Description
This presentation explores the discursive significance of « drones » in contemporary public debates on defence and security. In the summer and fall of 2025, as European countries engaged in rapid rearmament programmes to counter foreseen Russian threats, the idea of a “drone wall” – alternatively composed of drones and meant to counter drones – emerged as a salient element of public discourse, touted among others by European commission President Ursula von der Leyen. While drones – in all their varieties – have become a mainstay of contemporary warfare, particularly in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the notion of “drone” continues to carry images of futurism, of technological proficiency, and of quasi-omnipotence. This presentation, therefore, through an analysis of European public discourses about military defence and rearmament, examines how – and why – drones constitute such a central discursive trope in plans for the defence of NATO. Through this analysis, this presentation will further examine the connection between the technical, material, and discursive components of the drone, and the interplay between material and political conceptions of military technology.
