Library

The Drone Wars Library consists of key documents and important articles on the use of drones divided into various categories.   If you think we have missed an important link, please do let us know.

|   Autonomy   |   Civil use of drones   |    Civilian casualties   |   Drone pilots   |    Ethics   |   Health issues   |   Israel and drones   |   Legal issues   |   Overview   |   Proliferation   |   Targeted Killing   |   UK drone operations   |   US drone operations   |

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AUTONOMY

Nov 2012

Losing   Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots

Human Rights Watch briefing on fully autonomous   weapons

 

  CIVIL USE OF DRONES IN UK

Oct 2012	Roundtable:   development of civilian UAVs	Discussion of civil use of drones in UK by   industry experts
Sep 2012	Towards   a European strategy for the development of civil applications of Remotely   Piloted Aircraft Systems	European Commission working document on opening European civil airspace   to unmanned drones by 2016
Jan 2011	Attack   of the Drones – The Guardian	How police and civil authorities are catching up   with military use of drones

 

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES

Oct 2012	Counting   Drone Strike Deaths	Review of drone strike casualty estimates
Sept 2012	Living   Under Drones Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices   in Pakistan	Analysis from Stamford and New York University Law   Schools of the US drone campaign in Pakistan
Sep 2012	The   Civilian Impact of Drone Strikes: Unexamined Costs, Unanswered Questions	A study of the impact of the US covert drone on   civilians in Pakistan
Jun 2011	Drone   attacks, International Law and the recording of Civilian Casualties of Armed   Conflict	Oxford Research Group  on the recording of civilian casualties
Jun 2011	The magical realism of body counts	Al-Jazeera Op-Ed on civilian casualty statistics
Jul 2011	US claims of ‘no civilian deaths’ are untrue	TBIJ challenges US claims of no civilian   casualties

 

DRONE PILOTS

Dec 2012	Dreams   in Infrared: The Woes of an  American   Drone Operator	Der Spiegel on the impact of drone wars on the   operators – includes interviews with two pilots
Jul 2012	A   Day Job Waiting for a Kill Shot a World Away	New York Times interviews US drone pilots
Sep 2012	The   air force men who fly drones in Afghanistan by remote control – The Telegraph	Article on UK drone pilots
Oct 2009	The   War Room:  The toll on drone operators – Stars and Stripes	Military newspaper examines life of drone   operators

 

ETHICS

Aug 2012	Obama’s   Drone Wars: A Case to Answer	Does the use of drones fit with Just War Theory?
May 2012	Drones:   Ethical Dilemmas in the Application of Military Force	UK Methodist, Baptist and URC Churches report on  ethical issue of using drones for targeted   killing
Mar 2011	Does   Unmanned Make Unacceptable? Exploring the Debate on using Drones and Robots   in Warfare	Pax Christi International explores ethics of   drone warfare
Apr 2008	The Ethics and   Legal Implications ofMilitary   Unmanned Vehicles	RUSI exploration of ethical and legal implications   of using unmanned drones

 

HEALTH ISSUES

Oct 2012	Drones:   the physical and psychological implications of a global theatre of war	Medact report on the impact on health of armed   drones
Sept 2012	Living   Under Drones Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices   in Pakistan	Analysis from Stamford and New York University Law   Schools of the US drone campaign in Pakistan
Sep 2012	The   Civilian Impact of Drone Strikes: Unexamined Costs, Unanswered Questions	A study of   the impact of the US covert drone on civilians in Pakistan

 

ISRAEL AND DRONES

Dec 2011	Buzz   of Israel’s drones resonates throughout region	Reuters article on Israeli drones
Jun 2009	Precisely   Wrong: Gaza Civilians Killed by Israeli Drone-Launched Missiles	Human Rights Watch Briefing

 

LEGAL ISSUES

Jun 2012	Drone   strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN Rapporteur – The   Guardian	Christof   Heyns, UN special Rapporteur on why  drones present a  major challenge to the system of   international law
May 2012	Secret   ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will – New York Times	Examination of US drone and special ops targeted   killing based on interviews with senior administration officials
Sep 2011	The CIA and   Targeted Killings Beyond Borders	Philip Alston argues the US drone targeted   tilling program cannot be compliant with international law
Aug 2011	Seductive   Drones: Learning from a Decade of Lethal Operations	Mary Ellen O’Connell analyses ten years of drone   operations from a legal perspective
Mar 2011	Targeting Operations with Drone Technology: Humanitarian Law   Implications	Excellent briefing on drones and international   law

