Tag Archives: drones

Assuming that geopolitics will always trump international and national humanitarian law, one can only hope that Pakistan at some stage takes a categorical position against drones, and lobbies for an accountable and transparent counterterrorism mechanism.

Drones are viewed as the remedy in the age of shrinking defense budgets and high cost of human soldier. A typical $6.48 million worth reaper drone’s end cost is US$3250 per hour of flight time. In contrast, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter costs nearly US$91 million per unit, almost US$5 million per year to operate and $16,500 per hour of flight.

As the U.S. government winds up an interagency review of rules governing the export of large drones, the conflicting goals of nonproliferation and commerce are creating a new test of the 27-year-old Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).   Observers do not expect big changes to the MTCR, which seeks to prevent the proliferation of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons …

The small, portly man was laid out in bed that autumn morning in 2009, wrapped in a shawl, the intravenous line in his arm carrying ever-waning hope that he might yet beat back acute diabetes and a crippling renal disorder. He had come home to his father-in-law’s home in the small village of Makeen just days earlier, family sources would …