Drones and Arms Control

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or the unmanned aircraft, commonly called ‘drones’, have emerged as the new face of a technologically oriented warfare today. They provide the state with the technological capabilities to strike with utmost accuracy without the risk of endangering human lives of the armed forces. Today, drones have become the strategic weapons of choice for most of the states, including India. However, as the military technologies keep advancing and proliferation methods become more sophisticated (the case of UAVs illustrates this point), there is a challenge to the effectiveness of the existing arms control and export control regimes, like the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement, the Arms Trade Treaty. Indeed, one would wonder if the current international control measures are enough to prevent the proliferation of drones. This article aims to investigate some of these issues and answer whether proliferation of drones challenge the existing arms control regimes, and if so, how states should establish or modify the drones/arms control regimes to limit the proliferation of drones without endangering national security.