The Origin and Evolution of Military Drone (UAVs) Technology in Warfare Equipment in Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33445/psssj.2025.6.2.3Keywords:
Keywords: UAVs, military drones, Africa, armed conflict, security.Abstract
Abstract
The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could potentially revolutionise how military force is used in the future. While early operational experiences with UAVs show that this operation is promising, its full range of capabilities is largely unknown. Over the years, the application of drones has shifted from traditional methods of application to a much more modern one. Despite this evolution, the process of normalising drones throughout Africa has received little scholarly attention. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the historical origin and the evolution of military drones in the theatre of conflicts in Africa. The results arrived at in this paper have been thanks to a consortium of multinational academic literature embodied with the historical methods of analyses. Besides the conceptual framework of the study, this paper examines the historical origin of military drones, their mapping and evolution in Africa, and their humanitarian impacts as well as their limitations. From our findings, state and non-state actors have been actively involved in the usage of modern military drones in Africa during armed conflicts for the last two decades, and this is in an attempt to have a complete mastery over the conflict map.
Keywords: UAVs, military drones, Africa, armed conflict, security.
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