Jump to content

Unmanned combat aerial vehicle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A British MQ-9A Reaper operating over Afghanistan in 2009

An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircraft ordnance such as missiles, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and/or bombs in hardpoints for drone strikes.[1][2][3] These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy.[4] UCAVs are used for reconnaissance, attacking targets and returning to base; unlike kamikaze drones which are only made to explode on impact, or surveillance drones which are only for gathering intelligence.

Aircraft of this type have no onboard human pilot.[5] As the operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal, equipment necessary for a human pilot is not needed, resulting in a lower weight and a smaller size than a manned aircraft. Many countries have operational domestic UCAVs, and many more have imported fighter drones or are in the process of developing them.[6]

History

[edit]
1972: Ryan Firebee with 2 Maverick missiles

One of the earliest explorations of the concept of the combat drone was by Lee de Forest, an early inventor of radio devices, and U. A. Sanabria, a TV engineer. They presented their idea in an article in a 1940 publication of Popular Mechanics.[7] The modern military drone as known today was the brainchild of John Stuart Foster Jr., a nuclear physicist of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.[8] In 1971, Foster was a model airplane hobbyist and had the idea this hobby could be applied to building weapons.[8] He drew up plans and by 1973 DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) built two prototypes called "Prairie" and "Calera". They were powered by a modified lawn-mower engine and could stay aloft for two hours while carrying a 28-pound (13 kg) load.[8]

In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel used unarmed U.S. Ryan Firebee target drones to spur Egypt into firing its entire arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles.[9] This mission was accomplished with no injuries to Israeli pilots, who soon exploited the depleted Egyptian defences. In the late 1970s and 80s, Israel developed the Scout and the Pioneer, which represented a shift toward the lighter, glider-type model of UAV in use today. Israel pioneered the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for real-time surveillance, electronic warfare, and decoys.[10][11][12] The images and radar decoying provided by these UAVs helped Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian air defenses in Operation Mole Cricket 19 at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots downed.[13]

In the late 1980s, Iran deployed a drone armed with six RPG-7 rounds in the Iran–Iraq War.[14]

Impressed by Israel's success, the US quickly acquired a number of UAVs, and its Hunter and Pioneer systems are direct derivatives of Israeli models. The first 'UAV war' was the first Persian Gulf War: according to a May 1991 Department of the Navy report: "At least one UAV was airborne at all times during Desert Storm." After the Persian Gulf War successfully demonstrated its utility, global militaries invested widely in the domestic development of combat UAVs.[15] The first "kill" by an American UAV was on October 7, 2001, in Kandahar.[16]

In recent years, the U.S. has increased its use of drone strikes against targets in Pakistan and elsewhere as part of the War on Terror. In January 2014, it was estimated that 2,400 people had died from U.S. drone strikes in five years.[17] In June 2015, the total death toll of U.S. drone strikes was estimated to exceed 6,000.[18]

In 2020, Turkey became the first country to use UCAVs in a large, coordinated attack on a conventional battlefield when they attacked forces in Syria. They were used to attack enemy positions, to provide cover for ground forces and to scout for artillery.[19] Drones were used extensively in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.[20] Azerbaijan's use of cheaper Turkish TB2 drones was seen as crucial to their victory against the Armenian forces.[21] Drones were also used extensively during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[22] Usage of drones offers a cost advantage: "People are taking small drones, like the ones you can buy at JB Hi-Fi for $2000, putting a grenade on them and flying them over a crowd or a tank and releasing the grenade. You can basically build a $3000 machine to destroy a $5 million piece of equipment that your enemy has."[23]

Current

[edit]

Below are a list of some current dedicated armed UAV's:

A Turkish Bayraktar TB2 on the runway
Country Manufacturer Aircraft Introduced
United States General Atomics MQ-1 Predator 1995
United States General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper 2007
United States General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle 2009
Australia Boeing Australia Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat 2024
China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong 2011
China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong-10 2016
China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong II 2017
China Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Harbin BZK-005 2006
China Hongdu Aerospace Hongdu GJ-11 2019
China Chengdu Aerospace Wing Loong-III 2022
Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Anka 2010
Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar TB2 2014
Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Aksungur 2019
Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar Akıncı 2021
Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Anka-3 2023
Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar TB3 2023
Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar Kızılelma 2024
Pakistan NESCOM NESCOM Burraq 2016
Pakistan GIDS GIDS Shahpar-2 2021
India DRDO DRDO Ghatak 2023
Iran Qods Aviation Qods Mohajer-6 2017
Iran Qods Aviation Qods Mohajer-10 2023
Iran HESA HESA Shahed-129 2012
Iran HESA HESA Shahed-149 Gaza 2022
Iran HESA HESA Shahed 191 Saegheh 2010
Iran IRIAF Kaman 22 2021
Russia Kronshtadt group Kronshtadt Orion 2020
South Africa Milkor Milkor 380 2023

Some reconnaissance drones that have armed capability include the CASC CH-92, IAI Eitan and the Ababil-3, Ababil-5, Hamaseh. Some commercial drones such as DJI Mavic and Phantom have been modified to carry light explosives for combat missions in recent wars.

