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The Fourth Estate

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The Fourth Estate

Selling Drones, a Boon or Bust?

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Let’s sell an unmanned aircraft with missile capabilities; nothing could go wrong with that, right? Doesn’t sound like any mistakes we have made in the past, right? Like Osama Bin Laden, who we armed to fight Russians, but who turned on us in the end.

The United States government seems to think so, as the State Department announced in mid-February, “The United States has approved its first policy for selling armed drones to allies.”

According to the State Department, a new set of rules and regulations are being imposed which would require each recipient nation to agree to assurances that drones will be used in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law and human-rights standards.

Recipients also cannot use military drones to conduct unlawful surveillance or use unlawful force against their own populations.
In a sweeping arms sale to 66 different countries listed by the Defense Department, the United States still does not seem to have a comprehensive policy worked out according to Richard Genaille, Deputy Director of the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

This is concerning because we are about to sell unmanned weapons that can inflict massive damage without even having a complete policy.
How are we supposed to enforce our own rules if we do not have them ourselves?
Also, assuming we did have a comprehensive policy how would we enforce it? Would we send people into said country solely to observe how the drones are being used?
What are some potential dangers of selling drones?

Ukraine is reportedly seeking drones to bolster its campaign against Russian-supported separatists.
With these new policies, will we be selling to them and getting drawn into yet another war?
Or, could terrorists in the Middle East capture a drone and use it for their own nefarious purposes?

Michael Horowitz, associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “The new drone export policy is unlikely to lead to the transfer of armed drones to Ukraine.”
He further justifies this move by saying that, “until now, the U.S. has made it harder for even close allies and partners to buy drones than to buy F-35s or some types of precision-guided munitions.
Yet, this did very little to stop the proliferation of drones around the world – it just ensured that the U.S. would have less influence over how countries actually use their drones.”
Before we start worrying about the consumers, we should worry about the product.

The United States and other countries have used drones for several missions, creating a reputation for themselves.
They have proven to be reliable and have a high mission-success rate.
Along side that, they also have a high collateral damage rate.

One would not think that we should start selling these weapons until we can fine-tune them as to not kill innocent civilians.
Although this would be a good boost for the United States economy, it is a reward very well not worth the risk.
Even if it is the worst-case scenario, we don’t want to gamble dealing with the next Osama Bin Laden or giving ISIS a new toy.

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Selling Drones, a Boon or Bust?