A drone strike is an attack by one or more unmanned combat aerial vehicles or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles. For unmanned combat aerial vehicles, an attack usually involves firing a missile or releasing a bomb at a target. The drone may be equipped with such weapons as guided bombs, cluster bombs, incendiary devices, air-to-surface missiles, air-to-air missiles, anti-tank guided missiles or other types of precision-guided munitions, autocannons and machine guns. Since the turn of the century, most drone strikes have been carried out by the US military in such countries as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Yemen using air-to-surface missiles. Drones strikes are used for targeted killings by several countries. Only the United States, Israel, China, Iran, Italy, India, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Poland are known to have manufactured operational UCAV as of 2019. Drone attacks can be done by weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, such as being loaded with dangerous payloads, and crashed into vulnerable targets or detonated above them. They can also drop hand grenades or other munitions. Payloads could include explosives, shrapnel, chemical, radiological or biological hazards. Multiple drones may attack simultaneously in a so-called "drone swarm attack". Anti-UAV systems are being developed by states to counter the threat of drone strikes. This is, however, proving difficult. According to James Rogers, an academic who studies drone warfare, "There is a big debate out there at the moment about what the best way is to counter these small UAVs, whether they are used by hobbyists causing a bit of a nuisance or in a more sinister manner by a terrorist actor."
Drone strikes by the United States
In 1991, both AAI RQ-2 Pioneer and AeroVironment FQM-151 Pointer drones were used for surveillance during the Gulf War. In 1993, General Atomics GNAT UAVs were tested for surveillance in the Yugoslav Wars. In 2001–2002, General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drones were equipped with missiles to strike enemy targets. However, Ben Emmerson, special investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Council, said that U.S. drone strikes may have violated international humanitarian law. The Intercept reported, "Between January 2012 and February 2013, U.S. special operations airstrikes killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets. During one five-month period of the operation, according to the documents, nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets." In the United States drone strikes are used to lessen the number of casualties since there is no one that has to physically fight in combat. Being able to send drones to fight reduces the number of American lives lost substantially. The U.S had increased the use of drone strikes significantly during Obama's presidency compared to Bush's.With the help from joint defense facility at Pine Gap, which locates targets by intercepting radio signals, the U.S. is double-tap drone striking. In August 2018, Al Jazeera reported that a Saudi Arabian-led coalition "battling Houthi rebels secured secret deals with al-Qaeda in Yemen and recruited hundreds of the group's fighters.... Key figures in the deal-making said the United States was aware of the arrangements and held off on drone attacks against the armed group, which was created by Osama bin Laden in 1988."
Small drones and quadcopters have been used for strikes by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. A group of twelve or more have been piloted by specially trained pilots to drop munitions onto enemy forces. They have been able to evade ground defense forces. During the battle for Mosul, the Islamic State was able to kill or wound dozens of Iraqi soldiers by dropping light explosives or 40-millimeter grenades from numerous drones attacking at the same time. FBI Director Christopher Wray stated at a Senate hearing that "We do know that terrorist organizations have an interest in using drones... We have seen that overseas already with some frequency. I think that the expectation is that it is coming here, imminently."