Future

[edit]

Below is a table of some technology demonstrators and projects in development:

The BAE Taranis model is one of the larger designs
Aircraft Country Notes
AVIC Dark Sword China Technology demonstrator/testing
BAE Systems Corax United Kingdom Technology demonstrator
BAE Systems Taranis United Kingdom Technology demonstrator
Boeing Phantom Ray United States Under development/testing
Dassault nEUROn European Union Experimental stealth UCAV
DRDO Archer-NG India Under development
DRDO Ghatak India Under development/testing
Eurodrone European Union Under development
EMC Operations Anaconda United Kingdom Under development/testing
HAL CATS Warrior India Under development
Northrop Grumman X-47A United States Technology demonstrator inc. X-47B / C variants
Bayraktar Kızılelma Turkey Under development/testing
TAI Anka-3 Turkey Under development/testing
Atobá XR Brazil Under development/testing
S-70 Okhotnik-B Russia Under development/testing
IAIO Qaher-313 Iran Under development/testing
Qods Mohajer-7 Iran Under development
Qods Mohajer-9 Iran Under development
DRDO Ghatak

Israel

[edit]

Elbit Hermes 450

[edit]
An IAF Hermes 450 from 200 Squadron

The Israeli Air Force, which operates a squadron of Hermes 450s out of Palmachim Airbase south of Tel Aviv, has adapted the Hermes 450 for use as an assault UAV, reportedly equipping it with two Hellfire missiles or, according to various sources, two Rafael-made missiles. According to Israeli,[24] Palestinian, Lebanese, and independent reports, the Israeli assault UAV has been used in the Gaza Strip and was used intensively in the Second Lebanon War. Israel has not denied this capability, but to date, its policy has been to not officially confirm it either.[citation needed]

Turkey

[edit]

TAI Aksungur

[edit]

TAI Aksungur is a built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the Turkish Armed Forces.[25][26][27][28] Using existing technology from the TAI Anka series of drones, it is the manufacturer's largest drone,[29] with payload capacity for mission-specific equipment. It is intended to be used for long-term surveillance, signals intelligence, maritime patrol missions, or as an UCAV. The first unit was delivered to the Turkish Naval Forces on 20 October 2021.

Bayraktar Kizilelma

[edit]
Baykar Kızılelma is a jet-engine UCAV developed for the Turkish Air Force and Turkish Navy.[30][31][32]

Bayraktar Kızılelma is a proposed jet-powered, single-engine, low-observable, supersonic, carrier-capable unmanned combat aircraft in development by Baykar, famous for its Bayraktar TB2. On 12 March 2022, Selçuk Bayraktar, CTO of Baykar announced that the first prototype of the Bayraktar Kızılelma has entered the production line.[33][34]

TAI Anka-3

[edit]

TAI Anka 3 is the code-name for the new single engine UCAV being developed by TAI.[35] It will have a flying wing form,[36] and will feature low-observable stealth technology. The role of the aircraft will be suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), penetration and bomber.[37]

United Kingdom

[edit]

BAE Systems Taranis

[edit]

Taranis is a British demonstrator program for unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) technology. It is part of the UK's Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle (Experimental) (SUAV[E]) program. BAE describes Taranis's role in this context as following: "This £124m, four -year programme is part of the UK Government's Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle Experiment (SUAVE) and will result in a UCAV demonstrator with fully integrated autonomous systems and low observable features."

The Taranis demonstrator will have an MTOW (Maximum Takeoff Weight) of about 8000 kilograms and be of comparable size to the BAE Hawk – making it one of the world's largest UAVs. It will be stealthy, fast, and able to deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets, as well as being capable of defending itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft. The first steel was cut in September 2007 and ground testing started in early 2009. The first flight of the Taranis took place in August 2013 in Woomera, Australia.[38] The demonstrator will have two internal weapons bays. With the inclusion of "full autonomy" the intention is thus for this platform to be able to "think for itself" for a large part of the mission.[citation needed]

United States

[edit]

J-UCAS

[edit]

Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems, or J-UCAS, was the name for the joint U.S. Navy/U.S. Air Force unmanned combat air vehicle procurement project. J-UCAS was managed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the J-UCAS program was terminated.[citation needed] The program would have used stealth technologies and allowed UCAVs to be armed with precision-guided weapons such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) or precision miniature munitions, such as the Small-Diameter Bomb, which are used to suppress enemy air defenses. Controllers could have used real-time data sources, including satellites, to plan for and respond to changes on and around the battlefield.

A X-47B UCAV technology demonstrator

The program was later revitalized into UCAS-D, a United States Navy program designed to develop a carrier-based unmanned aircraft.[39]

N-UCAS

[edit]

UCAS-D and Northrop Grumman X-47B are the U.S. Navy-only successors to the J-UCAS, which was canceled in 2006. Boeing is also working on the X-45N in this sector.

In a New Year 2011 editorial titled "China's Naval Ambitions", The New York Times editorial board argued that "[t]he Pentagon must accelerate efforts to make American naval forces in Asia less vulnerable to Chinese missile threats by giving them the means to project their deterrent power from further offshore. Cutting back purchases of the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer (with its deficient missile defense system) was a first step. A bigger one would be to reduce the Navy's reliance on short-range manned strike aircraft like the F-18 and the F-35, in favor of the carrier-launched N-UCAS ...."[40]

On 6 January 2011, the DOD announced that this would be one area of additional investment in the 2012 budget request.[41]

USAF Hunter-Killer

[edit]

The United States Air Force has shifted its UCAV program from medium-range tactical strike aircraft to long-range strategic bombers.[citation needed] The technology of the Long Range Strike program is based on the Lockheed Martin Polecat demonstrator.

