Drones: How Technology Impacts Politics and War

By Tomás Lima

More often than not, we do not see the full effect that technology has on the world.   Typically, people are limited to our devices and their uses within the household. That includes phones, computers, video games, and even drones for recreational or video purposes. However, while technology has been revolutionizing daily life, it has also provoked deep changes in politics and warfare. More specifically, the use of highly precise and cheap drones has, and will, completely change the way wars and conflicts are fought. Students of the “Global Perspectives” elective touched upon this in their class and agreed on sharing it with the EAC community.

Drones are classified as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs. However, the first use of, technically, a UAV as a form of weapon came in a much more primitive manner. In fact, it came in 1849, when the Austrian army launched a fleet of hot-air balloons, loaded with bombs, over the city of Venice. This strategy saw limited success, as the balloons were guided by the wind amidst unpredictable weather and the copper wire meant to trigger the bombs had limited functionality. While being the first instance of military use of an aircraft with no human pilot, it is far from what comes to mind when thinking of drone usage in modern wars.

UAVs started coming closer to modern technology – being guided by radio waves – during the First World War. By 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory (As it was known until 1918, nowadays called the Royal Aircraft Establishment) had drawn designs of an unmanned monoplane which would be made to counter German airship bombings which they called the Aerial Target (AT). This specific design never truly made it to fruition. Later, however, in 1916, Henry Folland designed his own version of the AT, designed also at the Royal Aircraft Factory, that was built by the company Ruston Proctor. The model became known simply as the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target. While it had no weapons, and functioned similarly to a cruise missile, it was the first to resemble modern UAVs.

Evidently, drones have taken huge leaps in advancements from what the Ruston Proctor AT had been. Throughout the following century, drones saw extensive development and variety. Drones nowadays can be as small as a bird, or as big as a fighter jet, with their armaments varying between tons of bombs and small explosives. One factor, however, has remained the same across the varied developments: Increasing lethality. No matter the size, drones have become more lethal throughout the years and have become more present within wars.

Some very clear and recent examples of drone warfare are the U.S drone strikes and the drones used in the Russia-Ukraine war. The United States, for one, brought quite a lot of attention to its UAV capabilities when it killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, in January of 2020, utilizing an MQ-9 Reaper drone. The general was killed, along with other Iranian authorities, in Baghdad, being hit by multiple missiles launched from the drone that hit the convoy he was a part of. The drone flew in practically undetected. The repercussions at the time were massive. For the first time, the use of a drone in this manner was widely publicly discussed. For the first time, people questioned the morality of drone warfare and came to the realization that this would now be the future.

“The conflict in Ukraine, and any future conflicts, will be decided by the quantity and quality of a nations unmanned armies”

– Lorenzo Paschoal, Global Perspectives Student

In Ukraine, the situation is somewhat different. Their first usage for drones is reconnaissance and intel gathering, using the drones’ cameras to spot and track Russian forces. Evidently, the Russian army is much larger than the Ukrainian army, and has a much larger budget. In order to effectively deal with this issue, the Ukrainians have found creative ways to use cheap drones to destroy Russian equipment. For example, Ukrainians use kamikaze-style drones, using regular drones anyone can purchase, and strapping them with explosives. These drones are then flown directly into tanks, troops, and other targets. If the drone doesn’t destroy the target completely, it is almost guaranteed to render it useless. The drones are much cheaper to produce than an armored vehicle, with the ones used by the army costing around $400 dollars to produce. In comparison, a commonly used Russian T-72 tank can cost between $500,000 – 1,000,000. Furthermore, the Ukrainian army has also used  drones to hail thermite around Russian positions. Thermite causes a reaction that can burn at temperatures of up to 2500°C. Not only will the substance completely destroy whatever vegetation it comes in contact with, it can also melt through armored vehicles, shelters, and even a soldier as a whole, if hit directly. Global Perspectives student Lorenzo Paschoal, who heavily studied this matter, stated: “The usage of UAVs is one of the most brutal and unethical warfare techniques of the 21st century”.

Drones have caused an entire change in war tactics as a whole. Continuing with the example of Ukraine, their army has had to develop strategic areas from where to control their devices. They often set up in abandoned places, or hidden tents and bunkers. The range of their UAVs is not very large, so this often means secretly setting up quite close to Russian forces, which opens up a new risk of detection. Nations have also had to develop ways to counter drones. Oftentimes, the most effective manner of countering UAVs is by jamming the signal they receive and require to operate. The jammers are usually mounted upon specialized vehicles and cover a wide area of airspace. Recently, however, gun-looking devices for single-target drone jamming have also come into use. These are called C-UAS (Counter-unmanned Aerial Systems).

While the technology is highly impressive, drones bring to the table a massive moral dilemma regarding their use. Drones are many times controlled in a similar manner to a video game, using a controller and watching through a screen. The UAV pilot does not look at his targets face-to-face and likely doesn’t even feel the guilt and pain of shooting another man. When asked for his opinion, Lorenzo Paschoal stated he believes, “UAVs strip soldiers from their honor as men and women making sacrifices for their nation.” The soldier does not have to actively risk his own life on the front lines and could start to see killing real, living, breathing human beings as nothing more than a game. Along with the massively reduced costs of drone production, there is not even a monetary risk truly involved. Drones essentially remove the entire cost of murders, be it moral or financial. The cost of taking the life of another person is, unfortunately, cheaper than ever.

“The damage caused by UAVs will soon be undeniably larger than what any human army could inflict.”

– Lorenzo Paschoal

UAVs are, in fact, revolutionary, and have been evolving and developing in an impressive fashion. The entirety of warfare is being completely changed by this small machine; however, it is important to beware of their dangers, insofar as the level of facilitation they bring to violence and taking another human’s life.