Remotely piloted aircraft systems: the introduction of the ‘flying watchtower’

Abstract

AbstractThis commentary will contest that a lack of deep critical thinking on the nature of air power and its relationship with those it overflies, surveils, and bombs by air power practitioners can lead to a void in engagement with the public and create distrust. It will discuss how the unique characteristics of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) are critical to understanding their specific impact on those they overfly and their characterisation as ‘flying watchtowers’. The introduction of Predator and Reaper aircraft into the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) inventory will be used as a case study to explore this contention and to argue that the RAF and the Ministry of Defence should communicate more thoroughly and proactively about new technologies than they have done in the recent past. The paper will then consider what implications this might have for the introduction of future technologies. In doing so, it will highlight the importance of capturing lessons from the RAF’s recent experience of ‘wars of choice’ and counter-insurgency, however diverting the current global security challenges may be. In the context of the proposed new human right to protect the freedom to live without physical or psychological threat from above, recent research has demonstrated that the particular characteristics of RPAS may impact the mental health of those they surveil. This in turn may have implications both in terms of the behaviours it incites and considerations of proportionality in targeting decisions.