Multinational

[edit]
  • EADS Surveyor: The EADS "Surveyor" is still in preliminary investigation phase. It will be a fixed-wing, jet-powered UAV and is being positioned as a replacement for the CL-289. EADS is currently working on a demonstrator, the "Carapas", modified from an Italian Mirach 100 drone. The production Surveyor would be a stealthy machine with a top speed of 850 km/h (530 mph), an endurance of up to three hours, and capable of carrying a sophisticated sensor payload, including SIGINT gear. It would also be able to carry external loads, such as air-dropped sensors or light munitions.[citation needed]

Non-state actors

[edit]

In the mid-2010s, the Islamic State terrorist group began attaching explosives to commercially-available quadcopters such as the Chinese-made DJI Phantom to bomb military targets in Iraq and Syria.[42] During the 2016–17 battle of Mosul, the Islamic State reportedly used drones as surveillance and weapons delivery platforms, using improvised cradles to drop grenades and other explosives.[43] An Islamic State drone facility was notably targeted by Royal Air Force strike aircraft during the battle.[44]

Militant groups during the Syrian civil war have also reportedly used UAVs in attacks, one example being a swarm of drones armed with bombs attacking Russian bases in western Syria in early January 2018.[45][46]

Starting in the 2020s, Mexican drug cartels began dropping reportedly hundreds of drone-carried bombs targeting both security forces and enemy gangs during turf wars.[47]

Counter drone tactics

[edit]

There has been widespread use of drones in the Russo-Ukrainian War.[48] Ukrainian soldiers use GPS signals to guide a drone to find Russian artillery and to guide Ukrainian artillery. Jamming these drone GPS signals cause drones to operate less effectively,[49] as the operators of drones have to rely on pre-programmed routes through areas of jamming until communications can be restored. Other systems supplied by the West rely on automation.[50] Systems like the AeroVironment Switchblade can find targets autonomously, requiring human permission only to engage found targets.[48] In October 2022 a video appeared on the web showing two drones colliding and one being rendered unflyable as a result.[51] It was claimed that the filming drone was Ukrainian and the one destroyed was Russian.[51] If this is the case it would be the first recorded case of drone on drone combat.[51]

On 27 December 2022 North Korea sent five drones over its border with South Korea. One reaching Seoul, all five returned to the North, despite a five-hour chase involving fighter jets and attack helicopters with some 100 rounds being fired. A South Korean KAI KT-1 Woongbi crashed although both crew survived. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (South Korea) released a statement in which it said that while it can stop attack drones, its ability to stop smaller spy drones is "limited". A senior official, Kang Shin-chul, said: "Our military's lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people…actively employ detection devices to spot the enemy's drone from an early stage and aggressively deploy strike assets". The South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has indicated that South Korea will invest in stealthy drones that could penetrate North Korea, with the creation of a new military unit.[52][53]

The South Korean Defence Ministry announced a new series of anti-drone measures, planning to spend some 560 billion won over the next five years. The money will go towards four new initiatives. One is an airborne laser that will be used to destroy larger drones whilst a jammer would be used on smaller drones. A new counter drone unit, made up of two squadrons, would also be created. The laser is already in the test phase and is expected to become operational in 2027. The jamming system has been described as "soft kill".[54]

Error in target selection

[edit]

There are only estimates of the magnitude of the errors in target selection. However, they do occur and some of them become known.

One fatal "error" happened in December 2023, when the Nigerian army accidentally hit a village in northwestern Nigeria killing 85 civilians celebrating a Muslim festival.[55] The army said they thought the people were rebels.[56]

Ethics and laws

[edit]

Civilian casualties

[edit]

Israel

[edit]

In March 2009, The Guardian reported allegations that Israeli UAVs armed with missiles killed 48 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, including two small children in a field and a group of women and girls in an otherwise empty street.[57] In June, Human Rights Watch investigated six UAV attacks that were reported to have resulted in civilian casualties and alleged that Israeli forces either failed to take all feasible precautions to verify that the targets were combatants or failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians.[58][59][60]

United States

[edit]

Collateral damage of civilians still takes place with drone combat, although some (like John O. Brennan) have argued that it greatly reduces the likelihood.[61] Although drones enable advanced tactical surveillance and up-to-the-minute data, flaws can become apparent.[62] The U.S. drone program in Pakistan has killed several dozen civilians accidentally.[63] An example is the operation in February 2010 near Khod, in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Over ten civilians in a three-vehicle convoy travelling from Daykundi Province were accidentally killed after a drone crew misidentified the civilians as hostile threats. A force of Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopters, who were attempting to protect ground troops fighting several kilometers away, fired AGM-114 Hellfire missiles at the vehicles.[64][65]

In 2009, the Brookings Institution reported that in the US-led drone attacks in Pakistan, ten civilians died for every militant killed.[66][67] A former ambassador of Pakistan said that American UAV attacks were turning Pakistani opinion against the United States.[68] The website PakistanBodyCount.Org reported 1,065 civilian deaths between 2004 and 2010.[69] According to a 2010 analysis by the New America Foundation 114 UAV-based missile strikes in northwest Pakistan from 2004 killed between 830 and 1,210 individuals, around 550 to 850 of whom were militants.[70] In October 2013, the Pakistani government revealed that since 2008 317 drone strikes had killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians – far less than previous government and independent organization calculations.[71]

