The bomber advanced. Holding the explosive aloft, offering the target no avenue of escape.
It detonated, destroying the cornered man in a flash. The bomber survived.
The bomber’s name? It’s a mouthful – Remotec Andros Mark V-A1; the drone that took out Micah Xavier Johnson, the Dallas shooter who had gone on a rampage, killing five police officers and wounding seven before he was executed by the robot.
And just like that, an important line was crossed.
The first line in the use of drones to deliver lethal force was crossed on 7 October 2001, when an unmanned US drone was used to carry out a targeted killing (albeit missing its intended target and killing others) in Afghanistan.
The second on 30 September 2011, when an unmanned drone was used to kill a US citizen – Anwar al-Awlaki – in Yemen, without a trial.
And the third on 8 July 2016, when Remotec Andros Mark V-A1 was used to execute a US citizen on American soil, without a trial.
But what’s that got to do with us here?
On 14 July – amidst the unrest over the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani – Jammu and Kashmir police conducted a test flight of a drone in Lal Chowk to be used for surveillance in the area, which went largely unreported by mainstream media. Drones have been used in agriculture for mapping and surveying in India already, but it seems state police forces too have been dabbling in drone technology of late.
A high-level source familiar with the drone industry revealed on condition of anonymity that police forces in a number of states – Delhi, Rajasthan, Bangalore, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, to name a few – either already have operational fleets of drones, or are in the process of acquiring them. UP, it was revealed, already has an operational drone fleet, while Bengaluru and Delhi are looking at hiring drones on an ad hoc basis, even contracting companies to provide pilots and training to police officers to operate them. The Maharashtra government is currently looking at deploying drones too. In a first, the Uttarakhand State Forest Department even recently deployed a drone to track down a man-eating leopard.
At the moment, states seem to just be interested in using drones for activities such as traffic control, crowd surveillance and identifying possible threats. They have been used in J&K to monitor the position of militants during operations, and the Maharashtra government is looking to clear traffic snarls more easily with aerial surveillance. Police are most interested in features like:
- Increased flight time
- Night vision
- Zoom capability
- High-resolution images
Drones purchased/ordered by police forces have ranged from as small as 20 cm wingspan, with payloads of 3 kilos, to wingspans of 6 feet, with payloads of up to 10 kilos.
What’s the Outlook for Drones?
It has been reported that top American drone manufacturers are already lining up to open offices in New Delhi by year’s end. While they are largely looking to sell to the Indian Navy in maritime surveillance operations, it’s not a stretch to assume that this will open up the commercial drone market to state governments and police forces to a much greater extent.
The national security machinery is also preparing for the large-scale use of drones. Aakash Gulati, CEO of Aerodrift – a drone services company – affirmed that his company had provided drones to the National Security Guard (NSG) to offer training and simulations to its officers, just in case the call comes in from the government to operationalise drones.
We have provided drones to the NSG, and training simulation kits. [...] They wanted to be ready in case such technology is allotted by the government to them. They wanted their employees to be ready to operate the drones, so we provided training for that.Aakash Gulati, CEO, Aerodrift
A Worrying Precedent?
The stated aim for police forces using drones is for conducting surveillance operations, particularly in crowds, to identify suspects or troublemakers, and in traffic, to better coordinate around accidents and jams.
Where does the payload come in?
Mr Gulati says the the payload could be anything from emergency relief materials, such as water drops to quell fires, to high-end cameras that can easily weigh up to 10 kilos.
Considering the payload for some of the drones being looked at by police forces can be 10 kilos – and that the C-4 explosives used by the Dallas robot weighed just 0.5 kilos – it’s easy to imagine these drones being put to similar uses, particularly when the lives of police personnel are in danger. True, Indian police do not use C4, however the drone that killed the Dallas shooter was never meant to deliver lethal C4 either; it was rigged in the heat of the moment and used in a way it was never intended to be used, to counter a sudden and immediate threat.
Drone use by police forces could have some serious implications for people living in areas of the country where there are regular clashes between police and civilians – Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, and the tribal areas come to mind. In areas where police personnel frequently find their safety and sometimes their lives at risk during daily operations, it is not hard to imagine them rigging a drone in much the same way that Dallas police did, in order to limit risk to themselves.
In a country where the police have often played fast and loose with the law and with civilian lives, and in a country where accountability for police is something of a joke, it’s not too difficult to visualise scenarios where dangerous lines are crossed.
Are we prepared to deal with that contingency?
(Sources: PTI, IANS, Times of India)
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