You knew this was coming.*
From Deutsche-Welle, April 16:
The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) recently deployed four armed drones carrying locally made grenades in an attack on the Forward Operating Base in the Wajikoro area of Borno, Northeast Nigeria, leaving about five soldiers injured.
Nigeria's military has stepped up efforts to contain ISWAP and Boko Haram insurgents. This week, local media reported that the army had thwarted plans by ISWAP to establish bases in Plateau and Bauchi states.
Using weaponized drones marks a significant shift in the insurgent group's tactics. Residents and critics are worried the new shift could further prolong the conflict in the region. Authorities have since banned the flying of drones, citing security concerns, while acknowledging that non-state actors have used the technology against military targets and Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
Several African countries have adopted the use of drones, particularly the Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle, in their fight against armed groups. The Sahel region is the epicenter of global terrorism and now accounts for over half of all terrorism-related deaths.
ISWAP's use of drones
ISWAP initially used drones to spread propaganda and surveillance. The group reportedly also operates tech tools like satellite internet and even uses artificial intelligence to edit propaganda materials.In 2016, the group broke away from Boko Haram over doctrinal differences and subsequently became an affiliate of the so-calledIslamic State(IS), which gave the group access to resources and technical assistance.
Experts say the proliferation of drone warfare by state actors and its adoption by armed groups means they can enhance their offensive capabilities while minimizing risks to their fighters.
"They (ISWAP) have been using drones as observation drones for some time already," Vincent Foucher, a research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told DW. He explained that the use of armed drones is growing in popularity with the war in Ukraine, adding it has "become a sort of staple of modern conflict."....
2019's - "Omniviolence Is Coming and the World Isn’t Ready"
....The political scientist Daniel Deudney has a word for what can result: “omniviolence.” The ratio of killers to killed, or “K/K ratio,” is falling. For example, computer scientist Stuart Russell has vividly described how a small group of malicious agents might engage in omniviolence: “A very, very small quadcopter, one inch in diameter can carry a one-or two-gram shaped charge,” he says.
“You can order them from a drone manufacturer in China. You can program the code to say: ‘Here are thousands of photographs of the kinds of things I want to target.’ A one-gram shaped charge can punch a hole in nine millimeters of steel, so presumably you can also punch a hole in someone’s head. You can fit about three million of those in a semi-tractor-trailer. You can drive up I-95 with three trucks and have 10 million weapons attacking New York City. They don’t have to be very effective, only 5 or 10% of them have to find the target.” Manufacturers will be producing millions of these drones, available for purchase just as with guns now, Russell points out, “except millions of guns don’t matter unless you have a million soldiers. You need only three guys to write the program and launch.” In this scenario, the K/K ratio could be perhaps 3/1,000,000, assuming a 10-percent accuracy and only a single one-gram shaped charge per drone....
two from 2021:
"Meet the future weapon of mass destruction, the drone swarm"
From The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists....
"Autonomous 'Slaughterbot' Drones Reportedly Attack Libyans Using Facial Recognition Tech"
and 2022's "The US Navy wants swarms of thousands of small drones"
April 2024 -"Ukraine Is the First 'Hackers’ War'”
Coming to a country near you.
The author, "Juan Chulilla, is a cofounder of Red Team Shield S.L., a company dedicated to developing defense solutions against weaponized commercial drones."
