Why Do Military Use Drones?

Drones: The Situation
In the past few years, the done industry has been exponentially expanding. [See Figure 1] Alongside its expansion, drone related issues and incidents have generated opposing viewpoints in many debates. For example, people are concerned about the military use of drones and their influence in Iraq. However, many people believe that the military use of drones is justified and serves the purpose of saving U.S. soldier lives. On the other spectrum, there are people concerned about the recent influx in commercial and civilian drones. By allowing drone technology to be tweaked by citizens, many argue that the use of commercial and civilian drones is a threat to national security, while others argue that the commercial drones can be used in a beneficial manner, such as border patrol. On top of it all, there are many that believe the FAA is not regulating the use of drones enough, whereas others believe there are too many rules and regulations regarding the commercial use of drones.
Military Use of Drones: It Doesn’t Work In late 2009, the United States military was given the authority to initiate drone oriented airstrikes in Yemen by President Obama. The airstrike left 14 women and 21 children dead, in which only one of the dozens killed had strong connections with terrorist militant groups. The military’s use of
drones to conduct airstrikes is damaging the way of life in Yemen, as well as creating a ripple effect of political and economic disasters. According to Mothana, a drone strike in May of 2010 ended up killing Jabir al-Shabwani. Jabir al-Shabwani was a prominent sheik and the deputy governor of the Marib Province. In retaliation, the sheik tribe attacked Yemen’s main oil pipeline for revenge. The entire ordeal costed Yemen one billion dollars, due to the fact that Yemen’s main export is oil. Not only are the airstrikes causing detrimental economic issues, but they are paving the way for terrorist militant groups.
Drone oriented airstrikes in the middle east have generated an opportunity for extremist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to recruit citizens into a life of terrorism. Mothana states that the drone strikes are causing more Yemenis to hate America and join radical terrorist groups. Most members of terrorist groups are driven by ideology. However, the citizens that have been affected by drone strikes are becoming followers of these terrorist groups because they possess a sense of revenge and
despair.
Military Use of Drones: Saving U.S. Soldiers The military use of drones can be scary. Although there are unfortunate casualties, like any war, the number of casualties does not outweigh the amount of lives that are being protected via the use of drones. The military’s use of drones is constantly being researched and upgraded to minimize the amount of unnecessary casualties. According to Burris, drones have eliminated many dangerous enemies of the United States. The enemies that drones have eliminated consisted of people that wanted to kill American civilians and soldiers. At the base level of any war, the idea is to eliminate as many threats as possible, while keeping your army safe. Drones are taking a step in the right direction, by minimizing the amount of U.S. soldiers at risk.
National Security: The Threat In July of 2012, a Massachusetts man was put on trial for attempting to damage and destroy federal buildings. The FBI discovered that the man was in possession of multiple remote controlled drones strapped with explosives, designed to collapse the dome of the U.S. Capitol and attack the Pentagon. This is an obvious and alarming threat to national security that is hard to regulate. Anyone with money and a motive can weaponize drones. Not only are drones easily weaponized, but they can be easily hacked. McCaul states that the University of Texas has revealed multiple security vulnerabilities revolving around drones. Unmanned aerial systems can be hacked into and hijacked with a relatively small investment of money and time.