Misplaced Hype: The Real Lessons of Drone Warfare

"Drones" in their aerial form (UAV, RPA and UCAV) have featured prominently in past and present conflicts and wars. With their employment came a veritable media hype. But not everything said about "drones" stands, once placed into context. In this video, I explore the benefits and limits of using UAVs and RPAs in conflict zones, and explain why they differ from UCAVs.

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- Sources -
Byman, Daniel; Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington's Weapon of Choice, Foreign Affairs
Vol. 92, No. 4 (JULY/AUGUST 2013),

Guardian; Afghanistan war logs: Reaper drones bring remote control death, 25 July 2010, available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/201... [last accessed 27/08/2022].

Los Angeles Times, War zone drone crashes add up , 9th March 2014, available at https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-drone-c... [last accessed 27/08/2022].

Ministry of Defense, JDP 0-30.2 Unmanned Aircraft Systems, August 2017

NATO; AAP-06 (2021) NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions.

NATOTerm, The Official NATO Terminology Database (27th August 2022), avialable at
https://nso.nato.int/natoterm/Web.mvc [last accessed 27/08/2022]

Ritter, Joe; Gettings Drones Ready for Conventional war, War on the Rocks, 20th June 2022,available at: https://warontherocks.com/2022/06/get... [last accessed 27/08/2022].

Scharre, Paul; Do Drones Have a Future; 7th October 2014, available at https://warontherocks.com/2014/10/do-... [last accessed 27/08/2022].

Shaikh, Shaan and Rumbaugh, Wes; The Air and Missile War in Nagorno-Karabakh: Lessons for the Future of Strike and Defense, 8th December 2020, CSIS, available at https://www.csis.org/analysis/air-and... [last accessed 27/08/2022].

DoD; Azerbaijan MoD; Ukraine MoD; Mil.ru

- Timecodes -
00:00 - "Drones"
01:11 - Why Defintions Matter...yes, they do :)
03:51 - UAV vs RPA vs UCAV
08:42 - UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
09:31 - RPA: Remotely Piloted Aircraft
09:52 - UCAV: Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
10:28 - UAV is not RPA is not UCAV
11:38 - Using "drones": why context matters
14:26 - COIN, Naguro-Karabakh, Ukraine
17:54 - The real benefit of UAV and RPA
20:45 - Conclusion

- Audio -
Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound