The Status of Drones and Their Use - Report Example

Use of Drones Affiliation Drones Introduction to drones Drones are commonly known as unmanned aerial vehicle that be either remotely piloted or unpiloted completely. The international civil aviation describes the aircrafts as those that are on air without human pilots. There are two types of these drones: one is that is controlled by onboard computers, which are on the increase as compared to those that are controlled remotely by pilots on the ground or form other air vehicles. Regulations and legal issues surrounding these types of aircrafts have left them to be used by the army for governmental operations. Those used by individuals or businesses undergo strict regulation. Their control is secondary to their delicate nature hence need maximum surveillance. At the same time, they can be misused to cause harm to people more so when on the hands of terrorists. The status of drones and their use The idea of drones is not a new concept since it dates back to the 1800 when the government of Australia launched aircrafts loaded with a bomb filled balloons during their war with Venice (Hall & Coyne, 2013). This action bore the ideas of developing such aircrafts in order to save lives of men at the cockpit. The current drone’s designs and structures innovation began in the 1900, with an original use of training military personnel using the drones. During World War 1, the development made a break through seen when the Dayton – Wright Airplane Company managed to produce a pilotless aircraft that could explode after a specific time. The initial powered unmanned Ariel vehicles were the aerial target at A.M. lows (Zenco, 2012), in 1916.To gain much more controlled of these drones and direct them on the hit target, various companies embarked on a serious research and development of remotely controlled airplanes. This went on during and after First World War with the first plane of these kind being developed by model airplane enthusiast and film star Reginald Denny in the year 1935 (IHRCRC & GJC, 2012). More of these airplanes were developed in a technological rush after Reginald’s development for use in world war two. At this time, these airplanes were used to train anti-aircraft gunners and fly attack missions at the same time. Germanys NAZI Company produced several remote controlled aircrafts over the period of world war two. As Lewis, (2012) confirms, production of remotely controlled airplanes began in 1959 in the United States after the United States air force officers decided to begin the project in order to save its pilot. There were increased numbers of pilots dying while flying over hostile territories. The plan to produce these kind of planes intensified further when Francis Gary powers was shot down together with his U-2 in 960 over the soviet union territory (Gregory, 2011). These incidences led to the launch of unmanned aerial vehicle program that was coded Red Wagon, the program was initiated within days after the U-2 secret was shot down together with Francis Gary powers. The first combat using unmanned aerial vehicles was on the 2nd and 4th of august in Vietnam after the clash between the navy unit of the United States and that of Vietnam (Paust, 2010). However, the United States government went mute on the use of these weapons after they were captured on the Chinese set light, which did show the downed United States UAVs through the wide world photos. Currently, in the government of the United States, there are two programs of unmanned aerial vehicles, including the military UAV program and the central intelligence agency. The program carried out by the military is overt, and carried out where the United States troops are stationed and at the same time can be monitored by the public. On the other hand, the program carried out by the central intelligence agency is clandestine in order to combat terrorist. The central intelligence agency was initiated after September 11th 2011 terrorist attacks on the United States soil. It was further accelerated after the increased emphasis on operations for intelligence gathering in the year 2004 (Brunstetter & Braun, 2011). These programs are executed in various countries that are tarnished with terrorist attacks, and they include Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. The central intelligence agency collects information by having UAVs loiter around these countries in order to gather the information. The first central intelligence agency program is called the Eagle Program that was led by the Counterterrorism Center. The program that was directed by Duane Clarridge utilized the off the shelf technology that included garage model airplanes and door openers. On 1973 February 26th , the United States air force before the united states house committee on cooperation gave a testimony that they have been using UAVs. During that time, the commander of the air force systems told the committee that the department had used about 3435 UAVs and lost about 554 UAVs to all causes (Sorcher, 2013). The commander of the air force system command gave the reason as the fact that they lost a number of their men in the cockpit during the war. At the same time, the United States had lost so many men who were killed on air during the war in Vietnam. In fact, the number was up to 5000 airmen and over 100 were taken as prisoners of war (Kaag & Kreps, 2012). Therefore, to combat the other forces with minimal casualties, the United States air force resulted to using UAVs in order to slow down the rate of people being killed within the military. In the year 1973, the commander in chief of strategic air command stated that they had to use the UAVs for the high-risk flying assignments. Despite the fact that, the loss of the drones is high, the air forces were ready to lose them since they save lives. In the year 1973, Israel developed UAVs with real-time surveillance after Egypt and Syria used surface to air missiles that were supplied by Soviet Union to them (Clarke, 2014). The missiles caused great damage to Israelis fighter jets an action that prompted Israel to produce these highly advanced UAVs at that time. The pictures provided by the surveillance of these UAVs helped Israel to neutralize Syrian air defenses in 1982 during the start of Lebanon war (Ahmad, 2014). At that time, there were no pilots downed, hence the importance of these UAVs. With the maturation of applicable technologies on these drones, the United States in the 1980 and 1990s, interests in development of drones grew. Thus, the military of the United States, gave Maryland’s air transport authority and Israel’s company Mazlat a contract to develop advanced drones for the military. The pioneer UAVs was that was