In July 2013, former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson said, on a panel at the Aspen Institute's Security Forum, that he felt an emotional reaction upon reading Nasser al-Awlaki's account of how his 16-year-old grandson was killed by a U.S. drone.[72]

In December 2013, a U.S. drone strike in Radda, capital of Yemen's Bayda province, killed members of a wedding party.[73] The following February, Human Rights Watch published a 28-page report reviewing the strike and its legality, among other things. Titled "A Wedding That Became A Funeral", the report concludes that some (but not necessarily all) of the casualties were civilians, not the intended regional Al-Qaeda targets. The organization demanded US and Yemeni investigations into the attack. In its research, HRW "found no evidence that the individuals taking part in the wedding procession posed an imminent threat to life. In the absence of an armed conflict, killing them would be a violation of international human rights law."[74]

Political effects

[edit]

As a new weapon, drones are having unforeseen political effects. Some scholars have argued that the extensive use of drones will undermine the popular legitimacy of local governments, which are blamed for permitting the strikes.[75]

On August 6, 2020, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill to ban sales, transfers, and exports of large armed drones to countries outside of NATO amid concerns that civilians were killed with American-made weapons used by Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. Congress had previously passed a similar measure with bipartisan support, but failed to overcome President Donald Trump's veto.[76]

Psychological effects

[edit]

Controllers can also experience psychological stress from the combat they are involved in. A few may even experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[77][78] There are some reports of drone pilots struggling with post traumatic stress disorder after they have killed civilians, especially children. Unlike bomber pilots, moreover, drone operators linger long after the explosives strike and see its effects on human bodies in stark detail. The intense training that US drone operators undergo "works to dehumanise the 'enemy' people below whilst glorifying and celebrating the killing process."[79]

Professor Shannon E. French, the director of the Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University and a former professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, wonders if the PTSD may be rooted in a suspicion that something else was at stake. According to Professor French, the author of the 2003 book The Code of the Warrior:[80]

If [I'm] in the field risking and taking a life, there's a sense that I'm putting skin in the game … I'm taking a risk so it feels more honorable. Someone who kills at a distance—it can make them doubt. Am I truly honorable?

The Missile Technology Control Regime applies to UCAVs.

On 28 October 2009, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, presented a report to the Third Committee (social, humanitarian and cultural) of the General Assembly arguing that the use of unmanned combat air vehicles for targeted killings should be regarded as a breach of international law unless the United States can demonstrate appropriate precautions and accountability mechanisms are in place.[81]

In June 2015 forty-five former US military personnel issued a joint appeal to pilots of aerial drones operating in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere urging them to refuse to fly and indicated that their missions "profoundly violate domestic and international laws." They noted that these drone attacks also undermine principles of human rights.[18]

Some leaders worry about the effect drone warfare will have on soldiers' psychology. Keith Shurtleff, an army chaplain at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, worries "that as war becomes safer and easier, as soldiers are removed from the horrors of war and see the enemy not as humans but as blips on a screen, there is very real danger of losing the deterrent that such horrors provide".[82] Similar worries surfaced when "smart" bombs began to be used extensively in the First Gulf War.

Stanford's ‘Living Under Drones’ researchers, meanwhile, have shown that civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan are reluctant to help those hit by the first strikes because rescuers themselves have often been killed by follow-on drone strikes. Injured relatives in the rubble of the first strike have been known to tell their relatives not to help rescue them because of the frequency of these so-called ‘double-tap’ strikes. People also avoid gathering in groups in visible places. Many children are permanently kept indoors and often no longer attend school.[79]

Writer Mark Bowden has disputed this viewpoint saying in his The Atlantic article, "But flying a drone, [the pilot] sees the carnage close-up, in real time—the blood and severed body parts, the arrival of emergency responders, the anguish of friends and family. Often he’s been watching the people he kills for a long time before pulling the trigger. Drone pilots become familiar with their victims.[83] They see them in the ordinary rhythms of their lives—with their wives and friends, with their children. War by remote control turns out to be intimate and disturbing. Pilots are sometimes shaken."[84]

This assessment is corroborated by a sensor operator's account:

The smoke clears, and there’s pieces of the two guys around the crater. And there’s this guy over here, and he’s missing his right leg above his knee. He’s holding it, and he’s rolling around, and the blood is squirting out of his leg … It took him a long time to die. I just watched him.

Back in the United States, a combination of "lower-class" status in the military, overwork, and psychological trauma may be taking a mental toll on drone pilots. These psychological, cultural and career issues appear to have led to a shortfall in USAF drone operators, which is seen as a "dead end job".[86][87]

Stand-off attacks

[edit]

The "unmanned" aspect of armed UAVs has raised moral concerns about their use in combat and law enforcement contexts. Attacking humans with remote-controlled machines is even more abstract than the use of other "stand-off" weaponry, such as missiles, artillery and aerial bombardment, possibly depersonalizing the decision to attack. By contrast, UAVs and other stand-off systems reduce casualties among the attackers.[88]

Autonomous attacks

[edit]

