Using drones: principles, tactics and results (amended title)

[davidbfpo]

A short commentary on the intense US aerial campaign against militant Islamist groups between 2009 and 2014, in Pakistan's tribal areas (FATA) and in particular North Waziristan.

It is part of an academic project into drones (UAV) at Birmingham University (UK):

we carried out more than 30 interviews and two general surveys, with more than 400 respondents, in Pakistan to assess the impact of the drones in the tribal areas. From what they told us, we learned that conflicting perceptions of the use of drones can shape not only conflict but also coexistence – and even cooperation.

It ends with a passage, which echoes much of what SWJ is about:

In a nutshell, the reason the drone campaign helped dash hopes of a settlement was the social, political, and cultural dynamics of Pakistan’s tribal region and the way the tribal system’s core elements were undermined. If you want to explain what happened to the short-lived peace process in Pakistan in 2013-14, you have to start there. And so does anyone charged with coming up with any new counter-insurgency strategy, whether it includes drone strikes or not.

Link:https://theconversation.com/interviews-with-pakistani-civilians-and-pervez-musharraf-tell-a-complicated-story-of-drone-warfare-102288?

[AdamG]

Across the Middle East, countries locked out of purchasing U.S.-made drones due to rules over excessive civilian casualties are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, who are world’s main distributor of armed drones.

“The Chinese product now doesn’t lack technology, it only lacks market share,” said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and former lecturer at the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force University of Engineering. “And the United States restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity.”

The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests.

“It’s a hedging strategy and the Chinese will look to benefit from that,” said Douglas Barrie, an airpower specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “I think the Chinese are far less liable to be swayed by concerns over civilian casualties,” he said.

At the start of the year, a satellite passing over southern Saudi Arabia photographed U.S.-made surveillance drones at an airfield, alongside Chinese-manufactured armed ones.

https://apnews.com/1da29d68e3cc47b58631768c1dcfa445

[davidbfpo]

I have merged a small 2018 thread, with four posts, on logistic drones into this the main thread.

[davidbfpo]

An Israeli think tank report that may be of interest; only partially read.
Link:https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en...orist-attacks/

[davidbfpo]

A short article via Lawfare, it starts with this and my bold added:

Many analysts, practitioners, and scholars are skeptical of the efficacy of drone strikes for counterterrorism, suggesting that they provide short-term gains at best and are counterproductive at worst. .....Contrary to the skeptics, I find that drone strikes in Pakistan were effective in degrading the targeted armed groups. And, troublingly, they succeeded in doing so even though they harmed civilians.

There are numerous links within, which I have not explored.
Link:https://www.lawfareblog.com/us-drone...stan-revisited

[davidbfpo]

From RUSI and on open access. Their aim was to:

...to provide an in-depth inventory of armed drones possessed by Middle Eastern states, assessing quantity, types and timeframes; and to explore where and how armed drones have been used so far, to assess whether and how countries' practices and ethical considerations around airpower and airstrikes are affected.

The two main research questions addressed in this paper are:

• What are the flows of UAV technology from and to the Middle East and their uses?
• Which norms, practices and methodologies are exported to and/or used by Middle Eastern powers in the deployment of UAV technology

The focus of the study is on UAVs that fall under the ‘Category 1’ and ‘Category 2’ definitions of the Missile Technology Control Regime. In the Middle East, the countries that operate or simply possess these drones are Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey.

Link:https://rusi.org/publication/occasio...d-norms-region

[AdamG]

Not the Drones you were expecting, but Drones all the same.

A drone attack at one of the UK's busiest airports has left tens of thousands of passengers facing major disruption. Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, when two devices were seen flying over the perimeter fence. The airport said a drone had been spotted "in the last hour" and the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so".

Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption. Dr Alan McKenna, from the University of Kent, said the drones appeared to be "of an industrial size" not "one you can buy from the shops".
What happened?
The shutdown started just after 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, when two drones were spotted flying "over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from".
The runway briefly reopened at 03:01 but was closed again about 45 minutes later amid "a further sighting of drones".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754