produced jointly by the AAI in Maryland and Mazlat Company in Israel, and was used in 1991 during the gulf war against Iraq (Ahmad, 2014). These drones were seen as cheaper ways of fighting with many capabilities with minimal risk to aircrews being lost in the war. The initial UAVs were used just for surveillance. However, later development was used to ground missiles and lately drones are heavily armed hence the name unmanned combat vehicle. Further drones can be used to rescue people lost in the wildness or trapped in collapsed building or a drift at the sea (IHRCRC & GJC, 2012).Continued use of these drones has increased over the years, for instance, in the year 2013 at least 50 countries used drones of which made them by using their resources. The most users of these drones included Iran, Israel china and the United States (Ahmad, 2014).From records, by the year 2012 the air force of the United States employed over 7,494 UAVs. From this large number, it means for every three of the United States air force aircrafts, are UAVs. Unlike the normal UAVs, the predator can terminate a target that it locates for the fact that it is armed with hellfire missiles. The development was made after the predator was able to locate Osama bin laden several times but do nothing apart from sending images for the fact it was not armed. Further, these predators can orchestrate attacks since they can point the laser at targets. The numbers of missions carried out from the year 2005 to 2006 evidences the apparent success of these types of drones. There we about 2073 missions carried out by predators’ in about 242diffrent raids (Paust, 2010). Global hawk has to be operated by pilots about 7500 miles away, unlike the Predator. The user has only to press the land and take off button while the rest is controlled by GPRS and reporting with a live feed. The current UAVs have been reduced into a very small size that they can be launched form one’s hand and maneuvered through the streets in order to meet the targets. The most common UAVs Ravens are used in urban centers, for example, in Iraq and other war-torn nations to locate insurgents. At the same time, they can relay information on planned attacks and ambushes hence a calling for timely action by the authorities involved. The Ravens are very useful and important for the fact that they can fly for several days at a time hence increasing the level of convenience. Insurgents of late fear are staying out for long for the fear of being located by the UAVs at one point. Law on drones and their legality The United States of America’s Federal Aviation Administration describes aircraft systems without flight crews on board as the unmanned aircraft. The common names given to these types of aircraft include drone, UAVs, remotely piloted aircraft, remotely piloted vehicle and remotely operated aircraft. To fly UAVs on the United States of America national airspace system freely, one has to use these unmanned aircraft vehicles for only recreational and sports purposes. However, in order for one to use them for other purposes apart from sport and recreational, they have to obtain a certificate of authorization in order to operate on the national airspace system. A certificate of authorization is only issued to public sponsors, for instance, Raven scouts UAVs were used after BP. Commercial UAVs granted permission to also Fairbanks in order to check on the oil spillage are not allowed to be used in any part of the world. However, there has been a deadline set as 30th September before these kinds of aircrafts are allowed to operate in the world today. Although, the FAA allows for use of UAV within the height of 400 feet by august 2013, licenses to fly commercial unmanned air system to be granted basing on a case-by-case approach. They are subject to endorsement by the federal aviation administration. Internationally there are no regulations on the use of these unmanned combat aircrafts. Consequently, the various countries using this technology have a wide variety of choice on when to use them. In order for a particular country to use them, they have to comply with the international humanitarian law. In all their operational, they must consider that the humans in that area is not affected form the action that is related with the drones. In the past, the United States drones have been involved in humanitarian crisis on how they use their drones in various parts of the world. Most common affected civilians are those in Pakistan where the United States government is said to have killed many civilians including children and women in an action that are geared towards killing the top terrorist leaders. At the same time, there has been an outcry on the attack on a wedding in Yemen. About nine people were killed with several others injures including the bride. The United States again explained the act and assured the public that the targets were terrorists who were using human cover to aid the attack. Therefore, the major regulation is that the operations of these drones in various parts should be covert. People should be aware of who was killed in any attack to rule out killing of innocent people. The international humanitarian law should work as the fundamental framework in any operations executed. This law provides for guidelines that can mitigate the issue of these weapons if followed comprehensibly. Legality of drones use The use of these weapons is legal as per to my opinion. Over the past few decades, in the United States and other countries that are ruined by terrorist attacks, there has been a successful stoppage of these attacks from taking place. For instance in Israel during the start of the Lebanon war they managed to ground missiles using drones. This was the initial and the very first successful use of drones to combat terrorism and attack against innocent civilians. Their drones were fitted with hellfire missiles that were able to ground missiles launched to Israel at that time hence mitigating catastrophic effect of the war then. Secondly, the United States has managed to use these drones in favor of humanity. In the year 1991 during the gulf war in Kuwait, the United States used these drone against Iraq, a move that made great steps towards resolving the issues that were felt in the warring countries (Lewis, 2012). Furthermore, these drones have been used in combating the terrorist attackers and members of the terrorist groups that are masterminds of the various world attacks. For instance, the operation of the United States in Afghanistan has seen quite a large number of terrorist leaders of the al-Qaida group killed by use of this drones. Therefore, they have advantages that surpass the disadvantages if used well. However, on the other