The picture is further complicated if the UAV can initiate an attack autonomously, without direct human involvement. Such UAVs could possibly react more quickly and without bias, but would lack human sensibility.[89] Heather Roff[clarification needed] replies that lethal autonomous robots (LARs) may not be appropriate for complex conflicts and targeted populations would likely react angrily against them.[89] Will McCants argues that the public would be more outraged by machine failures than human error, making LARs politically implausible.[89] According to Mark Gubrud, claims that drones can be hacked are overblown and misleading and moreover, drones are more likely to be hacked if they're autonomous, because otherwise the human operator would take control: "Giving weapon systems autonomous capabilities is a good way to lose control of them, either due to a programming error, unanticipated circumstances, malfunction, or hack and then not be able to regain control short of blowing them up, hopefully before they've blown up too many other things and people."[90] Others have argued that the technological possibility of autonomy should not obscure the continuing moral responsibilities humans have at every stage.[91] There is an ongoing debate as to whether the attribution of moral responsibility can be apportioned appropriately under existing international humanitarian law, which is based on four principles: military necessity, distinction between military and civilian objects, prohibition of unnecessary suffering, and proportionality.[92]

Public opinion

[edit]

In 2013, a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll asked registered voters whether they "approve or disapprove of the U.S. military using drones to carry out attacks abroad on people and other targets deemed a threat to the U.S.?" The results showed that three in every four voters (75%) approved of the U.S. military using drones to carry out attacks, while (13%) disapproved.[93] A poll conducted by the Huffington Post in 2013 also showed a majority supporting targeted killings using drones, though by a smaller margin.[94] A 2015 poll showed Republicans and men are more likely to support U.S. drone strikes, while Democrats, independents, women, young people, and minorities are less supportive.[95]

Outside America, there is widespread opposition to US drone killings. A July 2014 report found a majority or plurality of respondents in 39 of 44 countries surveyed opposed U.S. drone strikes in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The U.S., Kenya, and Israel were the only countries where at least half the population supported drone strikes. Venezuela was found to be the most anti-drone country, where 92% of respondents disagreed with U.S. drone strikes, followed closely by Jordan, where 90% disagreed; Israel was shown as the most pro-drone, with 65% in favor of U.S. drone strikes and 27% opposed.[96][97]

Users

[edit]

Countries with known operational armed drones:

