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.