On Thursday (23 Oct) President Obama gave a much-trailed speech on counterterrorism, large parts of which focused on the US use of drones. At the same time a ‘fact sheet’ on US policy on the use of force outside declared… Read More ›
US Drone Operations 
Drones Over Africa: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
This week the New York Times reported that the US is planning to establish a new base for its drones in north-west Africa. While the base is to be used initially to fly unarmed surveillance drones, according to the article the… Read More ›
New figures reveal almost 1,500 US/UK drone strikes in Afghanistan since 2009
New information about the number of US drone strikes in Afghanistan has been revealed by DangerRoom, the national security blog at Wired.com. According to official US figures supplied to the website there have been a total of 1,160 US drone… Read More ›
More on legal action over US drone strikes
On both sides of the Atlantic, legal challenges related to US drone use are about to hit the courts. Tomorrow the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will take the CIA to court for refusing to comply with a Freedom of… Read More ›
A picture's worth a thousand words: drone crew insignia
Just come across some uniform patches of USAF drone pilots and crew on this military memorabilia site. Apparently these are semi-offical ‘morale patches‘. The two patches at the bottom are the more restrained, official patches, being worn by British drone pilots and crew of RAF… Read More ›
British parliamentarians condemn US drone strikes as its revealed that RAF pilots controlled US drones over Libya
On the day that 12 British parliamentarians wrote a joint letter to The Times calling on President Obama to stop drone strikes in Pakistan, it has been revealed that RAF pilots flew US drones during the Libyan conflict last year…. Read More ›
Drone strikes widening? Mystery airstrikes reported in Mali and the Philippines
This week we have seen a US drone strike in Pakistan which was reported to have killed six people (or ‘militants’ as those killed by drones are normally labelled) and a strike in Yemen which was reported to have killed… Read More ›
Drone strikes poll shows mass disapproval
A poll released this week by the US-based Pew Research Center examining international attitudes towards the US included a specific question about US drone strikes. Asked “Do you approve or disapprove of the United States conducting missile strikes from pilotless aircraft… Read More ›
Drones: as military use expands, civil use being developed
Just a few days after a senior US counter-terrorism expert warned that US drone strikes were turning Yemen into the “Arabian equivalent of Waziristan”, US drone strikes yesterday aped the tactic of ‘follow up’ strikes used by the US in… Read More ›
Drone advocates fight back on legality and ethics
Over the past week there has been what looks like the beginning of a concerted effort by advocates of drones to put their case to the public. On Monday, Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan gave a widely reported speech… Read More ›
Oppostion as CIA seeks expansion of drone strikes
The Washington Post reported this week that the CIA is seeking to expand its use of drone strikes in Yemen. According to the report, the CIA is currently “limited” within Yemen to using drone strikes against known individuals on a… Read More ›
Drones and the 'propensity to kinetic action'
The concern that drones make armed attacks and military intervention more likely is often rejected by the military and the drone industry, who argue that the drone pilots are able to stand above the ‘fog and friction’ of the battlefield and to… Read More ›
