The latest chapter of the drone chronicles comes to us by way of Aerospace and Defense News. A research paper issued by them indicates that investment in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) will continue to increase over the next decade. In order to see the full report one must pay in excess of $4,800 to see the specifics, but a general forecast is given in the marketing overview.

The report clearly acknowledges what other defense analysts and official sources have admitted: there is a worldwide drone arms race occurring that has been spurred by U.S. investment and supremacy in the field. The U.S. is now using drones in at least 6 countries abroad, as well as along both U.S. borders and over the interior of the United States. This is causing a wave of drone tech development that is increasingly funded across the globe and, as the report indicates, there is a troubling new direction.

Key trends cited in the report include:

The above-mentioned forecast is to be expected in an increasingly militarized world. However, a stunning admission is made in the final paragraph of the press release for this report: drones are set to become a permanent fixture in the skies around the globe:

This seemingly innocuous statement is a chilling conclusion which suggests that the plan is to keep drones airborne continuously, forming a potentially interconnected, autonomous fleet of surveillance. This already is the case with the satellite technology, but the implications of having flight- and sea-level surveillance (which can also be weaponized) is staggering.

Drones have been miniaturized down to insect-sized vehicles, with investment in nanotechnology signed off on by the White House in a 60-page report (pdf) that forms a roadmap for future surveillance at the molecular level. Once the precedent is set for a permanent drone presence in our skies, the floodgate of a science fiction nightmare is bound to be opened.

One interesting aspect to the admission of this permanent drone surveillance network is its mention of the laser transmitter power source conversion capability. Such technology and infrastructure could greatly benefit mankind if put to proper use. Instead, it is being used as the next level of full spectrum dominance over human movement and freedom. Such an initiative is ample proof that this has nothing to do with protecting lives, and everything to do with implementing a system of permanent human control that will be very difficult to resist or protest against.

The video below features P.W. Singer, Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at The Brookings Institution. Brookings is one of the world's leading globalist think-tanks responsible for war policy and engineered chaos across the planet, outlined with precision in their own document Which Path to Persia? This is important to keep in mind, as Singer states his concern over some of the ethical and psychological implications of robot war. The proven barbarity of the think-tank he is a part of, as well as their foundational role in the ever-expanding military-industrial complex, calls his sincerity into question. Singer has stated in the past that "At this point, it doesn't really matter if you are against the technology, because it's coming."

At a 2009 TED Conference he gives a presentation about the future of robotic war that is well worth viewing, as it comes directly from someone on the inside of the war machine. The presentation is naturally peppered with propaganda, but also reveals that the very technology supposedly used against terrorists is an enabling device for those very same terrorists. This leads Singer to cheekily refer to the "robot revolution" as a "killer app" with a game changing effect on the battlefield landscape.

Increasingly, it looks as if that battlefield will have no boundaries.