Drone warfare is the use of military robots and unmanned systems in warfare. The unmanned systems may be remote controlled by a pilot or have varying levels of autonomy during their mission. Types of unmanned systems and platforms include unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned surface vehicles (USV) or unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). SUAVs and MAVs are man-portable UAVs and can be deployed for low-altitude, short-range support operations. Autonomous drones such as autonomous aircraft and LAWS utilize artificial intelligence or pre-programmed algorithms. As of 2019, the following nations have been identified as having operational UCAVs: China, France, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.
Drones are an expendable force multiplier that may supplement–or reduce the necessity for–live personnel during operations. Military applications of drones range from reconnaissance tasks, kamikaze missions, logistical support, bomb disposal, training and medical evacuation to electronic warfare, anti-air, anti-armor, and anti-personnel roles. However drones are typically tasked with intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, facilitating direct attacks on targets as part of a kill chain or through manned-unmanned teaming. Aerial drone attacks can be conducted via purpose-built UCAVs that launch ordnance during a drone strike, by loitering munitions and one-way attack drones laden with a warhead that explodes on impact, or by civilian UAVs weaponized to deploy munitions or crash into a target. Larger drones can serve a "mothership" role by deploying sub-drones or by providing electronic warfare capabilities such as radio relay. Heavy-lift drones may be used to airlift supplies or evacuate wounded personnel across a battlefield. Multiple drones can operate and attack simultaneously in a drone swarm.
The early years of the 21st century saw most drone strikes being conducted by the US military using air-to-surface missiles against ground targets within countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen during the war on terror. Drone warfare evolved and proliferated quickly in the 2010s and 2020s, with countries such as Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Israel, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine utilizing drones with increased ubiquity. Militant groups, such as the Islamic State and the Houthis, and organized crime groups such as Mexican cartels likewise have used drones for attacks against adversaries and for logistical purposes.
The Russo-Ukrainian war is "widely recognised as the world's first drone war" due to the large scale and high intensity of drone attacks, and the role of this experience in evolving the tactics of modern conventional warfare. Both armies have used a multitude of UAVs, including long-range fixed-wing drones and short range multirotor FPV drones. Ukraine became the first country to create a military branch exclusively dedicated to drone warfare—the Unmanned Systems Forces—in June 2024, with Russia following soon with its own Unmanned Systems Forces in November 2025. The Russo-Ukrainian war demonstrated how drones have disrupted traditional military doctrines in a manner similar to how gunpowder revolutionized warfare, making them a "decisive" factor in all future conflicts.
Commercial UCAVs
A commercial UCAV is any commercially-produced UAV that is modified aftermarket to carry 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. These weaponized civilian drones may proceed to fire munition or a missile, drop explosives and crash into or detonate above vulnerable targets. Payloads could include explosives such as hand grenades, mortar shells and IEDs or other dangerous materials such as shrapnel, chemical, radiological or biological hazards. These relatively cheap drones are also used for non-attack roles. For example, multirotor FPV drones have been used extensively by both armies for aerial reconnaissance and artillery spotting in the Russo-Ukraine War.
Anti-UAV systems are being developed by states to counter the threat posed by commercial UCAVs. 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." This problem has split modern counter-UAS (C-UAS) development into two primary vectors: kinetic interception and electronic warfare (EW) suppression. Kinetic solutions, which include automated laser systems, specialized net-interceptors, and rapid-fire munitions, offer definitive physical neutralization but often suffer from poor cost-to-damage ratios against low-cost commercial hardware. Conversely, non-kinetic electronic countermeasures focus on jamming global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and severing radio frequency control links to trigger automated emergency landing sequences.
Americas United States
During the 1991 Gulf War, the United States Army operated a UAV Platoon from Fort Huachuca to conduct flight surveillance and target acquisition missions, particularly utilizing the RQ-2 Pioneer. During Operation Desert Storm, the U.S. Air Force launched a wave of BQM-74C target drones to saturate the air space above Baghdad and overwhelm the city's integrated air defense system. The drones served as decoys to bait Iraqi air defenses into activating their tracking radars, allowing Wild Weasel units to attack the exposed radar installations.
