Description
Drones, once deemed by the U.S. and its allies as a panacea to the perils of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), are now among the greatest threats to state security in the 2020s. While the ‘First Drone Age’ was defined by the American and Western-allied monopoly over the use of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones, the Second Drone Age has marked the proliferation of remote-controlled, automated, and increasingly autonomous systems to both state and non-state actors. This paper provides an analysis of the Second Drone Age by highlighting the diverse array of actors, strategies, tactics, and technologies that have led to competition for command of the air above cities and battlefields alike.
