What has been the most significant development in the history of weaponry?
Dealing deadly blows from a safe distance has long been the aim of fighters throughout history. From arrows made of jet-black obsidian and lethal stone-tipped spears, through to modern jet bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the ambition to kill from distance has disturbingly captivated humanity’s ingenuity and unbounded creativity. Yet, there is one weapon that strikes at the heart of this human desire to distance oneself from the visceral heat of battle, from face-to face fighting, and from the very act of killing itself: the military drone.
Modern armed military drones, like the infamous Predator or Reaper, are remotely piloted aerial weapons that can strike an enemy target, while a team of operators sits thousands of miles away, safe from hostile fire. Surprisingly, however, the first drones were invented more than a century ago. The idea to create an ‘unmanned aerial torpedo’ emerged out of the bloody battlefields of the First World War.
The motivation, American in origin, was to create a machine that would allow the US military to avoid sending its youngest, best and brightest to die in muddy trenches. Instead, American airpower thinkers wanted to go ‘over not through’ the enemy by creating both manned and unmanned airborne systems that could deal death from above.
The first ‘drone’, known as the Kettering Bug, was tested towards the end of the 1914–18 war, but did not see active service. Nevertheless, over the next century, drones would rise up to become the modern spearhead of American warfare that we see today.
Dr James Rogers, historian, writer and broadcaster. He presents the Untold History series on Dan Snow’s History Hit TV