Drones transformed from surveillance eyes into weapons almost by chance.

Evidence

This work will focus on the case of armed flying drones, the ones that are known as “hunter-killers” and used in the attacks regularly reported by the press. Their history is that of an eye turned into a weapon. “We’ve moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom,” said a U.S. Air Force general, “to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper”—a name that “captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system.” The best definition of drones is probably the following: “flying, high-resolution video cameras armed with missiles.” — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 108 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

While warfare is defined, in the last analysis, by combat, hunting is essentially defined by pursuit. Two distinct types of geography correspond to the two activities. Combat bursts out wherever opposing forces clash. Hunting, on the other hand, takes place wherever the prey goes. As a hunter-state sees it, armed violence is no longer defined within the boundaries of a demarcated zone but simply by the presence of an enemy-prey who, so to speak, carries with it its own little mobile zone of hostility. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 230 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The drone’s core formula was removing the pilot except his eye; Antiwar scientists predicted armed drones in 1973, decades before actual deployment; Drones evolved from surveillance eyes into lethal hunter-killer weapons. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 108 (+4 more)

Related

• Drones evolved from surveillance eyes into lethal hunter-killer weapons. (similarity 0.97)
• Drone war’s core task shifted from destroying enemies to finding and tracking them (similarity 0.92)
• Drones transform war from combat-defined zones into pursuit-defined hunting grounds. (similarity 0.90)
• Armed drones make killing a priori one-directional, converting combat into slaughter. (similarity 0.88)
• Drones add the remote control’s range to the weapon’s range. (similarity 0.88)
• Drone warfare replaces combat’s duel with a hunter-prey hide-and-seek structure (similarity 0.87)
• Drones multiplied ballistic reach by adding remote-control distance to weapon range (similarity 0.87)
• Drone surveillance transforms the panopticon from a punishing to an annihilating gaze. (similarity 0.86)
• Drones resolve the guerrilla problem by depriving insurgents of any target to attack. (similarity 0.86)
• The Afghanistan war instantly validated drones as central to future US military strategy. (similarity 0.85)
• Eliminating reciprocal exposure to violence makes drones look like cowardly weapons. (similarity 0.85)
• Drone war turns strategic evaluation into disconnected body counts. (similarity 0.84)
• Present-day drones combine remote control and autonomous piloting. (similarity 0.83)
• Drone warfare pits unburdened machines against bodies bound by physical limits. (similarity 0.83)
• Armed drones reshape sovereignty over a state’s own subjects, not just enemies (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Drones evolved from surveillance eyes into lethal hunter-killer weapons. #corroborates (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 108
• Drone surveillance transforms the panopticon from a punishing to an annihilating gaze. #expands (0.45)
• Drones transform war from combat-defined zones into pursuit-defined hunting grounds. #expands (0.40) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 230
• Armed drones make killing a priori one-directional, converting combat into slaughter. #expands (0.40) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 111
• Drone-weaponized remote control radicalizes war into one-sided killing from safe zones #expands (0.40)