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The Drone Age: How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace
In The Drone Age , Michael J. Boyle addresses some of the biggest questions surrounding the impact of drones on our world today and the risks that we might face tomorrow. Will drones produce a safer world because they reduce risk to pilots, or will the prospect of clean, remote warfare lead governments to engage in more conflicts? Will drones begin to replace humans on the battlefield? Will they empower soldiers and peacekeepers to act more precisely and humanely in crisis zones? How will terrorist organizations turn this technology back on the governments that fight them? And how are drones enhancing surveillance capabilities, both at war and at home?
As advanced drones come into the hands of new actors-foreign governments, local law enforcement, terrorist organizations, humanitarian organizations, and even UN peacekeepers-it is even more important to understand what kind of world they might produce. The Drone Age explores how the unique features of drone technology are altering the decision-making processes of governments and non-state actors alike by transforming their risk calculations and expanding their capacities both on and off the battlefield. By changing what these actors are willing and ready to do, drones are quietly transforming the dynamics of wars, humanitarian crises, and peacekeeping missions while generating new risks to security and privacy.
An essential guide to a potentially disruptive force in modern world politics, The Drone Age shows how the innovative use of drone technology will become central to the ways that governments and non-state actors compete for power and influence in the future.
As advanced drones come into the hands of new actors-foreign governments, local law enforcement, terrorist organizations, humanitarian organizations, and even UN peacekeepers-it is even more important to understand what kind of world they might produce. The Drone Age explores how the unique features of drone technology are altering the decision-making processes of governments and non-state actors alike by transforming their risk calculations and expanding their capacities both on and off the battlefield. By changing what these actors are willing and ready to do, drones are quietly transforming the dynamics of wars, humanitarian crises, and peacekeeping missions while generating new risks to security and privacy.
An essential guide to a potentially disruptive force in modern world politics, The Drone Age shows how the innovative use of drone technology will become central to the ways that governments and non-state actors compete for power and influence in the future.
- GenresNonfictionWarTechnology
400 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2020
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156 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 11, 2021
Merp, so much information in this book just like the drones are collecting!
The advance of drones across the commercial, humanitarian, and military landscape proves its power as a disruptive technology. I know zip zap nada about drones to tryna educate myself a bit...
According to the author, drone technology, like most technology is neutral in itself, but Drone technology has a unique array of characteristics that affect how humans use it. There is no single characteristic of drones that produces radical changes in the way people behave; rather, the characteristics of drones together produce subtle but noticeable shifts in the strategic choices of its users. Each characteristic plays a different role:
1. Low cost: Easy to buy and quick to spread among even resource constrained actors, such as terrorist groups or NGOs
2. Adaptable: Attractive to actors such as military or peacekeeping forces, which must deliver payloads in highly complex or dangerous environments
3. Precise and yield high levels of information about what they see on the ground: indispensable for actors who dream of knowing more about the environment in which they operate
4. Unmanned: Invaluable for all actors for who risk is defined almost exclusively by a loss of life of pilots or other personnel
From my option after reading the book:
Greatest benefit: lies in efficient delivery Of medicine, blood, and other essential goods to populations who lack efficient road networks or where a truck delivery is not cost efficient
Biggest question: future effect of surveillance? Technology can elevate the acquisition of information from a means to an end and loose sight of the reason why information was collected in the first place.
To research more: Evolution of warfare from On the ground combat to air based targeted precision killing.
The advance of drones across the commercial, humanitarian, and military landscape proves its power as a disruptive technology. I know zip zap nada about drones to tryna educate myself a bit...
According to the author, drone technology, like most technology is neutral in itself, but Drone technology has a unique array of characteristics that affect how humans use it. There is no single characteristic of drones that produces radical changes in the way people behave; rather, the characteristics of drones together produce subtle but noticeable shifts in the strategic choices of its users. Each characteristic plays a different role:
1. Low cost: Easy to buy and quick to spread among even resource constrained actors, such as terrorist groups or NGOs
2. Adaptable: Attractive to actors such as military or peacekeeping forces, which must deliver payloads in highly complex or dangerous environments
3. Precise and yield high levels of information about what they see on the ground: indispensable for actors who dream of knowing more about the environment in which they operate
4. Unmanned: Invaluable for all actors for who risk is defined almost exclusively by a loss of life of pilots or other personnel
From my option after reading the book:
Greatest benefit: lies in efficient delivery Of medicine, blood, and other essential goods to populations who lack efficient road networks or where a truck delivery is not cost efficient
Biggest question: future effect of surveillance? Technology can elevate the acquisition of information from a means to an end and loose sight of the reason why information was collected in the first place.
