Combat at Gamer’s Pace. No Pause nor Reset Button

The battlefield in Ukraine is a combination of World War I style trenches, the counter terrorism command centers and fleets of adapted commercial drones virtually wired together by everyday internet technology. The wide use of ‘wedding’ drones DJI Mavic on Ukrainian battlefield blurs the line between the type of drones used to fight wars and to film weddings. What happens when the underground world of DIY drones building, and drone racing is co-opted by the military? The regular presence of small, reconnaissance drones over conflict zone sow confusion, fear, and terror among soldiers. The small drones, the eyes in a sky, induce the feeling of exposure and lethal voyeurism wherever they are on the ground. Small drones are not classified as military hardware, although with millions of those already in circulation and the technology to build them freely available, the army of drones is on the battlefield for good. There are unconfirmed reports of Russia and Ukraine experimenting with drones that can identify and attack targets without human input, using artificial intelligence. Needless to say, the fully autonomous killer drones are changing the thinking about rules of war and demand new modes of diplomacy to prevent escalatory threat.