See also

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Austin, Reg (2010). Unmanned aircraft systems : UAVs design, development and deployment. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-05819-0.
  2. ^ "Drone warfare: The death of precision". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 2017-05-11. Archived from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  3. ^ Kennedy, Caroline; Rogers, James I. (2015-02-17). "Virtuous drones?". The International Journal of Human Rights. 19 (2): 211–227. doi:10.1080/13642987.2014.991217. ISSN 1364-2987. S2CID 219639786.
  4. ^ "The Simulation of the Human-Machine Partnership in UCAV Operation" (PDF). College of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-05. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  5. ^ Dowd, Alan. "Drone wars: risks and warnings". Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  6. ^ The number of countries that are manufacturing armed drones varies by source. See for example:
    • International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) (14 February 2018). "The Military Balance 2018". The Military Balance. 118. Routledge: 21., listing the United States, Israel, China, Turkey, and Iran
    • Peter Bergen; David Sterman; Alyssa Sims; Albert Ford; Christopher Mellon. "Who Has What: Countries Developing Armed Drones". International Security Program. New America. Archived from the original on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-11-14., listing the United States, Sweden, South Africa, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, North Korea, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Australia
  7. ^ "Robot Television Bomber" Popular Mechanics June 1940
  8. ^ a b c Fred Kaplan (June 7, 2013). "The World as Free-Fire Zone". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  9. ^ "NOVA | Spies That Fly | Firebee 1241 (Israel) | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  10. ^ "A Brief History of UAVs". 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  11. ^ "Russia Buys A Bunch Of Israeli UAVs". Archived from the original on 2013-10-26. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  12. ^ Azoulai, Yuval (October 24, 2011). "Unmanned combat vehicles shaping future warfare". Globes. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  13. ^ Levinson, Charles (January 12, 2010). "Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield". The Wall Street Journal. p. A10. Archived from the original on 2015-05-03. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  14. ^ Haghshenass, Fariborz (September 2008), "Iran's Asymmetric Naval Warfare" (PDF), Policy Focus, no. 87, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, p. 17, archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-12-12, retrieved 2013-12-07
  15. ^ "UAV evolution – how natural selection directed the drone revolution". 15 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2013-08-15.[unreliable source?]
  16. ^ Michel, Arthur Holland (17 December 2015). "How Rogue Techies Armed the Predator, Almost Stopped 9/11, and Accidentally Invented Remote War". Wired. Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  17. ^ "The Toll Of 5 Years Of Drone Strikes". The Huffington Post. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  18. ^ a b Ed Pilkington (June 17, 2015). "Former US military personnel urge drone pilots to walk away from controls". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  19. ^ "Turkish drones, Greek challenges" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-06.
  20. ^ Shaikh, Shaan; Rumbaugh, Wes (8 December 2020). "The Air and Missile War in Nagorno-Karabakh: Lessons for the Future of Strike and Defense".
  21. ^ "UK wants new drones in wake of Azerbaijan military success". TheGuardian.com. 29 December 2020.
  22. ^ "Why are Ukraine's cheap, slow drones so successful against Russian targets?". NBC News. 14 March 2022.
  23. ^ Tillett, Andrew (15 May 2022). "Homegrown defence company helping Ukraine take out Russian drones". Australian Financial Review.
  24. ^ Dror Globerman, Amit Cohen, "Most of the Assassinations Were Made By Drones", Makor Rishon, December 9th 2005
  25. ^ Wong, Kelvin (17 April 2019). "Turkey advances Anka-Aksungur MALE UAV development". Jane's 360. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  26. ^ "Turkish Aerospace Industries working on supersonic UAV". Daily Sabah. 5 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  27. ^ "Getting Ready for Takeoff". defensenews.com. 18 Jan 2010. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 4 Jun 2010.
  28. ^ "AKSUNGUR - Yüksek Faydalı Yük Kapasiteli İHA" [AKSUNGUR - High Useful Load Capacity UAV] (in Turkish). Türk Havacılık Uzay Sanayi. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  29. ^ Turnbull, Grant (2 May 2019). "Aksungur UAV makes show debut after first flight". Flight Global. Reed Business Information Limited. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  30. ^ "Baykar's unmanned fighter aircraft completes first flight". baykartech.com. 15 December 2022.
  31. ^ "Bayraktar Kızılelma, havacılık tarihinde ilkleri başardı". Habertürk TV. 7 June 2023.
  32. ^ Emma Helfrich (11 April 2023). "Turkey's 'Drone Carrier' Amphibious Assault Ship Enters Service". thedrive.com.
  33. ^ @Selcuk (March 12, 2022). "Üretim hattına 3 buçuk yıl sonra daha büyük ve daha çevik bir balık girdi" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ^ "Unmanned Fighter Jet Hits Production Line: Turkey's Baykar". defenseworld.net. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  35. ^ "İşte Anka-3". December 24, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  36. ^ "TUSAŞ'ın İnsansız Savaş Uçağı ANKA-3'ten İlk Görüntüler". December 24, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  37. ^ "TUSAŞ ANKA-3 MİUS'un ilk görselleri paylaşıldı!". December 24, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  38. ^ Farmer, Ben (6 February 2014) Successful test flight for Taranis stealth drone Archived 2018-07-29 at the Wayback Machine Daily Telegraph, Page 12
  39. ^ "Carrier UCAVs: The Return of UCAS" Archived 2011-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Defense Industry Daily, 7 February 2010
  40. ^ Editorial Archived 2017-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 1, 2011 (January 2, 2011 p. WK7 NY ed.). Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  41. ^ "Gates Reveals Budget Efficiencies, Reinvestment Possibilities". Defense.gov. Archived from the original on 2013-08-20. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  42. ^ "The Drones of ISIS". Defense One. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  43. ^ Eshel, Tamir (12 October 2016). "Weaponized Mini-Drones Entering the Fight". Defense Update. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  44. ^ Eshel, Tamir (17 January 2017). "RAF Strikes Daesh Drone Facility in Mosul". Defense Update. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  45. ^ Reid, David (January 11, 2018). "A swarm of armed drones attacked a Russian military base in Syria". CNBC.
  46. ^ "How Russia Says It Swatted Down a Drone Swarm in Syria". www.vice.com. 12 January 2018.
