If you've checked out the news these past few (or many) months, you've probably noticed some news about drones. Drones used by the CIA to vaporize suspected terrorists. Drones used by the United States military. Drones that deliver food. Drones used by cops. Drones possibly violating the US Constitution. Drones protecting wildlife. Drones in pop culture.Maybe this has left you with some burning questions about these increasingly prominent flying robots. Here's an easy-to-read, nonwonky guide to them—we'll call it Drones for Dummies.
WHEN WAS THE DRONE INVENTED? Assuming you're talking about the scary kinds of drones that bomb America's suspected enemies, you're probably thinking of the MQ-1 Predator, developed by military contractor General Atomics. This Predator drone was first introduced in 1995 as a surveillance and intelligence gathering tool, and was then tricked-out to launch weapons like hellfire missiles.
The MQ-1 Predator—used mainly by the CIA and the US Air Force—has seen action in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Bosnia and Serbia. The subsequent (and larger) incarnation of the Predator is the MQ-9 Reaper.
BUT HASN'T THIS IDEA BEEN AROUND A LOT LONGER? Indeed, the modern military drone can be traced back to the early 20th century: In the 1930s, the British Royal Navy developed the Queen Bee, a rudimentary radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was used for aerial target practice for British pilots. The Queen Bee could fly as fast as 100 mph; the top speed for your average modern day Predator is 135 mph.
There is even a rough historical blueprint for modern-day UAVs from the American Civil War, in which both the North and South floated balloons packed with explosives and time-sensitive triggers. The idea was for the balloons to drop into enemy depots and blow up enemy supplies and ammo. (Things didn't go as planned: "It wasn't terribly effective," according to Dyke Weatherington, the man responsible for acquisition oversight of Department of Defense unmanned aircraft systems.)
BESIDES GENERAL ATOMICS, WHO ELSE IS IN THE DRONE BUSINESS TODAY? The usual suspects: major defense contractors including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, plus a number of smaller companies.
WHO BESIDES THE US HAS DRONES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY PURPOSES? The following 11 governments are known to possess armed UAVs:
=> China
=> France
=> Germany
=> India
=> Italy
=> Iran
=> Israel
=> Russia
=> Turkey
=> United Kingdom
=> United States
And according to a July 2012 report by the US Government Accountability Office, 76 countries have UAVs of some kind, up from 41 countries in 2005. Here's a map and list from the 58-page document:
DO ALL MILITARY DRONES LOOK LIKE THIS ONE I'VE SEEN IN THE NEWS?
Nope. Drones used by militaries around the world come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For instance:
Here is another chart from the 2012 GAO report detailing the three major categories used by the US military—Mini, Tactical, and Strategic:
HOW MUCH DO DRONES COST? Depends on the type and level of sophistication, of course. $12,548,710.60 will get you one MQ-9 Reaper. Roughly $5 million will get you a Predator.
HOW LONG HAS THE US BEEN USING DRONES AS A WEAPON IN THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM? The first known US drone strike against Al Qaeda operatives took place in Yemen on November 4, 2002. The attack, conducted by the CIA, took out a car carrying six suspected militants, including Abu Ali (a.k.a., Qaed Senyan al-Harthi), a former security guard for Osama bin Laden. Ali was wanted for playing a critical role in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which left 17 American sailors dead.
WHERE DID THINGS GO FROM THERE? After that initial strike, the Bush administration gradually ramped up the frequency of drone strikes, and then drastically ratcheted up the rate of drone strikes in Pakistan in the final year of his administration.
Under President Obama, the program has grown bigger and more lethal: In Pakistan alone, Obama ordered five times as many drone strikes in his first term as Bush did in eight years. Or, as Peter Bergen noted last year:
During the Bush administration, there was an American drone attack in Pakistan every 43 days; during the first two years of the Obama administration, there was a drone strike there every four days.
The drone campaign has since expanded significantly in the Horn of Africa, North Africa, and West Africa, where 100 American troops were sent to Niger to help establish another base for launching surveillance aircraft.
Today, nearly a third of all US warplanes is a flying robot.
WHO ACTUALLY PILOTS THESE UNMANNED ROBOTS? The CIA and Air Force both have a crew of "drone pilots." They operate unmanned aircraft from control centers, often thousands of miles away from the location of the surveillance or targeted-killing operation. They can receive medals just like other warriors. Drone operators responsible for eliminating targets in particular are also at risk for mental-health problems such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD,at the same rate as pilots of manned aircraft flying in war zones.
It turns out this satirical depiction from Comedy Central's Kroll Show isn't totally accurate:
IS THE AGGRESSIVE USE OF DRONES UNDER OBAMA SERIOUSLY SUPPOSED TO BE A "SECRET" AT THIS POINT? Technically, yes—but it's an open secret widely acknowledged by officials who aren't actually supposed to be acknowledging it. Including the president himself. For instance, here is Obama acknowledging the program during a Google+ Hangout in January 2012. "It is important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash," he said:
...and here he is in 2010 threatening to take out the Jonas Brothers:
ARE THERE MAPS OF DRONE STRIKES THAT ONE CAN CHECK OUT? floating around the internet. Here's a Google Map from the New America Foundation, View US drone strikes in Pakistan in a larger map.
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