Dear Friends,
Last week Boris Johnson published his government’s Integrated Review of defence, security and foreign policy, setting out the government’s commitment to develop and use emerging military technology to engage in both overt and ‘grey zone’ warfare.
Today will see the publication of a Defence Command Paper, giving more detail on which military programmes and defence company projects will receive funding for developments “in cyber, AI and drone warfare – all the warfare of the future” as Boris Johnson put it.
Over the past decade Drone Wars has scrutinized and challenged the government’s use of drones and other emerging technology and we very much need your help to continue to do so.
- Setting the scene for future operations, the UK has begun to use its Reaper drones in a secret overseas operation. The government has refused to disclose any details, even to MPs and Peers, but we are challenging this secrecy at an Information Tribunal later this year.
- Drone Wars published a ground-breaking report in 2018 detailing what was happening in the UK in relation to the development of military autonomous systems and has continued to monitor developments. As the UK commits to further increase the use of AI and autonomy in its war-fighting, we are about to publish new research mapping the UK companies involved in the development of autonomous weapons.
- The government wants to open UK skies to military-grade drones for both military and security and surveillance purposes. Our research on the use of drones by the police to monitor protests made headlines earlier this year. As US drone giant General Atomics brings its new SkyGuardian drone to the UK for a series of experimental flights this summer, we are challenging regulators to uphold safety and parliamentarians to uphold civil liberties ahead of profits of military corporation.
The government are about to spend huge sums on high-tech warfare and we need to step up our work to scrutinize and challenge these developments. If you could make a donation towards our research and campaign work it would be really helpful at this time.
You can make a one-off donation today via PayPal or debit card here or direct into our bank account (details below). Setting up a regular, monthly donation would enable us to plan for the future and to continue to hold the government and military corporations to account.
We also need long-term funding to step up our research work in response to these new developments. If you are involved in a charitable trust – or know someone that is – please do get in touch and we can discuss ways that you may be able to support our research work.
Thank you for your support,
Chris Cole
Account Name: Drone Wars UK, Co-operative Bank, Sort Code: 08-92-99 Account No. 65496361