  47. ^ "Drug cartels are sharply increasing use of bomb-dropping drones, Mexican army says". CBS News. 23 August 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  48. ^ a b "Lessons from use of drones in the Ukraine war". www.defenceconnect.com.au. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  49. ^ "Deadly secret: Electronic warfare shapes Russia-Ukraine war". abcnews.go.com. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  50. ^ "Ukraine Embraces the 'Messy Middle' to Win the Drone War". nationalinterest.org. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  51. ^ a b c Newdick, Thomas (13 October 2022). "This Drone-Versus-Drone Kill In Ukraine Could Be An Air Combat First". The Drive. Retrieved 15 October 2022. 
  52. ^ Kathryn Armstrong (27 December 2022). "North Korea drones: South's military apologises for pursuit failure". BBC News.
  53. ^ Jean Mackenzie in Seoul & Robert Plummer in London (26 December 2022). "North Korean drone reaches north of Seoul". BBC News.
  54. ^ "South Korea to spend millions on drone defence following North Korea's airspace invasion". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Reuters. 29 December 2022.
  55. ^ "Dozens Killed In Nigeria As Military Drone Accidentally Strikes Village". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  56. ^ "Nigeria: Viele Tote bei versehentlichem Angriff durch Militär". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  57. ^ The Guardian, 23 March 2009. "Cut to pieces: the Palestinian family drinking tea in their courtyard: Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles – the dreaded drones – caused at least 48 deaths in Gaza during the 23-day offensive." Archived 2017-01-10 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 3 August 2009.
  58. ^ "Precisely Wrong – Human Rights Watch". Hrw.org. 30 June 2009. Archived from the original on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  59. ^ "Report: IDF used RPV fire to target civilians". Ynet.co.il. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  60. ^ "Israel/Gaza: Civilians must not be targets: Disregard for Civilians Underlies Current Escalation". Human Rights Watch. 30 December 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-07-27. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  61. ^ John O. Brennan (30 April 2012). "The Ethics and Efficacy of the President's Counterterrorism Strategy". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  62. ^ Owens, Hudson L.; Flannes, M. (2011). "Drone Warfare: Blowback from the New American Way of War". Middle East Policy. 18 (3): 122–132. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2011.00502.x.
  63. ^ Alex Rodriguez; David Zucchino; David S. Cloud (May 2, 2010). "U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan get mixed response". Los Angeles Times. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19.
  64. ^ David S. Cloud (April 10, 2011) Anatomy of an Afghan war tragedy Archived 2012-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times
  65. ^ Karin Brulliard (May 30, 2010) Drone operators blamed in airstrike that killed Afghan civilians in February Archived 2017-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post
  66. ^ "Drones kill 10 civilians for one militant: US report". Dawn. 21 July 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010.
  67. ^ Daniel L. Byman (14 July 2009). "Do Targeted Killings Work?". The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  68. ^ Newsweek, 8 July 2009. Anita Kirpalani, "Drone On. Q&A: A former Pakistani diplomat says America's most useful weapon is hurting the cause in his country" Archived 2009-08-14 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 3 August 2009.
  69. ^ "Home". PakistanBodyCount.org. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  70. ^ Peter Bergen & Katherine Tiedemann. "2004–2011". New America Foundation. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  71. ^ Sebastian Abbot & Munir Ahmed (31 October 2013). "Pakistan says 3% of drone deaths civilians". Usatoday.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2015-09-15. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  72. ^ Michael Isikoff: Ex-Pentagon official has 'heavy heart' over US teen's inadvertent killing by drone Archived 2013-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
  73. ^ [Yemeni] Official: U.S. drone attack in Yemen kills wedding guests Archived 2013-12-15 at the Wayback Machine – AP, December 12, 2013
  74. ^ "A Wedding That Became A Funeral: US Drone Attack on Marriage Procession in Yemen". Human Rights Watch. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  75. ^ Smith, Jordan Michael (5 September 2012). "Drone "blowback" is real A new analysis finds five ways drone strikes in Yemen are hurting American interests". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  76. ^ "U.S. senators want to block drone sales to Saudis". Reuters. 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  77. ^ David Zucchino (March 18, 2012). "Stress of combat reaches drone crews". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  78. ^ Rachel Martin (Dec 19, 2011). "Report: High Levels Of 'Burnout' In U.S. Drone Pilots". NPR. Archived from the original on 2018-04-03. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  79. ^ a b "Drone: Robot Imperium – Longreads". longreads.tni.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  80. ^ Blake, John (March 9, 2013). "Two enemies discover a 'higher call' in battle". CNN. Archived from the original on 2013-03-12. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
  81. ^ "UN News Centre, "UN rights expert voices concern over use of unmanned drones by United States", 28 October 2009". Un.org. 2009-10-28. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  82. ^ Cole, Jim and Chris Wright. "Drone Wars UK". January 2010. http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/aboutdrone/ Archived 2012-09-18 at the Wayback Machine
  83. ^ Dave Philipps. (15 April 2022). "The unseen scars of those who kill via remote control." NY Times website Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  84. ^ Mark Bowden (15 August 2013). "The Killing Machines – Mark Bowden". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  85. ^ "Confessions of a Drone Warrior". GQ. 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  86. ^ Chatterjee, Pratap (March 2015). Is Drone Warfare Fraying at the Edges? Archived 2015-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. "Are Pilots Deserting Washington's Remote-Control War? A New Form of War May Be Producing a New Form of Mental Disturbance."