To research more: Evolution of warfare from On the ground combat to air based targeted precision killing.
February 11, 2021
Although this took me FOREVER to read, as it is really densely packed with government information on the use of drones primarily from a USA perspective but also an international perspective, I was blown away and a bit mortified how tech can do good but easily accomplish evil. I picked up this book as I attended a summer workshop on Technology and the War on Terror offered by the Freedoms Foundation (https://www.freedomsfoundation.org/) and the author was a guest lecturer. It was required reading for the course and I'm really glad I purchased a copy for our WHS collection! All I can say is drone technology is on the rise and I need to get some funding to add this important technology to my WHS Library Makerspace!
May 9, 2025
Decent read. The book was published in 2020 and is already outdated, implying how rapidly this niche technology is evolving.
October 21, 2021
Michael Boyle, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, has authored several books on warfare, and was a contributing editor in a 2017 publication Legal and Ethical Implications of Drone Warfare ; I assume that much of The Drone Age is drawn from that. It expands on the military considerations of drones with a history of their development, civilian applications of the technology, and potential future advances in the field, such as AI and autonomy in combat situations .
Many innovations have occurred in drone technology since his 2017 book; witness the number of countries that have either purchased military drones from the three main exporters (U.S., Israel and China) or are developing their own. The dispersion of these drones is not without its downsides: non-state militant groups such as ISIS have experimented with weaponizing small commercial drones to deliver explosive payloads to their adversaries. The possibility that this could be expanded to bio- weapons is a sobering thought; the difficulty in accomplishing such a feat by an organization lacking deep technical expertise may be the primary impediment to its usage by such groups.
Boyle does a thorough job of examining the pros and cons of drones in combat, and most of his s concern is its rapid adoption by the military, especially the U.S. , the obvious leader in the field. He explores the perceived advantages of drone strikes over conventional air and land assaults:
- The reduced risk to military personnel and associated hardware (planes, tanks , etc.) . Pilots and ground forces are not required to make direct contact with the enemy, and tracking the target can proceed 24/7, as personnel are rotated and aircraft employed that can stay aloft for days at a time.
- Reduced cost. While the increased sophistication of drone technology due to the improvements demanded by their users has raised the costs of these devices (see miniaturization below) , it is still less than the cost of a fighter jet and its support structure.
- Selectivity and precision of target selection. Drone usage can be viewed as the continuation of the trend from the massive bombing raids of WWII that were used to take out war production facilities (and break the will of civilian populations ) to the development of cruise missiles that could be targeted to a smaller area, thus reducing civilian casualties.
The author does a thorough analysis of these advantages, along with as a thoughtful perspective on the dangers of military drones as well. For example, he writes about the potential effects of drone attacks on people in war-torn countries who may not appreciate our careful target selection if their neighborhood has been flattened by a drone strike. The recent killing of a Afghan civilian and his family members illustrates the dependence of drone warfare on reliable ground intelligence, which may be sparse in a country with few American allies.
Despite the distance between the targets and the drone pilots who attack them, the latter have experienced PTSD symptoms due to the resulting loss of life, especially when innocent civilians are killed. To minimize mistakes in targeting , the decision to launch a drone at an enemy is generally subject to several layers of approval in the U.S. ; in the Obama era, this included the President himself.
Boyle also discusses the implications of the military’s increased use of smaller surveillance drones as protection for ground forces, and better intelligence of the combat theater. The cost of wide deployment of miniature surveillance drones in combat may have imposed a limit on their usage, as can be seen by the six-figure price of the Black Hornet, a palm-sized drone developed in Norway. The bird-sized drone in the film Eye in the Sky is not as far-fetched as you might think.
