Growing Use of Combat Drones

Posted by Jack

From Foreign Affairs Magazine…

“Although the number of drone-equipped states is currently small,  it will grow as other countries play catch-up. In 2004, only 41 states had drones of any kind, armed or unarmed. But by 2011, that number had reached 76, according to the last reliable public estimate by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

According to a 2005 report by the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense industry consulting firm, it was projected that the United States would account for 90 percent of all drone expenditures worldwide over the coming decade; according to 2013 projections, that figure stood at 64 percent. For now, in addition to Israel and the United Kingdom, China and Iran appear to be the only other countries with operationally deployed armed drones (based on the evidence of public demonstrations, such as military parades and air shows). China has been showing the media various drones for half a decade, and it now spends so much on drones that its drone budget will equal the United States’ by 2020. Iran has revealed a drone that it claims has a range of 2,000 kilometers, which would cover much of the Middle East.

Still other countries are catching up. India’s government has reported that it will soon equip its existing drones with precision-guided munitions and hopes to mass-produce others to conduct cross-border attacks on suspected terrorists. Pakistan, not to be outdone by its rival, has declared that it will develop armed drones on its own or with China’s help in order to target the Taliban and al Qaeda in its lawless tribal areas. Turkey currently has about 24 drones in use or development,  including what Ankara hopes will be an armed drone equivalent of a Reaper (last year it was thwarted in its efforts to buy armed drones from the United States). Meanwhile, Australia, Japan, and Singapore have developed unarmed surveillance drones that could be used for surveillance purposes.”