  87. ^ "Nobody Wants to Fly Air Force Drones Because It's a Dead End Job". Gizmodo.com. 21 August 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  88. ^ Carroll, Rory (2 August 2012). "The philosopher making the moral case for US drones". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  89. ^ a b c Foust, Joshua (8 October 2013). "Why America Wants Drones That Can Kill Without Humans". Defense One. Archived from the original on 2014-07-19. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  90. ^ Gubrud, Mark Avrum (11 October 2013). "New Faustian pro-Terminator meme infection spreading". Mark Gubrud's Weblog. Archived from the original on 2014-07-22. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  91. ^ Robillard, Michael (29 January 2018). "The 'Killer Robots' are Us". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  92. ^ Kanwar, Vik (2011). "Post-Human Humanitarian Law: The Law of War in the Age of Robotic Weapons" (PDF). Harvard National Security Journal. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-01-20. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  93. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (February 7, 2013). Public says it's illegal to target Americans abroad as some question CIA drone attacks Archived 2013-02-13 at the Wayback Machine (press release)
  94. ^ "Drone Program Poll: The Public Does Not Uncritically Embrace Targeted Killings". The Huffington Post. 15 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  95. ^ "Public Continues to Back U.S. Drone Attacks". Pew Research Center. 28 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  96. ^ "U.S. Use of Drones, Under New Scrutiny, Has Been Widely Opposed Abroad". Pew Research Center. 6 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  97. ^ "Global Opposition to U.S. Surveillance and Drones, but Limited Harm to America's Image". Pew Research Center. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  98. ^ "Turkish UAV TB2 enters inventory of Albanian army". www.aa.com.tr.
  99. ^ a b "Chad and Algeria opts for Turkish ANKA-S drones". February 28, 2023.
  100. ^ "L'Algérie achète des drones d'attaque Aksungur". October 7, 2022.
  101. ^ Çelik, Hülya Kınık, Sinem (December 14, 2021). "The Role of Turkish Drones in Azerbaijan's Increasing Military Effectiveness: An Assessment of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War". Insight Turkey – via www.insightturkey.com.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  102. ^ Kula, Mehmet Ali (December 5, 2023). "Bayraktar TB2 SİHA'lar Bangladeş'te göreve başladı".
  103. ^ "Burkina Faso Bayraktar TB2 drones are taking the fight to the enemy". December 1, 2023.
  104. ^ "Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 spotted in military parade in Djibouti". www.baykartech.com.
  105. ^ "China's Weapons of Mass Consumption". 20 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  106. ^ "dubai-airshow-china-ucav-drone-market-fighter". Defense News. 8 August 2017.
  107. ^ Dangwal, Ashish (August 3, 2023). "Turkish UAVs 'Storm' Asia! After Malaysia, Indonesia Inks Deal To Buy Anka Drones From Turkey's TAI".
  108. ^ "Like It or Not, Iran Is a Drone Power". War is Boring. 5 September 2015.
  109. ^ "The Kazakh army is preparing to include the ANKA-S, purchased from TUSAS, in its fleet". Defense Here. December 27, 2023.
  110. ^ "Kosovo receives new Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones". www.aa.com.tr.
  111. ^ "Kyrgyzstan buys new batch of Turkish-made drones | Eurasianet".
  112. ^ "Kyrgyzstan Inducts Turkish Akinci, Aksungur Drones". www.defensemirror.com.
  113. ^ Kadidal, Akhil (May 26, 2023). "LIMA 2023: Malaysia orders three TAI Ankas". www.janes.com.
  114. ^ Sabah, Daily (January 4, 2024). "Mali receives new batch of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones". Daily Sabah.
  115. ^ "Operating From The Shadows: Morocco's UAV Fleet". Oryx.
  116. ^ Ankit Panda (2016-06-09). "Is Myanmar Using Armed Chinese Drones For Counterinsurgency?". Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 9 Jun 2016.
  117. ^ "Myanmar armed forces use Chinese armed drones to fight rebels in the country | January 2020 Global Defense Security army news industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2020 | Archive News year". www.armyrecognition.com. 9 January 2020.
  118. ^ United Nations Human Right Office of the High Commissioner, OHCHR (August 2019). "Arms and Military Equipment Suppliers to the Tatmadaw" (PDF). United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020.
  119. ^ Weinberger, Sharon (10 May 2018). "China Has Already Won the Drone Wars". Archived from the original on 23 October 2020.
  120. ^ a b "Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 drone: Why African states are buying them". August 25, 2022 – via www.bbc.com.
  121. ^ "Unknown".[permanent dead link]
  122. ^ "Poland receives 1st batch of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 combat drones". baykartech.com.
  123. ^ "Turkey's Baykar to export armed UAVs to Qatar". www.aa.com.tr.
  124. ^ "Romania awards $321 million contract for Turkish TB2 combat drones". www.baykartech.com.
  125. ^ "Rwanda Procures Deadly Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | The Kampala Post". kampalapost.com.
  126. ^ Fischer Junior, Richard. "Kazakhstan purchases two Chinese Wing-Loong UCAVs". IHS Jane's 360. Archived from the original (7 June 2016) on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  127. ^ Lin, Joseph (20 March 2015). "China's Weapons of Mass Consumption". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2016-11-11. Retrieved 7 November 2016. Since 2011, China has also sold the Wing Loong, an armed drone, to several countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Nigeria, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
  128. ^ "Saudi Arabia to Produce Turkish SIHA From 2021". RayHaber | RaillyNews. 2020-05-01. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  129. ^ "28.4.2020 - Saudi contract for Turkey's Karayel tactical UAS". ABG Strategic Consulting. 2020-04-28. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  130. ^ "The largest armed UAV built in Africa -Milkor 380 takes flight". October 11, 2023.
  131. ^ "Cabinet nod of approval for Milkor 380 UAV | defenceWeb". November 7, 2023.
  132. ^ "TUSAŞ'tan Tunus'a ANKA Teslimatı" (in Turkish). 13 November 2021.
  133. ^ "Milli İHA Bayraktar'dan gerçek mühimmat ile tam isabet (full video)". 30 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-11-10 – via YouTube.
  134. ^ Karayel UCAV MAM L Firing – Vestel Defence Industry 16.06.2016: Vestel UCAV's firing test video 1
  135. ^ Karayel UCAV MAM-L Firing Test – Vestel Defence Industry 25.06.2016: Vestel UCAV's firing test video 2
  136. ^ "Delivery of Aksungur Combat Drones to Turkey in Jan 2020". defenseworld.net. Archived from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  137. ^ "Turkey's Akinci Combat Drone Armed with HGK-84 Bombs". defenseworld.net. Archived from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  138. ^ Unknown[permanent dead link]
  139. ^ Sariibrahimoglu, Lale (11 March 2019). "Ukraine receives Bayraktar armed UAVs from Turkey". Jane's 360. Ankara. Archived from the original on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  140. ^ Dagres, Holly (November 16, 2022). "The UAE just received twenty drones from Turkey. What's the backstory?".
  141. ^ Biggers, Christopher (26 January 2018). "UAE revealed as Wing Loong II launch customer". IHS Jane's 360. Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  142. ^ "UAV Infrastructure Noted at the UAE's al-Safran Airbase". Belling Cat. 2 October 2018.
  143. ^ Rogers, Simon (3 August 2012). "Drones by country: who has all the UAVs?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  144. ^ "1º/12º GAv - Esquadrão Hórus".
[edit]