 

OVERVIEW

Dec 2012	Normalising   death: The business of drones	Examination of  the drone industry
Dec 2012	Unmanned Aerial   Vehicles (drones): an introduction	UK parliament background briefing on drones
Apr 2012	The   Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret	Good overview of US use of armed drones
Feb 2012	The   Menace of Present & Future Drone Warfare	Richard Falk setting the drone wars in historical   and political context.
Jan 2012	License to Kill: How Drones are changing warfare	Excellent summary of the issues from David   Cortright of Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
Jan 2012	The   Drone Wars Briefing 2012	Overview of use of drones
Aug 2011	Seductive   Drones: Learning from a Decade of Lethal Operations	Mary Ellen O’Connell analyses ten years of drone   operations from a legal perspective
Sep 2010	Convenient   Killing:  Armed Drones and the‘Playstation’   Mentality	Fellowship of Reconciliation briefing on the use   of armed drones
Jun 2008	Air   Power – UAVs: The Wider Context	RAF Study into the use of UAVs

 

PROLIFERATION

Jul 2012

Nonproliferation:   improve monitoring of UAV exports

US GAO   analysis of growing proliferation of drones

 

TARGETED KILLING AND DRONES

Jan 2013	Reforming   U.S. Drone Strike Policies	Council on Foreign Relations briefing on US use   of drones with recommendations for reform
Sep 2012	Unnecessary   and Disproportional: The Killings of Anwar and Abdul Rahman al-Awlaki	Challenging the narrative  justifying the drone assassination of the   Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and his son
Jun 2012	Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN Rapporteur	Christof  Heyns, UN special Rapporteur on why  drones present a  major challenge to the system of   international law
May 2012	Secret   ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will – New York Times	Examination of US drone and special ops targeted   killing based on interviews with senior administration officials
May 2012	Drones:   Ethical Dilemmas in the Application of Military Force	UK Methodist, Baptist and URC Churches report on  ethical issue of using drones for targeted   killing
Sep 2011	The CIA and   Targeted Killings Beyond Borders	Philip Alston argues the US drone targeted   tilling program cannot be compliant with international law
Mar 2011	Targeting Operations with Drone Technology: Humanitarian Law   Implications	Excellent briefing on drones and international   law

 

UK DRONE OPERATIONS

Dec 2012	Unmanned Aerial   Vehicles (drones): an introduction	UK parliament background briefing on drones
Dec 2012	Revealed:   US and Britain launched 1,200 drone strikes in recent wars	Analysis of US and UK drone strikes in   Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq
Sep 2012	The   air force men who fly drones in Afghanistan by remote control	Telegraph article on UK pilots and operations
Sept 2012	Shelling   Out: UK spending on unmanned drones	An analysis of UK spending on drones 2007-2012
Mar 2011	The   UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft Systems – JDN 2/11	UK MoD policy document on use of drones,   including review of moral, legal and ethical issues
Mar 2009	RAF   Bomb the Taliban from 8000 miles away - Daily Telegraph	DT reporter visits UK drones operators at their   base in Nevada.
Jun 2008	Air   Power – UAVs: The Wider Context	RAF Study into the use of UAVs

 

 

US DRONE OPERATIONS

Jan 2013	Reforming   U.S. Drone Strike Policies	Council on Foreign Relations briefing on US use   of drones with recommendations for reform
Dec 2012	Revealed:   US and Britain launched 1,200 drone strikes in recent wars	Analysis of US and UK drone strikes in   Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq
Sept 2012	Living   Under Drones Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices   in Pakistan	Analysis from Stamford and New York University Law   Schools of the US drone campaign in Pakistan
Sep 2012	The   Civilian Impact of Drone Strikes: Unexamined Costs, Unanswered Questions	A study of   the impact of the US covert drone on civilians in Pakistan
Aug 2012	Hidden   History: America’s Secret Drone War in Africa	Examining US use of drones in Africa
Apr 2012	The   Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret	Good overview of US use of armed drones
Jan 2012	US Unmanned   Aerial Systems	Congressional Research Service Report looks at   development and future  use of drones