His discussion of commercial drone usage, while not subject to the same level of controversy as the military side, highlights the failure of governments to keep up with the rapid increase in civilian ownership. This has resulted in several near misses by drones flown too close to airports, and privacy issues that arise from individual usage of drone cameras that have not been addressed. Neighborhood surveillance for crime prevention by these devices has not been widely accepted , as it can stigmatize the area’s residents; it also brings in the broader issue of individual privacy, as exemplified by the ubiquity of CCTV’s in modern society, and the ultimate nightmare of China’s dystopian society.
Nonetheless, the deployment of drones in crop management, forest fire control, small package delivery, movie production, criminal pursuit and many other labor- and cost-intensive areas would seem to outweigh the concerns he has about the political deficiencies that have not been adequately addressed. To this point, he is not a pessimist about the future of the field; he writes at length about disaster relief as one of the most promising potentials for commercial drones, due to their ability to deliver medicine, food and other vital necessities to stranded communities that would normally be impeded by blocked roads and difficult or unmarked terrain. While there are many concerns here, such as locating victims in unmapped areas, coordinating the relief efforts of multiple rescue organizations, and the size and cost of drones needed to transport food and heavy supplies, Boyle is optimistic about the future of drones as a vital component of disaster relief in the future.
His writing is exhaustive, well-balanced, and it speaks of an author who has spent considerable time researching and thinking about the implications of his subject. The book is highly recommended.
Many innovations have occurred in drone technology since his 2017 book; witness the number of countries that have either purchased military drones from the three main exporters (U.S., Israel and China) or are developing their own. The dispersion of these drones is not without its downsides: non-state militant groups such as ISIS have experimented with weaponizing small commercial drones to deliver explosive payloads to their adversaries. The possibility that this could be expanded to bio- weapons is a sobering thought; the difficulty in accomplishing such a feat by an organization lacking deep technical expertise may be the primary impediment to its usage by such groups.
Boyle does a thorough job of examining the pros and cons of drones in combat, and most of his s concern is its rapid adoption by the military, especially the U.S. , the obvious leader in the field. He explores the perceived advantages of drone strikes over conventional air and land assaults:
- The reduced risk to military personnel and associated hardware (planes, tanks , etc.) . Pilots and ground forces are not required to make direct contact with the enemy, and tracking the target can proceed 24/7, as personnel are rotated and aircraft employed that can stay aloft for days at a time.
- Reduced cost. While the increased sophistication of drone technology due to the improvements demanded by their users has raised the costs of these devices (see miniaturization below) , it is still less than the cost of a fighter jet and its support structure.
- Selectivity and precision of target selection. Drone usage can be viewed as the continuation of the trend from the massive bombing raids of WWII that were used to take out war production facilities (and break the will of civilian populations ) to the development of cruise missiles that could be targeted to a smaller area, thus reducing civilian casualties.
The author does a thorough analysis of these advantages, along with as a thoughtful perspective on the dangers of military drones as well. For example, he writes about the potential effects of drone attacks on people in war-torn countries who may not appreciate our careful target selection if their neighborhood has been flattened by a drone strike. The recent killing of a Afghan civilian and his family members illustrates the dependence of drone warfare on reliable ground intelligence, which may be sparse in a country with few American allies.
Despite the distance between the targets and the drone pilots who attack them, the latter have experienced PTSD symptoms due to the resulting loss of life, especially when innocent civilians are killed. To minimize mistakes in targeting , the decision to launch a drone at an enemy is generally subject to several layers of approval in the U.S. ; in the Obama era, this included the President himself.
Boyle also discusses the implications of the military’s increased use of smaller surveillance drones as protection for ground forces, and better intelligence of the combat theater. The cost of wide deployment of miniature surveillance drones in combat may have imposed a limit on their usage, as can be seen by the six-figure price of the Black Hornet, a palm-sized drone developed in Norway. The bird-sized drone in the film Eye in the Sky is not as far-fetched as you might think.
