The Definitive Historical Atlas of Drone Warfare

It’s the cutting edge of postmodern warfare; science fiction bursting from the pages of our literature and into the laps of our enemies. Electric eyes watching us, monitoring us, documenting us. Men murdering other men from thousands of miles away. It’s drone warfare. This is the definitive historical atlas of that warfare.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in War: An Historical Atlas

Mohsan et al. (2023)
Franke (2018).
Global Hawk UAV (Blom, 2010)
Predator drone armed with hellfire missiles
Hunter UAV (Blom, 2010)
Soldier prepares to launch Raven drone (Blom, 2010)
Soldier launching a Raven drone (Blom, 2010)
Modern solar powered drones. Mohsan et al. (2023)
Modern Russian drone hybrid: glide bomb. (Sommerville, 2024)
Modern drones: the Hercules (Sommerville, 2024)
Modern drones: The Zala Lancet (Sommerville, 2024)
Modern Drones: The Vampire (Sommerville, 2024)
Different types of drones (Mohsan et al., 2023)
Drone pilots located in the United States operating a drone in Afghanistan (Frontline, 2023)
A Ukrainian drone operator with first-person view (Sommerville, 2024)
Olsen and Rashid (2013)
Different types of drones (Mohsan et al., 2023)
RP71 Radioplane (Blom, 2010)
Historical drones: The QH50 Dash (Blom, 2010)
(Franke, 2018)
(Franke, 2018)
Franke (2018)
Drone classification by payload (Franke, 2018)
Mohsan et al. (2023)
Mohsan et al. (2023)
Franke (2018).
Summary of drones (Mohsan et al., 2023).
Drone strike casualties (Kag and Kreps, 2014).
Drone strikes in Yemen (Zenko, 2017)
Drone strikes in Somalia (Zenko, 2017).
Drone strikes in Pakistan (Zenko, 2017)
Scahill, 2016
Scahill, 2016
(Kagg and Kreps, 2016)
(Kagg and Kreps, 2016)
How drone spoofing works (Mohsan et al., 2023)
Site of important Yemen drone strike (Human Rights Watch, 2014)
New America Foundation (n.d.)
The Economist Data Team (2015).

Drones Historical Atlas References:

Mohsan, S.A.H. et al. (2023). “Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): practical aspects, applications, open challenges, security issues, and future trends.” Intelligent Service Robotics 16:109–137.

Rehman, A. (2013). “Impact of drone attacks in Pakistan and the war on terror: A consideration of the effects of drone attacks in Pakistan and whether they are helping or not to win the war on terror!” International Relations 3. Malmö University: Department of Global Political Studies.

Fields, N.R. (2012). “Advantages and challenges of unmanned aerial vehicle autonomy in the Postheroic age.” [Unpublished Master’s Thesis]. James Madison University.

Blom, J. D. (2010). Unmanned aerial systems: A historical perspective. Combat Studies Institute Press. 

Amnesty International (2013). “Will I be next?: Us drone strikes in Pakistan.” 

Anderson, K. (2011). “Targeted killing and drone warfare: How we came to debate whether there is a ‘Legal Geography of War’.” Hoover Institution. 

Witt, S. (2022). “The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare.” The New Yorker. (May 9, 2022). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/16/the-turkish-drone-that-changed-the-nature-of-warfare 

Turse, N. & Engelhardt, T. (2012). Terminator planet: The first history of drone warfare 2001 – 2050. Dispatch books.

Franke, U. (2018). The unmanned revolution: How drones are revolutionizing warfare. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Oxford. 

Sommerville, Quentin. (2024). “Ukraine thrown into war’s bleak future as drones open new battlefront.” BBC.com. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cne4vl9gy2wo 

Walsh, J.I. & Schulzke, M. (2018). Drones and support for the use of force. University of Michigan Press. 

Fisk, K & Ramos, J.M. (2016). Preventive force: Drones, targeted killing, and the transformation of contemporary warfare. New York University Press.

Gordon, N. (2016). Drones are changing our conception of warfare in Cunningham, A.C. (ed.). “Drones, surveillance, and targeted killings.”

Newman, K. (2018). How effective was the drone campaign in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, 2009 – 2017? Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University. 

Zenko, M. (2017). Obama’s Final Drone Strike Data. Council on Foreign Relations. Web. https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-final-drone-strike-data 

Johnsen, G.D. (2014). “Nothing Says Sorry Our Drones Hit Your Wedding Party’ Like $800,000 And Some Guns. Buzz Feed. Web. https://www.buzzfeed.com/gregorydjohnsen/wedding-party-drone-strike 

Kagg, J. and Kreps, S. (2014). Drone warfare. Polity press. 

Williams, B. (2013). Predators. Potomac books.

Scahill, J. (2016). The assassination complex. Simon and Schuster. 

Cooper, H. (2016). U.S. airstrikes at Somali site kill about 150. The New York Times. Section A, Page 1.

Cooper, H. (2017). Over 100 Shabab militants killed in U.S. airstrike in Somalia. The New York Times. Section A, page 11.

Olson, J. and Rashid, M. (2013). Modern drone warfare: An ethical analysis. 2013 ASEE Southeast Section Conference. 

Newcome, Laurence R. (2005).  Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Jordán, J. and Baqués, J.  (2014). Guerra de drones. Política, tecnología y cambio social en los nuevos conflictos.

McCurley, T and Maurer, K. (2015). Hunter killer: The true story of the drone mission that killed Anwar al-Awlaki.

Frontline. (2023). America and the Taliban: Part two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKERL9h7Yo&rco=1 

New America Foundation. (n.d.) “The war in Somalia.” https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/americas-counterterrorism-wars/the-war-in-somalia/

Human Rights Watch. (2014). A wedding that became a funeral. http://www.hrw.org.

The Economist Data Team. (2015). Drone strikes: cause or effect. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2015/09/23/drone-strikes-cause-or-effect

Soliman, A.S.F. and Mahmoud, K.A. (2023). Applications des véhicules aériens sans pilote: Développement vers un poids de quelques grammes.

2 thoughts on “The Definitive Historical Atlas of Drone Warfare

Leave a comment