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Chapter 1
Historical Introduction and Technology Used in Drones
1. Introduction
During World War II, a top commander in what was then the United States Army Air Forces, General Henry Arnold, developed a new way to attack U-boat stations and other heavily fortified German positions: he turned old B-17 and B-24 bombers into remotely piloted aircraft and loaded them with explosives.1 Arnold wrote in a memo to his staff, “If you can get mechanical machines to do this, you are saving lives at the outset.”2 The missions had a poor track record, but that did not deter Arnold from declaring in 1945 that “the next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at all.”3
Nearly seven decades later, Arnold’s prophecy is slowly being realized: armed drones are starting to rule the skies.4 Until now, the United States (US) has had a relative monopoly over the use of drones, but it cannot count on maintaining that for much longer.5 Other states are quickly catching up.6
The drone proliferation has spawned intellectual debates on whether a country has the right under the international law to unilaterally deploy drones abroad for military purposes.7 Drones are parodied, satirized, caricatured, excoriated, and fetishized in a wide variety of outlets and media, including late night talk shows, cartoons, Hollywood blockbusters, rock music, street art, gallery art, comedy shows, and the White House Correspondent’s dinner.8 People have heard about drones, but they have heard different and contradictory things.9 People are not sure whether they are for them, against them, or neither.10 The overwhelming interest by militaries, hobbyists, and commercial purposes means this technology is significant.11 Intention of people will determine whether the drones are used for progress or cataclysm.12
The nature and use of drones varies widely.13 An increasing number of countries have access to this novel technology to fulfill various military objectives, including surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeted killing.14 The legality of drones’ use raises questions for a variety of reasons, some more grounded in fact than others, but despite these criticisms there is little question that the use of drones in surveillance and combat roles is on the rise.15
This chapter examines the legal posturing and what drones really are: what technologies are out there and what is coming next. The chapter discusses the evolution of drones and a history of the use and rhetoric of drones that can serve as the basis for robust analysis in following chapters. This chapter includes the definition of drones, historical background, and the evolution of predator drones. The chapter discusses two types of drones, i.e. surveillance, and their technologies. It is important to discuss technology used in drones because a drone performs its function with the help of these technologies. These functions cause various legal challenges for drone operators. For example, performing surveillance with drones presents unique legal threats to the safety and privacy of individuals. This chapter will help in developing legal analysis of drones in the following chapters that drones are not illegal to use but they are more complicated.
2. Drones
The term “drone” is consistently and materially employed throughout this book, as such, there is a need to stipulate to a working definition because of the term’s importance. It will be helpful in addressing the legal challenges that underlie the use of drones.
2.1 What Exactly Is a Drone?
To ensure the same basic understanding of the term from the outset, this preliminary definition should help readers in addressing the legal issues that underlie the use of drones. The word “drone” encompasses everything from toy drones to weaponized drones.16 Categorically, “drone” refers to any unmanned, remotely piloted, flying craft ranging from something as small as a radio-controlled toy helicopter, to the 32,000-pound, $104 million Global Hawk military drone.17
In determining what exactly constitutes a drone under this language, one considers whether the vehicle or flying craft at issue (1) flies and (2) a pilot on the ground controls it; if the vehicle meets these criteria, it falls under the everyday-language definition of drone.18
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines as:
[a]n aircraft and its associated elements which are operated with no pilot on board.19
‘Unmanned Aircraft’ (UA) refers to the aircraft within the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and is defined by ICAO as:
[a]ny aircraft intended to be flown without a pilot on board … [it] can be remotely and fully controlled from another place (ground, another aircraft, space) or pre-programmed to conduct its flight without intervention.20
For ICAO, RPAS is a subcategory of UAS—this subcategory relating only to unmanned aircraft which are piloted from a remote pilot station.21
ICAO defines RPAS as:
[a] remotely piloted aircraft, its associated remote pilot station(s), the required command and control links and any other components as specified in the type design.22
The US Army officially defines a drone as “a land, sea, or air vehicle that is remotely or automatically controlled.”23 The US Department of Defense defines a drone as:
[a]powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be remotely piloted, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload. Ballistic or semi-ballistic vehicles, cruise missiles, and artillery projectiles are not considered unmanned aerial vehicles.24
The history of drones is that of a watchful eye turned weapon.25 The drone is not a projectile, but a projectile-carrying machine.26 Also, this book uses the term “drone” for domestic drones and military drones.
Military drones are referenced to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), or hunter-killers,27 Unmanned Aircraft (UA) Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) and Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA).28 There are sub-categories such as First Person View (FPV) where the controller is guided by a live video feed from the craft, Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) for the growing swarm of insect-sized flying bots now being perfected i...
