Rachel Stohl, Vice President at the Stimson Center, has written an insightful article on the United States' planned reinterpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a decades-old international agreement between states which limits the risk of WMD proliferation by imposing export restraints on potential delivery vehicles. Stohl clearly explains what the MTCR does and how it has evolved over...

01 July, 2020 /

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...

23 June, 2020 /

Geneva Call has published a helpful overview on the wider consequences of the use of lethal drones in wars and armed conflicts. The Swiss group has a long history of working with armed non-State actors, and underscores the growing threat posed by weaponized commercial drones from these groups. Referring to the UN Secretary General’s report on Protection of Civilians and...

16 June, 2020 /

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...

27 May, 2020 /

UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres has raised concerns over the increased use of drones in targeted killings in his 2020 report on the Protection of Civilians; this is only the second time the impacts of drones have been addressed in the annual report since the first iteration 21 years ago. This year’s report underscores the urgent need for the international community...

22 May, 2020 /

In our monthly press review, we translate, analyze and summarize news from various European publications on the issues of drones. In April 2020 the most frequent topics discussed in drone news were the use of drones by Turkey and Iran and the development of new drones and drone systems. You can find the publication here....

20 May, 2020 /

This article was originally published on May 15, 2020 by Just Security. Last week, the Department of Defense made the claim, in its annual report on civilian casualties in conflict, that it killed no civilians in Yemen in 2019. It claimed the same in 2018. Neither year was that true. Read the full article by Abdulrasheed Al-Faqih and Kristine Beckerle on Just Security....

18 May, 2020 /

Germany has reopened a controversial debate over whether its armed forces should be trusted to operate armed drones. While an agreement seems far off, the debate could soon get a European twist. Read about the German debate and  the possible EU common position on armed drones in the article by Alexandra Brzozowski on Euractive....

18 May, 2020 /