hand, there have been great concerns on the use of the drones since there are a number of claims that civilians have perished in this attacks. A good example is Pakistan where there are a great number of children and women killed in these attacks as collateral damage when traveling with the targets. They might have been close family members or friends. As much as these drones are working towards combating terrorism, they should be used efficiently in order to minimize innocent civilian’s death. These can only be possible by utilizing the international humanitarian law by the involved parties (IHRCRC & GJC, 2012). Security implications of commonplace drones Currently, terrorists have gotten technologically advanced with the ability to secure or develop their drones. Thus, once these drones become seen as usual weapons in the world, terrorist are likely to take advantage of the situation and use them to carry out their mission on unsuspecting civilians. Therefore, regulations on the use of drones should be made tighter in order to ensure that any group of people that are using these drones is well known and that they are licensed to do so. Moreover, these drones can be used to spy on the governmental agencies hence leaking the very vital information that can be used to determine the government’s plans. At the same time, these drones have a large potential of killing a large number of people. This would be catastrophic if they were used in warring countries in the Middle East for instance Syria. For that case, there should be no room for making these drones a usual thing. Those authorized to use the drones should use them in extreme conditions. Legal Implications of Drones from Common Place Presence of drones has a great implication legally. Once the drones get into hands of people who might use them to harm others, these drones are likely to affect the human beings involved and causing more harm. The humanitarian international law and the domestic laws on the use of drones are likely to be breached for the fact that people using these weapons sometimes can be terrorists. For instance, use of drones in Pakistan by the United States sometimes it is seen that they violate the domestic laws of Pakistan at the same time violating the sovereignty of that nation. Hence, the more limited the access to these weapons is the more they are likely to mitigate any effect they might have legally. Options Going Forward, And Recommendations against Various Attacks Concisely, use of these technologies is not investable for the fact that it cheap and not risking anybody’s life in the cockpit. To maintain responsible use of drones for the betterment of human life, there should be stringent rules that will guide on the use of these weapons. First, the users of these weapons should uphold the international humanitarian law that is the basis in using drones. This is important for the fact that there are no international laws governing execution using these weapons except for following the international humanitarian law. Further, drones produced in various countries, should be monitored with a report delivered to the United Nations Security Council. The report comprises the operational drones and how they are involved in dealing with humanitarian issues. Apart from that, the United Nations should come up with international guidelines on the use of drones to ensure that they have a standardized law that will see all the organizations use the equipment adequately well. Conclusion Use of drones has been on the rise in the recent years for the fact that they are more convenient that those driven by pilots. More so in singing them during the war, they are much cheaper and lees riskier for the fact that they save lives. Despite the fact that these drones have many advantages, they have been misused in the past. For instance, there are claims that the United States violates the sovereignty and d the international humanitarian law when executing attacks more so in Pakistan and Yemen. For instance, there was an attack in a wedding where nine people were killed. Thus, there should be stringent rules on where these attacks should take place in order to mitigate the number of casualties and trauma caused on the people at the scene of these events. Collateral damage more so of minors and women is not acceptable mores against the humanitarian international law. Therefore, the recommendations of ensuring that the attacks are overt and well scrutinized will lead to the attackers being more careful. This is for the fact they will have to exposé who they killed and linked them with the actions they are accused of. Therefore, by so doing, there will be much reduction of collateral damage from operations carried out by these drones. References Ahmad, M. (2014). The use of drones in Pakistan: An inquiry into the ethical and legal issues. Political Quarterly, 85, 65–74. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2014.12068.x Brunstetter, D., & Braun, M. (2011). The Implications of Drones on the Just War Tradition. Ethics & International Affairs. doi:10.1017/S0892679411000281 Clarke, R. (2014). What drones inherit from their ancestors. Computer Law and Security Review, 30, 247–262. doi:10.1016/j.clsr.2014.03.006 Gregory, D. (2011). From a View to a Kill: Drones and Late Modern War. Theory, Culture & Society. doi:10.1177/0263276411423027 Hall, A. R., & Coyne, C. J. (2013). The political economy of drones. Defence and Peace Economics, 25, 445–460. doi:10.1080/10242694.2013.833369 IHRCRC, & GJC. (2012). Living Under Drones. Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians from US Drone Practices in Pakistan (pp. 1–182). Retrieved from http://livingunderdrones.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Stanford-NYU-LIVING-UNDER-DRONES.pdf\npapers3://publication/livfe/id/111551 Kaag, J., & Kreps, S. (2012). The Moral Hazard of Drones. New York Times, 1–6. Retrieved from papers3://publication/uuid/DDFEA221-59D2-4688-A960-7421CEED6103 Lewis, M. W. (2012). Drones and the Boundaries of the Battlefield. Texas International Law Journal, 47, 293–314. Paust, J. J. (2010). Self-Defense Targetings of Non-State Actors and Permissibility of U.S. Use of Drones in Pakistan. Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, 19, 237 – 282. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1699907_code939580.pdf?abstractid=1520717&mirid=1 Sorcher, S. (2013). The Backlash Against Drones. National Journal. 2/23/2013. Zenco, M. (2012). 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Drones. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://nec.gmilcs.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,url,cpid&custid=danforth&db=f5h&AN=72682544&site=ehost-live&scope=site  Read More