Les éliminations par drones attisent la haine, dénoncent d'anciens opérateurs | États-Unis L'élimination par drone est « l'un des moteurs les plus puissants pour le terrorisme et la déstabilisation dans le monde », écrivent les quatre anciens militaires, dans une lettre adressée au président américain Barack Obama et à d'autres responsables, et publiée par The Guardian. « Nous ne pouvons rester les bras croisés devant des tragédies comme celle des attentats de Paris », ajoutent-ils. « Les civils innocents que nous avons tués n'ont fait qu'ajouter aux sentiments de haine » à l'origine du terrorisme et de groupes comme les djihadistes de l'État islamique, écrivent-ils, demandant à l'administration américaine de « reconsidérer son approche ». Écoeurés par leur métier Selon le journal britannique, qui publie jeudi leurs témoignages en détail, les quatre opérateurs sont des trentenaires ayant quitté l'US Air Force après une demi-douzaine d'années de service, écoeurés par leur métier.
Life as a drone operator: 'Ever step on ants and never give it another thought?' When Michael Haas, a former senior airman with the US air force, looks back on the missions he flew over Afghanistan and other conflict zones in a six-year career operating military drones, one of the things he remembers most vividly is the colorful language airmen would use to describe their targets. A team of three would be sitting, he recalls, in a ground control station in Creech air force base outside Las Vegas, staring at computer screens on to which images would be beamed back from high-powered sensors on Predator drones thousands of miles away. The aim of the missions was to track, and when the conditions were deemed right, kill suspected insurgents. That’s not how they put it, though. And then there were the children. They called them “fun-sized terrorists”. Haas, a 29-year-old, in a Notre Dame baseball cap and Chicago Blackhawks ice hockey jersey, looks too youthful to be burdened by such enormous issues. These direct incidents were harrowing enough for Bryant. Why?
The US government has begun trialling methods to disable and track commercial drones | News | Lifestyle | The Independent The US government is conducting tests into ways to disable and track drones that may infiltrate sensitive sites. Although the research, which is being contributed to by various government agencies and state law enforcement, is in its early stages, there has been at least one field test, according to Reuters. A source told the news agency that late last year, police in New York used a microwave-based system to try to track a commercially available drone in Times Square and send it back to its operator. The test, which previously went unreported, was set back by signal interference from nearby media broadcasts, and apparently involved representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Defence Department A security scare was prompted in Tokyo after a small drone was found landed on the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's official residence The most amazing drone pictures
A Visual Glossary Click any arrow to enter a rabbit hole. Each serves as a back door into one of our stories. Birds The first bomb dropped from an airplane exploded in an oasis outside Tripoli on November 1, 1911.¹ While flying over Ain Zara, Libya, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti leaned out of his airplane, which looked like a dragonfly, and dropped a Haasen hand grenade. One hundred years later, the bombing is done by pilotless planes. On the inside, people call them “birds.” Photo: U.S. Operators can watch their targets for hours, often from air-conditioned rooms, until they receive the order to fire. This is where they sit. Objectives Most of the time, drone operators are trying to kill someone specific. What does an objective look like? This timeline was for a man named Bilal el-Berjawi. After calling his wife, who had just given birth in a London hospital, Berjawi was killed by an American drone strike. This was his car. Jackpot Note the “%” column. Touchdown Baseball card Blink Footprint Drones are not magic. 1.
« Drone Papers » : dix révélations sur le programme américain d’assassinats ciblés Le site d’investigation The Intercept a publié jeudi un très long dossier sur le programme d’assassinats ciblés de l’armée américaine et de la CIA. Le Monde.fr | • Mis à jour le | Par Damien Leloup Des milliers de tirs de missiles et de morts, sur une demi-douzaine de théâtres d’opération… Le programme d’assassinats ciblés mené par les Etats-Unis en Afghanistan ou au Yémen, dans le cadre de sa lutte contre le terrorisme, est vaste — et très secret. L’enquête du site The Intercept, « The Drone Papers », lève le voile sur de nombreux aspects inconnus de ce programme, et confirme des informations déjà connues, à l’heure où la France commence elle aussi à procéder à des frappes ciblées en Syrie avec l’aide des services de renseignements américains. Lire notre enquête : Syrie : Salim Benghalem, la cible des frappes françaises à Rakka 1) Jusqu’à neuf personnes tuées sur dix n’étaient pas visées 2) L’ordre de tuer est validé par le président des Etats-Unis
The Sound of Terror: Phenomenology of a Drone Strike “The drones were terrifying. From the ground, it is impossible to determine who or what they are tracking as they circle overhead. The buzz of a distant propeller is a constant reminder of imminent death." This account of what a drone feels and sounds like from the ground comes from David Rohde, a journalist who was kidnapped and held by the Taliban for seven months in 2008. Yet this kind of report rarely registers in debates in the United States over the use of drones. But the terms of this debate give a one-sided view of both the larger financial and political costs of drones, as well as the less than lethal but nonetheless chronic and intense harm continuous strikes wage on communities. Contemporary drones introduce an unparalleled capacity to see and survey. In addition to their military prowess, the remote operation of drones from control centers thousands of miles away has made them legendary, the stuff of science fiction. What the Camera Can See What The Camera Can’t See
levaux.pdf Tomas van Houtryve: A Sky Full of Cameras For the past 15 years I’ve worked as a professional photojournalist, inspired by the camera’s ability to connect human beings, document news, and capture beauty. But there is a darker side to how photography is used in our world today. Cameras are increasingly deployed for surveillance, spying, or targeting. I often wonder whether these uses have already eclipsed traditional ones, such as portraiture and fine art. Nothing symbolizes this trend better than the rise of drones, robotic aircraft pioneered by the military which rely on their cameras to link remote operators to their targets. Last year, I started to explore photography’s dark side, hoping to engage in the debate about how imaging technology is changing the nature of personal privacy, surveillance, and contemporary warfare. I started by buying my own consumer drone, and I was surprised by how easy it was to acquire. “The December 12 attack killed 12 men and wounded at least 15 other people, including the bride.”
