Throughout history the technologies used in war have steadily become more impactful in the way that wars take place. Overtime the accuracy, rate, and overall power of the weapons militaries use in war have increased. In modern times militaries have adopted technologies that allow them to keep soldiers out of harm’s way and use machines to do what the soldiers used to do. The most popular of these machines is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), more commonly referred to as a drone. The use of drones has become one of the biggest debate topics in modern times. Many people find that the use of drones is unethical and irresponsible for many reasons. These reasons include civilian casualties, the firing of missiles into countries we are not at war with, and the civilians of these countries living in constant fear.  Supporters of the drone program use the cost, safety of soldiers, and the ability to watch a target before you fire a missile at them as the reasoning behind their support. The drone program used by the United States is one of the most effective tools the military has at its disposal therefore the government needs to maintain the program if not expand it because it makes the military more successful and efficient. 

The drone movement was started by Israel, they were the ones who began building prototypes eventually getting to the early models of the modern drone. The creator of the drone, Al Ellis, describes his invention as simply taking “a model airplane, put a camera in it, and take the pictures… But that started an industry” (Chamayou). The U. S got into the drone movement through the Israelis. The Israelis introduced their drones to the U.S “after a terrorist bomb destroyed the [U.S.] Marine Barracks in Beirut in October 1983, Marine Commandant Gen. P.X. Kelley secretly flew to the scene. No word of his arrival was leaked. Yet across the border, Israeli intelligence officers watched live television images of Kelley arriving and inspecting the barracks. They even zoomed the picture in tight, placing cross hairs directly on his head. Hours later, In Tel Aviv, the Israelis played back the tape for the shocked Marine general” (Chamayou).  The General saw the potential that the drones had and began to campaign for the U.S to adopt a drone program. Initially, the drones were used for just spying and watching people on the ground. But eventually people realized that they could use the drones to fire missiles at ground targets. By 2001 the United States had begun using armed drones to carry out bombing and strikes against high value targets. This changed the course of the war for the future. The Obama administration fully adopted and expanded the drone program and began to rely on it heavily during the war on terror. 

Participating in a war is an expensive undertaking, they cost millions and millions of dollars to fight. The cost of drones is one of their most favorable characteristics. The cost of building, arming, and operating a drone may be expensive due to the infrastructure needed to operate it, however compared to using a jet or ground soldiers the drone is still the cheapest option. A typical reaper drone costs $6.48 million to make plus a $3 million operational cost. However, this does not include the cost of the infrastructure needed to operate drones, but when all that is added up it comes out to $3250 per flight hour. An F-35 fighter jet costs $91 million to produce and $5 million per year to operate. This results in a cost of $16,500 per flight hour, clearly a lot higher than the cost of the drone (Wayne). The additional savings from the drones can then be spent on things that the government otherwise would not have the funding to do. 

Even soldiers are more expensive than the drones. Every soldier deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 cost the U.S $2.1 million. But that does not include all the expenses for soldiers. Since modern technology had improved health care and traumatic injury treatment more and more wounded soldiers are surviving their injuries. This extended health care that the military must pay adds up very quickly. The ratio of wounded to killed has climbed up to 7 survivors for every death compared to 2.3 and 3.8 in World Wars I and II respectively. This ratio is better for the soldiers themselves because they are given better chances of surviving war, but for the military the extra expenses is crippling their budget. That’s why it is important that the U.S can use unmanned vehicles to survey and take out important targets. They keep the costs of war low as well as keep American lives out of harm’s way, both of which are equally important. Some of the money saved from replacing the jets and soldiers on the ground can possibly be spent on taking care of the veterans that are injured or become homeless after their service. This is an important cause because the United States owes a great service to these men and women for their service and sacrifice, but sometimes they are turned away simply because the funding is not there. 

Relating to keeping soldiers safe the drones are one of the most useful assets that the military has in watching over the soldiers. The drones give them a bird’s eye of the battlefield. This can allow the drone operators to scout out the soldiers’ path looking for possible ambushes and IEDs. This will at least give them a heads up to prepare for an attack or avoid a dangerous area. If the soldiers are ambushed the drone can be used to make airstrikes on the enemy if they are a safe distance from the soldiers. Having the drone already overhead ready to strike is a lot quicker than having to call for a helicopter or a jet for air support, this is almost instant while waiting for another form of air support can take a long time. Having that immediate back up is going to save lives and scare the terrorists from attempting similar attacks in the future.

