Analysis of Unmanned Aircraft

When I searched for an an image the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone aircraft, the majority of the pictures were from 1 to 2 days ago which means before the drone drama in Iran, the aircraft was relatively unknown. Nevertheless whether the plane "crashed" or was "shot down" depending who you ask, it is a big blow for the United States.  Iran probably has little use for the UAV but since it has close ties with Russia and China, it could sell the technology to the these countries.  The alliance is more  related to oil than ideology. Iran has been fulling the needs of China for natural gas which is fueling China's growing economy.  The incident also fuels the fire the between Iran and the United States which have been suspicious of each other.


The United States also has a problem with unmanned aircraft in Pakistan.  Recently the Pakistani forced the United States military to remove Predator Drones the Shamsi Airbase.  This was done after 24 Pakistani soldier were killed in NATO attack on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.  Even though the incident was done by helicopters, it caused great anger in the government and in the streets.  The United States has increased drone attacks in Pakistan sometimes causing civilian deaths.  A number of people have said that these attacks are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. 

This brings the debate on effectiveness and morality of the use of unmanned aircraft.  United States officials claim that drone attacks have killed more than half of the 20 most wanted Al-Qaeda leaders.  Furthermore it has reduced civilian  deaths because the military uses "precision surgical strikes" that only hit the intended target to minimize civilian casualties.  An example of this was in 2003 when the United States implemented the "shock and awe" campaign using precision munitions and aircraft to take out targets in the bustling  Iraqi  captial Baghdad. Many of the targeted buildings were completely destroyed while the one next to them usually remained perfectly intact. Many are wary of the use of artificial intelligence. Some say that these drones take away the human face of war.  Robots do not feel emotions and do not surrender. Drones are continually used in the Afghanistan war and it does not seem that the United States will be stopping its use anytime soon. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/stealth-drone-cia-op-falling-iran-officials/story?id=15096214#.Tt6NcVayBi4
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1206-drone-iran-20111206,0,928838.story