█ DRONE-2000 █ “Un drone, ça ne fait pas de prisonniers”, Grégoire Chamayou, chercheur au CNRS Avec les drones, on peut tuer sans être tué. Ces engins bouleversent les règles de la guerre, nous explique le philosophe Grégoire Chamayou. Les travaux de Grégoire Chamayou, chercheur au CNRS, croisent histoire des techniques et histoire des rationalités politiques. Il vient de publier Théorie du drone (éd. La Fabrique), un essai passionnant qui interroge les implications éthiques, juridiques et politiques de cette technologie militaire. A quel type de drones vous êtes-vous intéressé ? Emblème de la « guerre sans risque », le drone fait éclater toute réciprocité : avec lui, on peut voir sans être vu, et surtout tuer sans être tué. “On ne combat plus l'ennemi, on le tire comme un lapin.” Le drone redéfinit-il le droit de la guerre ? Autre principe du droit : on ne peut cibler directement que des combattants. On ne combat plus l'ennemi, on le tire comme un lapin. Quelle vision de la morale et de la vie les drones reflètent-ils ? Le drone, c'est l'arme d'Obama.
Les drones, ou l'armée de l'air sans pilotes En Afghanistan, au Yémen et au Mali, les drones ont fait la preuve de leur utilité. Bien moins chers que les avions de combat, ils égaleront probablement un jour leurs performances. Et de cinq ! Une preuve de plus, s'il en était besoin, du rôle irremplaçable des drones dans les guerres modernes. Le débat sur la «moralité» des tirs de drones se poursuit En effet, ces engins peuvent s'approcher de l'ennemi sans risquer la vie du pilote. Pour ces raisons, les Français se sont jusqu'ici refusés à armer leurs Reaper. L’emploi des drones pose aussi la question de la dépendance de la France et de l'Europe vis-à-vis des industriels américains et israéliens, qui dominent ce marché. D'où un énorme retard qu'il faut tenter de combler, en définissant des priorités sur un marché divisé en segments plus ou moins encombrés. Le X-37B américain a volé dans l'espace durant 22 mois Quant aux drones tactiques, à l'autonomie et à la portée moindres, ils font l'objet d'une vraie foire d'empoigne en Europe.
Mapping out the drone market ecosystem After looking into both the VR and IoT space, I wanted to dig in and understand the drone ecosystem and how all of the various players fit together. Some caveats before we dive into the analysis. This ecosystem map is not designed to be 100% comprehensive. Observations Drones are hard to categorize. Company observations Commercial If you are thinking about starting or going into the commercial drone market, I would pay attention to all of the various sub industries within the commercial market. Consumer From various estimates I have read it looks like DJI has between a 60% and 70% drone marketshare within the consumer space. Marketplace Skycatch went from a development kit, to adding data capturing, and is now moving into and “aerial maps on demand” marketplace. Insurance/Education Very interesting to see the big players in insurance — AIG and StateFarm — trying out drone insurance. OS/Deploy Systems/Data DroneDeploy is an operation system for deploying and controlling drones programmatically.
Germany is the Tell-Tale Heart of America's Drone War This is a joint investigation with the German news magazine Der Spiegel. A TOP-SECRET U.S. intelligence document obtained by The Intercept confirms that the sprawling U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany serves as the high-tech heart of America’s drone program. Ramstein is the site of a satellite relay station that enables drone operators in the American Southwest to communicate with their remote aircraft in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and other targeted countries. The top-secret slide deck, dated July 2012, provides the most detailed blueprint seen to date of the technical architecture used to conduct strikes with Predator and Reaper drones. Amid fierce European criticism of America’s targeted killing program, U.S. and German government officials have long downplayed Ramstein’s role in lethal U.S. drone operations and have issued carefully phrased evasions when confronted with direct questions about the base. In a 2010 budget request for the Ramstein satellite station, the U.S. Lt.