His discussion of commercial drone usage, while not subject to the same level of controversy as the military side, highlights the failure of governments to keep up with the rapid increase in civilian ownership. This has resulted in several near misses by drones flown too close to airports, and privacy issues that arise from individual usage of drone cameras that have not been addressed. Neighborhood surveillance for crime prevention by these devices has not been widely accepted , as it can stigmatize the area’s residents; it also brings in the broader issue of individual privacy, as exemplified by the ubiquity of CCTV’s in modern society, and the ultimate nightmare of China’s dystopian society.
Nonetheless, the deployment of drones in crop management, forest fire control, small package delivery, movie production, criminal pursuit and many other labor- and cost-intensive areas would seem to outweigh the concerns he has about the political deficiencies that have not been adequately addressed. To this point, he is not a pessimist about the future of the field; he writes at length about disaster relief as one of the most promising potentials for commercial drones, due to their ability to deliver medicine, food and other vital necessities to stranded communities that would normally be impeded by blocked roads and difficult or unmarked terrain. While there are many concerns here, such as locating victims in unmapped areas, coordinating the relief efforts of multiple rescue organizations, and the size and cost of drones needed to transport food and heavy supplies, Boyle is optimistic about the future of drones as a vital component of disaster relief in the future.
His writing is exhaustive, well-balanced, and it speaks of an author who has spent considerable time researching and thinking about the implications of his subject. The book is highly recommended.
January 3, 2022
This is a work of scholarship, and yet it is anything but boring or tedious. I really enjoyed reading it, though I didn’t entirely agree with the author’s viewpoint.
I found the book’s first half more enjoyable than the second half. The first half tells the history of drone development over the past 100 years. It was certainly enlightening, and while history is always *his*story (i.e. subjective), I felt a bit less stifled by the author’s personal view of on drones while reading this first half, than the second half.
Have drones lowered the ‘cost’ of war? Possibly, I can understand Boyle’s argument that the loss of a drone is less valuable to society than the loss of lives, but ultimately, drones lead back to offensive warfare and the loss of lives. Maybe drones just delay the cost a bit.
I can’t argue with the idea that drones change warfare by allowing for more targeted, cautious killing. I also can’t argue with what seems to be an insatiable hunger for data, fed by drones. But, of course, drones are only one expression of that insatiable hunger . Defense forces have always been hungry for intelligence, and operations have always been shaped by intelligence. There are now a myriad of new ways to obtain data, and drones are just one of them.
Boyle looked at drones as a unique phenomenon, but I think that’s far from the truth. Data-driven combat has more to do with living in the age of information and connectivity (satellites! fiber optics, cellphones etc) than living the age of drones. We have more ways of surveilling people and gathering data on the than ever before. We have more ways for causing damage remotely than ever before. Countries have been fighting fierce battles in cyberspace for the past two decades, from the comforts of their offices and couches. Drone wars are no different. Also, drones are just one hardware platform out of many that are in the process of become either remotely controlled or autonomous. The real issues which this book brings up are not inherent to drones.
Finally, I think it’s ironic that the author spends the first half of the book writing about how it took decades for military drones to make a breakthrough, and then bashes the commercial drone industry for being ineffective: we’re talking about an industry that’s barely ten years old. It’s far to early for the civilian technology to truly play out. It reminds me of Michael Moore’s attack on green technologies. Give it a few more years, will ya?
I found the book’s first half more enjoyable than the second half. The first half tells the history of drone development over the past 100 years. It was certainly enlightening, and while history is always *his*story (i.e. subjective), I felt a bit less stifled by the author’s personal view of on drones while reading this first half, than the second half.
Have drones lowered the ‘cost’ of war? Possibly, I can understand Boyle’s argument that the loss of a drone is less valuable to society than the loss of lives, but ultimately, drones lead back to offensive warfare and the loss of lives. Maybe drones just delay the cost a bit.
I can’t argue with the idea that drones change warfare by allowing for more targeted, cautious killing. I also can’t argue with what seems to be an insatiable hunger for data, fed by drones. But, of course, drones are only one expression of that insatiable hunger . Defense forces have always been hungry for intelligence, and operations have always been shaped by intelligence. There are now a myriad of new ways to obtain data, and drones are just one of them.
