In light of reports that Iranian drones hit targets in Syria earlier this year, Dartmouth’s Mauro Gilli and coauthor Andrea Gilli write in a Washington Post opinion piece that even if Iran has carried out its first drone strike, “there’s no need to conclude we’re entering a dark age of drone warfare.”
The reason, write the authors, is that “the proliferation of drones around the world doesn’t increase the chance of instability and conflict. Developing and employing drones poses more challenges than generally acknowledged. U.S. investments in counter-drone systems will help prevent less-capable platforms from jeopardizing global peace and security.
“On the other hand, investing in counter-systems and in more advanced drone technology will help the U.S. military stay in the technological lead, especially if the U.S. military can harness the most advanced technologies now being developed by the U.S. private industry,” they write. “The U.S. military has the experience to operate the information and communication technologies that military drones require—and will probably stay out in front in the age of robotics warfare.”
Mauro Gilli is a U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security Fellow at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. Andrea Gilli is a postdoctoral fellow at Metropolitan University Prague.
Read the full story, published 4/4/16 by The Washington Post.
