The Inquiry How are drones changing the landscape of modern warfare?
But whilst the drone can offer greater strategic and operational flexibility and a possible reduction in the number of military casualties, there are concerns that the drone, particularly in Ukraine's case, has prolonged the war.
Only last year the United Nations reported that 118 countries now had military drones, along with at least 65 non-state actors. And as an increasing number of countries have begun to manufacture and export their own array of military drones, many are concerned about how drone technology is presenting a big challenge in terms of defensive measures.
So, on this week's Inquiry, we're asking 'How are drones changing the landscape of modern warfare?
Contributors:
James Patton Rogers, Author and Executive Director, Brooks Tech Policy Institute, Cornell University, New York State, USA.
Dr Oleksandra Molloy, Senior Lecturer in Aviation, University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia
Stacie Pettyjohn, Director of the Defence Programme, Centre for A New American Security, Washington DC. USA.
Dr. Elke Schwarz, Professor of Political Theory, Queen Mary University, London, UK
Presenter: Gary O'Donoghue
Producer: Jill Collins
Researcher: Maeve Schaffer
Editor: Tara McDermott
Technical Producer: Toby James
Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey
Image credit SOPA via Getty Images
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why a banner from Israeli football supporters sparked anger
Israeli football fans sparked outrage in Poland by displaying a banner reading "Murderers since 1939" during a Europa Conference League match against a Polish team in Hungary. The provocative message, unfurled by supporters of Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, drew immediate condemnation from Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski. The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw also condemned the banner, stating there is no place for such words or actions, and that they do not reflect the spirit of most Israeli fans. The year 1939 marks the beginning of the Second World War and the Nazi occupation of Poland, during which millions of Polish citizens, including three million Jews, perished. UEFA has initiated disciplinary proceedings against both Maccabi Haifa and Rakow Czestochowa for transmitting a message not fit for a sports event, with the banner possibly a response to a previous Polish banner referencing the Gaza conflict.


Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump ‘cold-called Norwegian government to ask about Nobel Peace Prize'
Donald Trump cold-called Norway's finance minister to ask him about a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to reports. The US president called Jens Stoltenberg, the former Nato secretary general, last month to discuss tariffs, and also brought up the subject of the Nobel Prize, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported. The president has long-coveted the award and has in recent months received endorsements from several world leaders. 'Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called,' sources told the news outlet. 'He wanted the Nobel Prize – and to discuss tariffs.' It was claimed that it was not the first time Mr Trump had called to enquire about the prize. Trump looking to broker peace in Ukraine Mr Trump will be looking to broker another peace deal in the near future, as he sits down with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in Alaska for talks that could lead to the end of the Ukraine war. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee, a five-member body appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Each year, the committee sifts through hundreds of nominations before announcing the winner in October. Four previous presidents have won the award, in Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and, perhaps most gallingly for Mr Trump, Barack Obama. The president has repeatedly criticised his predecessor for being decorated only eight months into his first term, and claimed during the 2024 election campaign that he would have won the award 'in 10 seconds' if he had been Mr Obama. In June, he wrote on Truth Social: 'No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me!' 'President of peace' In honouring Mr Obama, the Norwegian Nobel committee cited his 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples', which seemed to be more about Mr Obama's promise as an international leader than his actual accomplishments. Mr Trump is the self-styled 'president of peace'. 'As president, he has brokered peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Serbia and Kosovo, and with the Abraham Accords,' the White House said. On Friday, he will look to add Russia and Ukraine to that list. Praising the president for his efforts, a number of world leaders have nominated him for the award including Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief, and the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr Stoltenberg did not deny claims the president had brought up the prize, but said the conversation focused on discussion of tariffs and economic cooperation ahead of Mr Trump's call with Jonas Stoere, the Norwegian prime minister. 'I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,' he said. Several of Mr Trump's cabinet officials including Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, and Jamieson Greer, his trade representative, were also on the call, according to Mr Stoltenberg. The award, named after 19th-century Swedish Industrialist Alfred Nobel, was originally intended to be bestowed upon the person who has done 'the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses'. The White House was approached for comment.


The Guardian
5 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters
A special unit in Israel's military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports. The 'legitimisation cell' was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel's image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources. According to the report, in at least one case the unit misrepresented information in order to falsely describe a journalist as a militant, a designation that in Gaza is in effect a death sentence. The label was reversed before the man was attacked, one of the sources said. Earlier this week, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and three colleagues in their makeshift newsroom, after claiming Sharif was a Hamas commander. The killings focused global attention on the extreme dangers faced by Palestinian journalists in Gaza and Israel's efforts to manipulate media coverage of the war. Foreign reporters have been barred from entering Gaza apart from a few brief and tightly controlled trips with the Israeli military, who impose restrictions including a ban on speaking to Palestinians. Palestinian journalists reporting from the ground are the most at risk in the world, with more than 180 killed by Israeli attacks in less than two years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel carried out 26 targeted killings of journalists in that period, the CPJ said, describing them as murders. Israel has produced an unconvincing dossier of unverified evidence on Sharif's purported Hamas links, and failed to address how he would have juggled a military command role with regular broadcast duties in one of the most heavily surveilled places on Earth. Israel did not attempt to justify killing his three colleagues. Before the attack, press freedom groups and Sharif himself had warned that Israeli accusations of Hamas links, first made in 2024, were designed to 'manufacture consent to kill'. They had been revived and repeated with increasing frequency after his reporting on famine in Gaza went viral. Intelligence sources told +972 magazine that the 'legitimisation cell' worked to undermine the work done by Palestinian journalists as well as their protected status under international law. Officers were eager to find a media worker they could link to Hamas, because they were convinced Gaza-based journalists were 'smearing [Israel's] name in front of the world', a source was quoted saying. In at least one case, they misrepresented evidence to falsely claim a reporter was an undercover militant, two sources said, although the designation was reversed before an attack was ordered. 'They were eager to label him as a target, as a terrorist, to say it's OK to attack him,' one recalled. 'They said: during the day he's a journalist, at night he's a platoon commander. Everyone was excited. But there was a chain of errors and corner-cutting.' 'In the end, they realised he really was a journalist,' the source added, and the reporter was taken off the target list. Israel's government often gave the army orders about where the unit should focus their work, and the primary motive of the 'legitimisation cell' was public relations, not national security, the sources said. When media criticism of Israel over a particular issue intensified the cell would be tasked with finding intelligence that could be declassified and used to counter the narrative, the magazine reported. 'If the global media is talking about Israel killing innocent journalists, then immediately there's a push to find one journalist who might not be so innocent, as if that somehow makes killing the other 20 acceptable,' the article quoted an intelligence source saying. The cell also reportedly sought information on Hamas's use of schools and hospitals for military purposes, and failed attacks by Palestinian armed groups that harmed civilians there. Some in the unit were reportedly concerned about publishing classified material for public relations reasons rather than military or security objectives. Officers were told their work was crucial to Israel's ability to keep fighting, one source said. 'The idea was to (allow the military to) operate without pressure, so countries like America wouldn't stop supplying weapons,' a second source said. 'Anything that could bolster Israel's international legitimacy to keep fighting.' The IDF has been approached for comment. On Friday, at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, including five who were trying to get food aid, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Israel also issued evacuation orders for northern parts of Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood, as it intensified military operations before a planned escalation of the ground war in Gaza, which has been widely criticised domestically and abroad.