Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Last January, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union produced an estimate that, by the year 2035, the drones' sector will create up to 100,000 new jobs and, in addition, will have an economic impact of more than ten billion euros per year. This chapter takes its cue precisely from the central importance of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, and tries to sum up their future. Indeed, despite the enormous success of drones over the decades, many are the criticisms related to unmanned aircraft on board. The first section aims at outlining an historical framework, while the second section analyses the impressive role played by drones within the counterterrorism policy of the US presidency, with particular regard to Barack Obama's mandate. The third section applies a SWOT type analysis to UAVs, taking into account both their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the fourth section investigates the human factor problem within UAVs, which was inspired by Dr. Giovanni Miranda's PhD thesis.