Ever heard of drones? Chances are that you have. According to Dictionary.com, a drone is a unmanned aircraft that is either guided by a human operator, or can navigate autonomously. What kind of drone first comes to mind? Does a recreational drone come to mind, or does a military drone carrying a payload come to mind? A lot of people when they hear drones associate them as something that bad and deadly. This is possibly caused by the media giving drones a bad reputation after the military successfully takes out a target with a drone. UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), as the military calls their drones, are a useful tool not only for relatively risk free strikes, but also for scouting. Instead of sending in a unit to scout out a location, the military can fly a drone over the location. Yes they’re often used to destroy a target, but it is often a much safer solution instead of sending in a squad to take out the target.
The word Drone is a very broad word. A more correct definition of drone would be any unmanned vehicle. The word has somewhat evolved though to mean any unmanned flying vehicles. Many people refer to quadcopters as drones, as it fits the description. Many civilians enjoy driving or flying drones recreationally. There are also competitions held for racing quadcopters, which has pushed the development for longer lasting batteries, more powerful motors, lighters and cheaper materials, and design of quadcopters.
Drones are not just military weapons, or recreational toys, they’re also very useful and practical tools. A few years back, the company Amazon announced their plan to ship their products that were under 5 pounds, by drones. An idea back then that sounded impossible, but really could become the future of shiping. Imagine having your package ship into your town. Instead of waiting for the delivery truck to go through it’s route, through traffic, till it gets to your house. With a drone, it could fly straight to your house, avoiding all traffic, and drop off your package.
One example of current day use of drones is for search and rescue. During natural disasters, cities can be turned into as pile of rubble, trapping people, and making it hard to traverse and rescue these people. Often helicopters were used to fly over the ruins looking for any signs of life. This was commonly a problem though, because it often took a few day, depending on the location, for helicopters to fly in to assist in the search. Now, drones equipped with heat sensing cameras are flown above the ruins like helicopters to search for trapped people. Though not a complete replacement for helicopters, it’s another tool that is a lot cheaper.
To summarize, drones are not just a deadly weapon that could be a threat to us. They are used strategically by the military instead of risking soldiers’ lives, are also used recreationally and flown for fun or for sport, and used as a tool for saving people’s lives.
I think the term "drone" has been synonymous with "military drone" which isn't a good thing when you consider all the drones that aren't used for military purposes. The ethics of military drone strikes can still be debated, but the public should not be afraid of the word "drone"
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