Estimates for the total number of people killed in U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan range from 2,000 to 3,500 militants killed and 158 to 965 civilians killed. 81 insurgent leaders in Pakistan have been killed. Drone strikes in Yemen are estimated to have killed 846–1,758 militants and 116–225 civilians. 57 Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders are confirmed to have been killed.
In August 2018, Al Jazeera reported that a Saudi Arabian-led coalition combating Houthi rebels in Yemen had secured secret deals with al-Qaeda in Yemen and recruited hundreds of that 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."
Under Biden, drone strikes reportedly decreased. A Biden administration drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan in August 2021 killed 10 civilians, including seven children. Later, a drone strike killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In 2021, the U.S. Navy's Naval Forces Central Command established Task Force 59 to further integrate armed and unarmed drones and artificial intelligence into maritime operations, particularly in the Fifth Fleet's area of operations. Task Force 59 helped expand the navy's procurement and deployment of unmanned surface vessels, such as the Saildrone Explorer and the T38 Devil Ray.
By mid-2025, reports emerged that the U.S. military was lagging behind in evolving its drone warfare capabilities, particularly its production and deployment of first-person view UAVs akin to those seen during the Russo-Ukrainian war. A July 2025 memo by defense secretary Pete Hegseth urged military leadership to accelerate the adoption of drones among troops. In September 2025 the U.S. envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, stated Ukraine had overtaken the U.S. in drone technology amid the Russo-Ukrainian war, as battlefield experience prompted continuous innovation in drones. Defense industry executive Steve Siomi, the president of robotics defense company Allen Control Systems, said China had overtaken the U.S. in responding to drone proliferation and argued that drone adoption made warfare more affordable for all combatants, including America's rivals.
In July 2025, the U.S. military revealed the LUCAS one-way attack drone which was promoted as a low-cost counter to enemy drone warfare, costing $35,000 per unit. LUCAS utilizes technology reverse engineered from Iran's HESA Shahed 136. During the 2026 Iran War, the U.S. Navy deployed the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) drone speedboat and the autonomous Corsair USV, which successfully rescued two pilots after Iranian forces shot down their Apache helicopter. Three Corsair USVs were also used to strike an Iranian sea port in Bandar Abbas, becoming the first-ever combat use of kamikaze sea drones by the U.S. military.
Effects
Scholarly opinions are mixed regarding the efficacy of drone strikes, particularly targeted killings conducted by UCAVs such as MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones. Some studies support that decapitation strikes to kill a terrorist or insurgent group's leadership limits the capabilities of these groups in the future, while other studies contradict this. Drone strikes are successful at suppressing militant behavior, though this response is in anticipation of a drone strike rather than as a result of one. Data from the U.S. and Pakistan's joint counter-terrorism efforts show that militants will cease communication and attack planning to avoid detection and targeting.
Proponents of UCAV drone strikes assert that such strikes are largely effective in targeting specific combatants. Some scholars argue that drone strikes reduce the amount of civilian casualties and territorial damage when compared to other types of military force like large bombs. Military alternatives to drone strikes, such as raids and interrogations, can be extremely risky, time-consuming, and potentially ineffective. However relying on drone strikes does not come without risks, as U.S. drone usage sets an international precedent on extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings.
U.S. UCAVs regularly deploy the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, which has the R-9X variant that utilizes a kinetic warhead with pop-out blades instead of an explosive warhead, greatly reducing collateral damage while targeting specific people.
Brazil During Operation Containment in Brazil, the drug cartel Comando Vermelho used drones and bombs against the police.
Haiti In Haiti, the Viv Ansanm gang coalition has access to a variety of illegal weapons and are capable of deploying drones.
Mexico In Mexico, drug cartel drone operators are called "droneros" who are known to use bomb-dropping drones on enemy targets. The United States has itself used drones to help conduct drug busts against cartel leadership inside Mexico.
Asia Azerbaijan
UCAVs were used extensively by the Azerbaijani Army against the Armenian Army during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. These UCAVs included Israeli IAI Harops and Turkish Bayraktar TB2s. As the Bayraktar TB2 utilizes Canadian optics and laser targeting systems, Canada suspended export of its military drone technology to Turkey in October 2020 after allegations that the technology had been used to collect intelligence and direct artillery and missile fire at military positions. After the incident, Aselsan stated that it would begin the serial production and integration of the CATS system to replace the Canadian MX15B.