watch (UK) welcome the opportunity to provide the Human Rights Committee (the Committee) with the following observations on its draft General Comment on Article 6 (the draft) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the Covenant) on the right to life, ahead of its second reading.
Date: 06/Oct/2017
Authors: the American Civil Liberties Union, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, the International Commission of Jurists, the Open Society Justice Initiative, and Rights Watch (UK)
Article 36 has published a report on the humanitarian impacts of armed drones, together with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University. This collaborative study aims to refocus the debate about drones on the harm caused to people by these weapons as specific technologies of violence.
Date: 01/Oct/2017
Author: Article 36; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; International Disarmament Institute, Pace University
PAX urges States to develop a strong, legally binding instrument that aims to effectively regulate the use and export of armed drones and addresses key concerns over the use of armed drones in relation to international legal principles. Such a process should be undertaken in a transparent and inclusive manner. This policy paper provides a background to the wider discussion of developing drone standards and provides recommendations on the content of and process for building these international norms.
Date: 13/Sep/2017
Author: Wim Zwijnenburg
The U.S.’ government policy and practices of lethal force overseas remain unjustifiably and excessively secret, although it took some steps towards improving transparency between 2010 and 2016. Far too much remains unknown, with nearly all past strikes and civilian casualties unexplained, strikes in Pakistan remaining almost wholly unacknowledged, little information on accountability and the legal basis for strikes in specific cases, and a continued lack of clarity regarding the application of key legal and policy rules.
Date: 01/Jul/2017
Author: Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies
Drones are changing the conception of war, making it a series of unilateral strikes. In doing so, they demonstrate the incapacity to find political solutions for political problems. Moreover, nowadays the public opinion is less and less willing to accept wars, and drones are the technical tool to wage wars without needing a real public debate and its consequences. In Italy, as well as in Europe, the use of drones, their deployment on the field, their improvements and their funding have never been publicly discussed. Until now.
Date: 01/Apr/2017
Author: IRIAD- Istituto di Ricerche Internazionali Archivio Disarmo and Italian Disarmament Network
Remote Control Project’s March 2017 report tracks the UK’s secretive but growing military commitments abroad by analysing the rise in the use of drones for targeted killing, the use of Special Forces, and the provision of capabilities such as intelligence and embedded troops to allied forces.
Date: 01/Mar/2017
Author: Remote Control Project
In order to clarify the positions of political parties regarding the acquisition and deployment of armed drones, PAX has conducted a survey amongst relevant political parties. The information gathered from this research can be used to inform voters on the positions of political parties, but it also contributes to a broader societal debate on the desirability of using armed drones in current and future conflicts and counterterrorism operations.
Date: 01/Feb/2017
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Foeke Postma (PAX)
“Dear President Obama, We write to request that, as part of a robust effort to implement the Executive Order this fall, your administration investigate ten past drone strikes as well as other strikes where there are credible allegations of harm to civilians…”
Date: 06/Oct/2016
Authors: American Civil Liberties Union; Amnesty International; Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC); Center for Constitutional Rights; European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Human Rights Clinic (Columbia Law School); Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Open Society Foundations and Reprieve
Belgium began its air campaign against so-called Islamic State in Iraq on October 5th 2014 – targeting Daesh alongside other international Coalition partners. In nine months, six Belgian F-16s carried out approximately 113 airstrikes, a significant contribution to the war effort.
Date: 01/May/2016
Author: Airwars
Airwars reported that the Netherlands began military operations against so-called Islamic State on October 7th 2014. According to the Ministerie van Defensie, to early February 2016 Dutch F-16s had released more than 1,300 bombs, missiles and cannon shells against Daesh targets. According to our analysis, this makes the Netherlands the fourth most active partner in the military campaign – after the United States, the UK and France.
Date: 02/Mar/2016
Author: Airwars
This report provides the reader with a technical overview of small UAV systems, their technologies, capabilities and applications, as well as addressing broad market trends and horizon developments within the COTS small UAV sector. This report further provides an indicative use history of UAV systems in service with non-state armed groups and an assessment of operation trends associated with this use and proliferation, followed by an examination of current and proposed regulatory controls and counter-measures.
Date: 01/Feb/2016
Authors: Larry Friese, N.R. Jenzen-Jones and Michael Smallwood (ARES)
In this report, Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, describe how reliance on the precision capabilities and touted effectiveness of drone technology threatens to obscure the impact on civilians.
Date: 01/Jan/2016
Author: Center for Civilians in Conflict and Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School
Here one can find the press information of a court hearing on 27 May 2015 by the Administrative Court in Cologne and the declaration of Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who addresses Germany’s role in the US drone warfare.
Date: 27/May/2015
Published by: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
This report looks at the intersection between two phenomena: the Kill List and the covert drone programme in Pakistan and Yemen. While the US refuses to say who is on the Kill List, a look at the reporting around drone strikes gives the names of dozens of individuals who have been targeted or report killed once, only to be targeted again, and again, and again.
Date: 20/Nov/2014
Author: Reprieve
This paper addresses concerns that the sex of individuals is being used as a signifier to designate people as militants in drone strike targeting decisions and post-strike analysis of casualties.
Date: 01/Oct/2014
Authors: Ray Acheson (from Reaching Critical Will), Richard Moyes and Thomas Nash (both from Article 36)
Amnesty International made a qualitative assessment based on detailed field research into nine of the 45 reported strikes that occurred in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal agency between January 2012 and August 2013 and a survey of publicly available information on all reported drone strikes in Pakistan over the same period.
Date: 01/Oct/2013
Author: Amnesty International
This report, published in 2011, argues that unmanned systems can play a useful role in supporting troop operations. At the same time it draws attention to the downside of unmanned systems: unmanned systems cannot win a war. Basically it is always, and possibly even more so now, a matter of boots on the ground. Moreover, there are several important ethical objections to using armed, unmanned systems.
Date: 01/Mar/2011
Authors: Wim Zwijnenburg and Cor Oudes (PAX)