ABSTRACT

It is a truism that technology has an impact on the way military conflicts are conducted and that technological advantages often lead to military superiority. However, in the current technology-rich environment, with—as sci-fi novelist William Gibson once (allegedly) said—the future is already present, but just not yet evenly distributed. Technology is commonly perceived as one of the most powerful guarantor of maintaining an advantage over potential enemies, but it also means that in this technological arms race states and societies have to move fast if they do not want to be left behind. Among technologies most intensively developed currently, and assessed as the most promising in securing a privileged position on the battlefields and in the global or regional balance of power, are unmanned robotized devices, including aerial vehicles or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). However, although the employment of such machines in military operations has a relatively short history, they have already become as controversial in the eyes of the public opinion (all over the world) as they are promising for military strategists and defense industry engineers.