27 December 2024, NIICE Commentary 9813
Sharon Bhattarai
The widespread use of drone technology has implications for international security frameworks, the fact that many drones are dual-use makes the effect of export control uncertain, while the wide availability of commercial drones complicates efforts to prevent their military adaption. As a result, the primary focus of international cooperation is on the development of counter-drone capabilities as well as on the establishment of regulatory frameworks required to control their distribution and use. The legal basis for drone strikes to a large extent, is built on broad interpretations of self-defense and national security. The government of the US has got it that targeting those who are the “imminent threat” would be a lawful act of self-defense. Nevertheless, the critics complain about it that such an interpretation is inflexible in terms of the traditional formulation of imminence and necessity as opposed to its set legal and ethical limits. International response to drone warfare has been mixed, with concerns about the potential proliferation of weapons and the establishment of dangerous precedents. The technology gives us the potential for other nations to start making similar ones, which will be a big problem for the current military situation and may lead to the violation of international work norms.
The UN Human Rights Council report, as presented by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, indicates that drones have surpassed a tipping point with over 100 countries having military drones and a third of them possessing the deadliest autonomous weapons. The UN enunciates serious worries about the development of warfare by means of drone usage, thereby deconstructing the idea of “surgical strikes” as a supposed myth and at the same time by emphasizing significant civilian victims that are commonly evaded by the reports. The condition further worsened particularly with the posed by the unprecedented January 2020 drone strike that happened on third-state territory and thereby killed a senior foreign official therefore the mechanism is now but notwithstanding a shift from traditional drone targets and therefore the situation is considered as dangerous. To solve such problems, the UN suggests that all drone strikes, which are claimed to be self-defense, must be first presented before the Security Council and, therefore, calls for the full reporting of the number of drones strikes that cause the deaths of civilians. They also call for the implementation of an UN-sponsored forum to address the issue of drones. They stress the urgent needs of tighter regulation, which can reduce the risk of a global conflict.
Drones have remarkably transformed warfare, thus allowing the government and non-state actors the leverage to operate with greater precision, adaptability, and reach. The availability and advancing capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have led to their inclusion in asymmetric and conventional warfare, thereby making the modern conflicts more complex. From 2018 to 2023, the use of drones by non-state actors surged by more than 1,400 percent with different factions adapting them to surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeted attacks. The United States, China, and Russia are the most applicable state parties and also terrorists have utilized drones to a critical end in various conflicts worldwide, such as in the Ukraine-Russia war, in which drones equipped with explosives (explosively retrofitted commercial drones) cost a fortune but these tools are really useful. One other ethical consideration about war is the idea of “warfare merely being a button click” now, which is also put forward through the development of this tech. It comes with the removal of the psychological block to the conflict, for example, potential human rights problems and the possibility of perpetual war. The 2020 report revealed that the total amount of civilian casualties caused by the US drone strikes in four countries between 2010 and 2020 had a range of 910 to 2,200 people killed, therefore, making it clear that this military technology is highly controversial when it comes to moral responsibility.
The Hezbollah device explosions testify to the radical evolution of the commercial communication technology in the hybrid warfare world of today. Hezbollah’s concept of using pagers rather than mobile phones as a secure communication measure, along with Israel’s likely intricate counterintelligence approach, thus, of these devices’ remote detonation, vividly depicts the manner in which ordinary gadgets are being turned into modern weaponries. The offense underscores the fact that tools of basic communication like pagers, which were basically meant for civilian and professional use, can be converted into conflict weapons, in cases the components have been intentionally made the channels for targeted warfare by the manufacturers themselves. A telling example of this is the incident, thus, which reiterates the newer, but almost crossbred shapes of the “commercial communication technology-strategic military intelligence operations”.
The commercialization of drone technology has caused the authorities to reconsider the very nature of hybrid warfare, a new menace and a potential advantage with both hardware and software developing more and more sophisticated applications. Consumer drones, which were initially developed for use in photogrammetry, distribution, and entertainment, have been very fast reconfigured by state and non-state organizations to become fluttery reconnaissance and surveillance devices even operational weapons. This technology innovation is a significant factor, allowing platforms to be apparent weapons of presence, thus enabling smaller actors to challenge more traditional military powers with the use of asymmetric warfare strategies. At the same time, the technology of these commercial drones is so easily accessible that even an organization with scarce resources could now carry out technologically advanced espionage, precision strikes, and psychological warfare operations. Nations like Ukraine and Russia have showcased how these conflicts have utilized this tactic, with commercial drones converted into vehicles for lethal devices, real-time battlefield sensors, and accidents of enemy communications. The impacts on international security are tectonic: the defense systems that previously protected nations are endangered by thrifty but efficient attacks that they have been incapable of handling, and the regulations encompassing these activities lagging behind the technological leadership of developments.
Commercial Drone Technology, which was initially developed for civilian use, has been militarized very quickly by using simple modifications. Among them, it is possible to mention a wide range of commercial applications such as highly autonomous navigation systems, improved command, and control capabilities as well as the integration of military-style sensors. A great thing has been the effect of augmented reality and high-speed training systems of drones which have caused the multiplication of fractional units. The emergence of drones as complex equipment that hybridizes warfare presents a conundrum to international security concerning the ability of both state and non-state actors to engage in comparatively precise economical aerial strikes, usually beyond militarized traditionalities. Thus, the continuously decreasing cost of drones is serving as a bellwether for increased civilian casualties, moral dilemmas, and conflict escalation, in organizations with poor governance, are particularly likely to suffer. The application and usage of drones have also become widespread among non-state actors; they are now used for intelligence gathering and conducting strikes as well as psychological warfare which in turn causes even more instability in the regions. Apart from these emerging havoc elements, proliferation creates new dilemmas regarding international laws, as countries fight to keep pace with effective national regulations regarding drone usage; thus the appearance of a new arms race and the reconfiguration of the world power map.
Sharon Bhattarai is a Research Intern at NIICE.
