Drones

Crowds of people fill an airport terminal.

Thousands stuck as London Gatwick grounds flights after spotting drones

The airport, expected to handle some 115,000 passengers, grounded flights after ‘industrial’ drones were spotted.

Subsistence hunter Dennis Davis sends his drone out over the ice on the Chukchi Sea in Shishmaref in far-western Alaska. Warming winters have made the sea ice here more dangerous to navigate in search of seals and walruses, but drones can help map the bes

Subsistence hunters adapt to a warming Alaska with new tools

Jobs
A crew chief completes a post flight inspection of a Predator drone on Sept. 15, 2004 at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

How drones and robotics may shape the future of conflict under President Trump

Conflict
Langley Air Force Base

Who should be in charge of America’s drone program?

Conflict
Kenya

Kenya basically bans all drone use — despite potential benefits they may yield

Global Politics
Taped-Nose Drone

Efforts to deploy drones for humanitarian purposes are hampered by public fears

Conflict

Drones may be best known for their surveillance and military capabilities, but there’s a growing movement to use them for humanitarian aid. Inventor Mark Jacobsen is building drones to deliver humanitarian aid to Syrians stuck inside their war-torn country. But as he’s learning, bureaucracy — combined with public fears about the use of drones — has hamstrung efforts to get that aid anywhere near the Syrian border.

Drone Controller

North Korea puts its DMZ-crossing drone fleet on display

Conflict

During a recent military celebration in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, goose-stepping soldiers, tanks, and allegedly nuclear-tipped missiles were paraded past the cheering throngs. Also on display? The reclusive nation’s fleet of military drones. And some of those drones have already crossed the border, posing a threat to both South Korea and the United States, which has 28,000 soldiers stationed near the demilitarized zone.

Celeste Oliva starred in The Nora Theatre Company's production of "Grounded."

A playwright turns drones into drama

Arts

George Brant’s play, “Grounded,” asks what it’s like for a mother to pilot a military drone — and what it means to societies when continual surveillance becomes the norm.

The drone operator.

You fly over foreign lands, maybe kill people, then drive home for dinner

Conflict

“Taylor” trained as a drone sensor operator for six months, learning how to blow up things — and people — across the world with million-dollar equipment. But even though she got to go home every night, a decade of long-distance war has still taken its toll.

People gather at the site of a drone strike on the road between Yafe and Radfan districts of the southern Yemeni province of Lahj on August 11, 2013.

Six months later, no one knows exactly who died in an American drone strike in Yemen

Conflict

On December 12, 2013, a drone strike killed a group of twelve men in Yemen. But beyond the number of the dead — and the compensation paid to the victims’ families — almost everything else about the attack remains murky.On December 12, 2013, a drone strike killed a group of twelve men in Yemen. But beyond the number of the dead — and the compensation paid to the victims’ families — almost everything else about the attack remains murky.