Since its inception, the United States Drone Program has protected the lives of countless US soldiers. Whether preventing high risk mission from occurring by allowing for an alternative to providing close air support in military engagements throughout Afghanistan and Iraq, the US drone program has been a force multiplier and a life saver. The mainstream media usually covers the drone program with respect to the loss of local civilian life- in the next series of articles I will try to tackle the positive aspects of the US drone program rarely mentioned.

“I think the use of drones is a good thing. They have added a dimension of capability to the United States that other nations don’t have. They also have the advantage of putting fewer American lives at risk.”- Donald Rumsfeld

Whether you share former Secretary Rumsfeld opinion or have a deep disdain for the way he led the Defense Department one aspect about Mr. Rumsfeld is true- wanted to lessen the risk of the common US solider. Under his tenure the US Drone program was rolled out beginning what would be current setting of today. Drone strikes are conducted on a monthly basis from Pakistan to Afghanistan: from Yemen to Syria; to bolster the strength of our allies in Iraq. All of these strikes serve three purposes. The first is to project power without projecting a standing force. The second is to limit the exposure of US military personnel in difficult to reach locations. The third is to achieve military goals traditionally associated with an infantry incursion, which would include infantry, artillery and air power. Amazingly, goals can be met without needing to expose troops to added risk by transferring high risk missions into the realm of US drone program missions.

Drones also provide a unique capability of providing real time intelligence concerning enemy troop movements without exposing forward observers. All throughout military history, that goes for the United States and other countries, if you wanted to know where your enemy was moving troops you would need to be deployed to achieve that end. Even with the development of satellites,  images can be inconclusive or worse provide inaccurate detail, forcing the military to still deploy troops with the aim of confirming the satellite image. This is no longer necessary thanks to the US drone program. Images can be gathered closer than ever before, through a multitude of imaging systems, allowing for those at base command to have a solid understanding of enemy troop movements without needing to deploy their men to shadow the enemy force. This “added dimension” has been of great use to the US military in terrorist hot zones like the Waziristan province of Pakistan. Twenty years ago, instead of using drones with the permission of the Pakistani government (their airspace), soldiers would have been needed to gather that intelligence. No matter what the force, no matter how well trained, no matter how well equipped asking 10 to 20 soldiers to conduct intelligence gathering 100 miles within unfriendly territory would be asking them to undertake a high risk mission with little success.