The Remote Warfare Programme (initially the Remote Control Project) was set up in 2013 to examine a global trend towards “remote warfare.” That is, the trend where states like the UK engaged abroad by supporting local and regional forces to do the bulk of frontline fighting against perceived threats instead of deploying large numbers of their own forces. Seven years later,...
This roundup, curated by ReThink Media, looks at how the media is talking about drone warfare (and related topics) and what stories are being told. With little transparency from governments on this topic, this roundup aims to be as comprehensive as possible, identifying breaking news, trends, developing stories, or interesting narratives. Rethink Media also use media coverage to compile a snapshot of...
Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has written a new report in which especially the issue of targeted killings through armed drones is addressed. In 2010, 2013 and 2014, former UN Special Rapporteurs Philip Alston and Christof Heyns initiated the legal discussions on the many concerns around state accountability for extrajudicial killings with armed drones in...
Jet Groenendijk and Isa Zoetbrood, two students from the University of Utrecht, have made a podcast in which they talk about remote warfare. In the first episode, Groenendijk and Zoetbrood discuss the Dutch MQ-9 Reapers that the Netherlands will receive in the summer of 2020. Two experts, Wim Zwijnenburg, Programme Leader Humanitarian Disarmament at PAX, and Lauren Gould, assistent professor at...
The Trump administration plans to reinterprets an arms agreement in order to sell more American military drones, three defense industry executives and a U.S. official told Reuters. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), signed in 1987 by the U.S. and other states, was developed to counter the proliferation of missiles for the delivery of all types of weapons of mass destruction...
In November 2019, the Dutch parliament demanded the Ministry of Defence to investigate whether four MQ-9 Reapers, which the Netherlands will receive in early 2021, should be armed. In January 2020, State Secretary for Defence Barbara Visser wrote in a letter to parliament that the armament of the Reapers is “currently not on the agenda.” However, the Ministry of Defence does...
This month, the European Commission announced the new selected European defence research projects and opened calls for new defence research proposals. The development of uncrewed systems plays a significant role in both the selected projects and call for proposals, which will all be funded by the European Defence Fund (EDF). A new selected research project, which should be finished within 2...
Yesterday, a Polish Warmate suicide drone showed up in Libya, despite the UN-backed arms embargo against Libya which has been in place since 2011. Although the images have not been verified, sources indicate that the photos are indeed taken in Libya. The Warmate suicide drone is a type of light loitering munition which provides “precisely targeted strike and observation capabilities...