Boyle looked at drones as a unique phenomenon, but I think that’s far from the truth. Data-driven combat has more to do with living in the age of information and connectivity (satellites! fiber optics, cellphones etc) than living the age of drones. We have more ways of surveilling people and gathering data on the than ever before. We have more ways for causing damage remotely than ever before. Countries have been fighting fierce battles in cyberspace for the past two decades, from the comforts of their offices and couches. Drone wars are no different. Also, drones are just one hardware platform out of many that are in the process of become either remotely controlled or autonomous. The real issues which this book brings up are not inherent to drones.
Finally, I think it’s ironic that the author spends the first half of the book writing about how it took decades for military drones to make a breakthrough, and then bashes the commercial drone industry for being ineffective: we’re talking about an industry that’s barely ten years old. It’s far to early for the civilian technology to truly play out. It reminds me of Michael Moore’s attack on green technologies. Give it a few more years, will ya?
March 18, 2021
Excellent ouvrage sur l'histoire des drones, de la première guerre mondiale à aujourd'hui. Les drones révolutionnent l'économie, les transports, la logistique, mais surtout l'espace de la guerre ; le "battlespace" en trois dimensions et allant jusque dans l'espace extra-terrestre. L'impact des drones dans l'espace guerrier est équivalent à l'arrivée des avions à réaction (jets supersoniques) dans les années 50. Les 1) drones sont en compétition avec 2) les avions à pilote, 3) les satellites et 4) les missiles ballistiques. En fait, tous ces outils utilisent les mêmes capacités technologiques et techniques, en plus d'amener leurs propres standards et normes opérationnels. Plus un gouvernement utilise un outil et plus cet outil amène des degrés de spécialisation propres au contexte opérationnel.
Les deux plus importants développements récents des drones vient de 2 contextes différents : A) quand nous sommes en contexte asymétrique (les USA qui dominent l'espace aérien au Moyen-Orient) alors les gouvernements utilisent des campagnes de "targeting killings", et B) quand le conflit amène une contestation de l'espace aérien, le niveau technique/technologique du "swarming" (les Turques et Azéris contre les Arméniens - les Arméniens ont mangé une volée) amène un embrasement rapide des combats tout en déterminant rapidement qui est le gagnant.
Les deux plus importants développements récents des drones vient de 2 contextes différents : A) quand nous sommes en contexte asymétrique (les USA qui dominent l'espace aérien au Moyen-Orient) alors les gouvernements utilisent des campagnes de "targeting killings", et B) quand le conflit amène une contestation de l'espace aérien, le niveau technique/technologique du "swarming" (les Turques et Azéris contre les Arméniens - les Arméniens ont mangé une volée) amène un embrasement rapide des combats tout en déterminant rapidement qui est le gagnant.
July 8, 2020
Boyle's book is an important read for anyone interested in national security and the future of warfare. Providing a comprehensive history on the development of unmanned aerial systems--or as he refers to the them throughout the book, "drones"--Boyle wrestles with some of the key debates surrounding their uses by governments, NGOs, and ordinary citizens. He delves into both geopolitical and ethical issues with nuance, while refusing to engage in political pandering. While acknowledging the benefits drones present to society, Boyle cautions that drones "reorder the calculation of risk and privilege certain types of actions at the expense of others." Boyle argues, therefore, the US--and international community--need to begin grappling with some of the issues arising from the increasing sophistication and proliferation of drones.
This book provides ample descriptions of different systems for the beginner, making it an accessible read for policymakers. However, Boyle's examination of key issues surrounding drone proliferation advances the conversation, making it a worthwhile read for even those who have been studying the technology for decades.
Overall, I highly recommend this book and will be encouraging some of my friends to read it.
This book provides ample descriptions of different systems for the beginner, making it an accessible read for policymakers. However, Boyle's examination of key issues surrounding drone proliferation advances the conversation, making it a worthwhile read for even those who have been studying the technology for decades.
Overall, I highly recommend this book and will be encouraging some of my friends to read it.
September 20, 2020
Boyle provides an overview of drone history and addresses the impact of drones on our world today. The author discusses the risks of drone warfare and surveillance. Many examples are provided of drone technology across the world. This book does not dive into the technical and engineering side of drones.
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