The Pros And Cons Of Drone Warfare

Drone Warfare Drones are the latest technological advancement in warfare. The U.S. has used them heavily since the 1950s mostly for reconnaissance until the war in Afghanistan, when the U.S. first started using drone strikes. Drones are used because they keep our “boots off the ground”, help prevent friendly-fire and the stop most of the unnecessary killing of civilians. Their use in warfare is an ethical way to fight, it just keeps our military safer. They are also a relatively cheap and effective way to defeat the enemy. The use of drones in combat and wars has been used extensively by the U.S. for reconnaissance and drone strikes and should be continued for these purposes, since it protects our military and the civilians that would ordinarily
Drones kill less civilians than troops on the ground would, are an effective tool of counterterrorism and legal as dictated by the constitution. (The Case for Drones) They can also be equipped with missiles and other explosives which are targeted at only the enemy, which reduces any chances of friendly-fire or other harmful backlashes. Drones keep our military forces away from combat, which reduces the chances for injury, PTSD, death and the likes. In addition to these benefits, they severely reduce the risk of civilians getting injured or killed due to a skirmish between our forces and our enemies’ forces. This makes them a very ethical way to fight in wars. Drones have killed 3,300 al Qaeda and Taliban members including over 50 senior members. They helped stop large meetings and electronic communications so the terrorists cannot train recruits as well as they would normally be able to. Very precise and create a smaller blast radius than that of bombs dropped from attack jets and can wait above a target for hours which means that less civilians have and will be killed. 149 noncombatants in 2011 were killed, that is lower than any other form of strikes ever used before. In addition to this, they are easy to produce. (Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington 's Weapon of Choice) Drones are very ethical in their use in the military and are no
They risk fewer lives while saving many of our soldiers by being very effective. Drones are less likely to kill civilians than armed attackers are and the only real argument against it is legality of the strikes and how checks and balances should be put into place. The ability to eliminate the entire top of governments of terrorists is also in the hands, or wings, of drones. Also the pilots do have a conscience that is proven by how stressful the job of flying drones really is. Terrorists also use face-face weapons such as suicide bombers and mines that are avoided altogether with drones. (Heroes And Drones) Some citizens do not believe that drones are the right and ethical way to fight in wars, as the drone fliers never have to go into combat and that drone attacks don’t have any checks or balances to go through before a drone strike. Sending drones in, though, is no different from us sending planes in to bomb a city, or sending in troops to fight in an unknown land where the language is foreign to them. Drones just are much more effective and deadly than other, previously used methods. Drones are controlled by the people in charge and by the pilots that fly the drones. The distance between the pilots and the war is not unethical, it actually helps the pilots keep a level head while they make decisions. If anything, the distance helps the pilots make ethical decisions that would not have been made if they were actually flying a