Without drones the military must send ground troops into a hostile environment so they can find and eliminate the target in whatever area they believe the target is. These types of raids can be dangerous because if the enemies see the soldiers coming they can barricade themselves and set traps for the soldiers, making their job even more dangerous. There is also the chance that the enemies can call in reinforcements and create a potentially large force against a small U.S squad of soldiers. But when using a drone, it’s as simple as finding the person using camera feed the drone provides and launching a missile at where they are hiding. It prevents soldiers from ever being put in harm’s way. Firing a missile at a target is also more efficient than sending ground troops. A single drone can take out several targets within hours if not minutes of each other, while soldiers cannot take out nearly that many targets in the same amount of time. In September 2009, there was one instance where “there were four such attacks- three of them in one twenty-four-hour period” (Mayer). One group of soldiers would never be able to carry out this amount of attacks in that short of a period. But the groups that oppose drones do not try to disclaim that drones keep soldiers safe, they try to argue that drones are more dangerous for civilians. 

However, drones kill less people than traditional warfare would. The casualty rate for civilians in drone strikes is about 17 percent, but the estimates for traditional warfare or other methods in those same instances are 44 percent. Even though it seems like the drones are killing many innocent civilians, they are really saving them. Civilians are going to die in war regardless of what the method of killing or strategy is. Millions of innocent lives have been lost because of wars, but having the ability to get the civilian death count down will be beneficial to society. The war on terror is typically fought in Middle Eastern cities and villages, being able to prevent massive gun battles from breaking out in these populated areas. These battles are destructive to not only the intended target but to the people, their homes, and their personal belongings. Former Air Force officer Bradley Strawser stated that “using them (drones) to go after terrorist not only was ethically permissible but might be ethically obligatory, because of their advantages in identifying targets and striking with precision” (Shane). This shows that military officials feel that drones are the safest way to take out terrorists without causing harm to civilians. Strawser also said “all evidence we have suggests that drones do better at both identifying and avoiding collateral damage than anything else we have” (Shane). Once again proving that military officials use drones primarily because they know that they are the best way to avoid damage to civilians and their way of life. 

Drones are the most effective way to fight the war on terror. Since the start of the Obama administration in 2009 the drone program has killed between 2,372 and 2,581 terrorists. This is a rather large amount considering that drones typically look for high value targets and leaders of terrorist origin. This is a high number of terrorists for roughly 7 years of an intense drone program. The drones also give the United States a wider range to attack, with drones they can carry out strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines and other countries. These are countries we would otherwise be unable to attack in. The officials of the countries would have to be contacted and then they could either allow the U.S to perform an attack or send their own soldiers. However, this takes time and when it comes to terrorists, time is something we do not have. These organizations are always on the move, so time being wasted for bureaucracy can cause a target to be lost and allow a potential attack to happen. If the U.S cannot carry out the attack they risk allowing less trained soldiers screwing up during the mission and missing the target. The United States military is considered one of the most effective and highest trained in the world, and them not being able to carry out the missions that they need to be is a huge problem. Using a less trained and less experienced military or police force to try to carry out anti-terrorist operations is a liability. The terrorists will have a better chance of getting away or causing civilian casualties. 

The constant identification and termination of these high-level targets disrupts the activities of the terrorist organizations. This forces them to focus more on surviving and replacing the killed insurgents and less on plotting and carrying out actual attacks. This delays the attacks they try to make by months, if they can even continue with the plan. This is exactly what is needed to take out terrorist organizations, a systematic breakdown of their leaders. Sometimes, the soldiers just lose heart after watching their leaders get blown up time and time again. Once somebody loses the heart and desire to do something they become ineffective and the organization ceases to pose a threat to the United States and the country in which they operate. 

A lot of drone critics say that the drones not only scare the terrorists and force them to hide, but also the civilians fear for their lives. One of the best characteristics of the drone is the fear that it instills in people. If people fear being killed for being involved with terrorist activities by a missile that they have no idea is coming, they will be less likely to join terrorist forces. People will also try to stay away from places they know terrorists hide out, because they do not want to be near there when the missiles are fired. This effects the terrorists abilities to recruit new members and to carry out the things they need to do to be effective terrorists. Without new recruits and the ability to perform attacks these organizations will disappear overtime. 

The drone program is an effective way to fight the war on terror because it keeps soldier and civilians safe, it is cheaper, and it accurately identifies and eliminate terrorists; this is important because people are arguing to stop drones when they should be arguing to expand the use of drones. People need to realize that war is war, death is just a part of that. The only way to make war better for us is to ensure that we stay safe from all threats and prevent as much damage as possible to our soldiers and the civilians in other countries. Drones are clearly the best way to do this and save money at the same time. They keep soldiers out of danger and take out enemy soldiers while being able to prevent terrorist organizations from maintaining their usual heinous activities. All these factors contribute to one clear decision, and that being that the drone program needs to stay and even be expanded upon. 
