Dear Reader,
This year, the Center for the Study of the Drone has continued to shape the conversation around unmanned systems technology. We have uncovered new fronts of military drone proliferation in places like Egypt and China. Our publications have educated stakeholders about a range of emerging technologies, from loitering munitions to delivery drones. And we have informed national policy discussions around commercial drone regulations, emerging unmanned threats, and the use of drones for law enforcement, among many other topics. The coming year will see significant disruptions that will shake both the civilian and military drone spheres, and we’re looking forward to once again rising to the challenge.
This work, along with our Weekly Roundup, is provided to the public free of charge thanks to the charitable contributions of stakeholders like you. As we near the year’s end, please consider making an online tax-deductible gift to the Center for the Study of the Drone. Your support will help ensure that we continue to provide essential, independent, and fact-based research about this critical technology for many years to come.
Thank you for your support, and best wishes for the coming year.
– CSD Team
“Center for the Study of the Drone” – We must emphasize the use and meaning of the word “drone” in the name “Center for the Study of the Drone”. Skynex is in the process of writing a publication on drones. Aside from the narrow definitional issues surrounding the term “drone”, one of our main criticism towards the popular understanding and meaning of the word “drone” is an overemphasis, shaped by the media, Hollywood, and popular culture more generally, on drones as being tools of the military and intelligence. This last post by the CSD is a perfect example of how discussions surrounding drones tend to veer on military and intelligence matters (“[…] new fronts of military drone proliferation […]”. We feel like military and defence are only a fraction of what the meaning of drone should reflect. Worded differently, the different types of drones that exist, and the number of applications for which they can be deployed, whether it be for personal, commercial, or industrial purposes, is incredibly diverse, and is only likely to grow as we move forward into the future. We feel like discussions on “drones” should encompass the broader meaning of the term, or be narrowed by a qualifier, for instance “military drones”.