Chapter

Drone warfare and the erosion of traditional limits on war powers

Geoffrey Corn

Research handbook on remote warfare

Cheltenham ; Northampton : E. Elgar, 2017

p. 246-272

English

One important question related to the increasing availability and efficacy of drone capability is whether it dilutes the traditional legal barriers or constrains them to the use of military force. This chapter explores this question. Section II considers how, at least from a functional standpoint, drones offer national level decision-makers a combat capability that is really different from the other tools in the military force arsenal. Section III considers how this capability has influenced the assessment of when a threat triggers the law of armed conflict. It also explains why the impact of drones does not extend across the so-called spectrum of conflict, but instead is limited to the assessment of non-international armed conflict. Section IV then considers how drone capability impacts the assessment of constitutional war powers.

• Research handbook on remote warfare / ed. by Jens David Ohlin