More often than not, drones appear in our headlines for mischievous reasons.
Today, we’re reporting on how drones are being used in Ukraine to give intelligence to soldiers on the ground fighting against the Russians.
It’s not a novel use of drone technology as drones have shown up on battlefields in the past.
What makes this interesting is that we are talking about civilian drones being used to help the Ukrainian military. In fact, using consumer drones is so effective that the Ukrainian military put out an official request for civilian drones according to a Facebook post referenced by the Associated Press.
These drones are being put in the field for surveillance purposes. Actual combat drones, which are much larger, are also involved with the AP reporting that the Ukrainian military is making use of technology from Turkey. There is an interesting wrinkle in all of this, too, as the civilian drone maker DJI has apparently not been clear on what is being done with drone location data in Ukraine. In response to questions about DJI drones on the Ukrainian battlefield, company spokesperson Adam Lisberg relayed that using them in this way. Whatever the case, the situation does draw attention to consumer data usage and end-user rights to a product they’ve purchased, not to mention how difficult it will be for companies to remain “neutral” in situations like this.
The AP interviewed several experts and the general consensus is that, while consumer-grade drones aren’t particularly effective weapons on the battlefield right now, weaponization of them in a protracted war scenario is not out of the question.
You can watch a YouTube video from the AP on the situation here.
Here are some other photography news articles on Light Stalking for you to check out at this link.
