Position Paper

Committee: DISEC
Country: USA
Topic: The Relevance and Threat of UAVS in International Security and
Armed Conflicts
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft without a human pilot on board and is
commonly referred to as a ‘drone’, but also as a remotely piloted vehicle, remotely
piloted aircraft, or in the case of UAVs with specific combat roles, as an unmanned
aerial combat vehicle. UAVs are cost effective and safer to use due to their ability to
differentiate between civilians and combatants, their ability to attack targets that are
difficult to reach by land, and the possibility of achieving a long range and acceptable
accuracy with relatively inexpensive and increasingly available technology. In areas of
extreme isolation, UAVs can also be used to carry food, medicine and communication
devices for the cause of relief.
As of January 2014, the U.S. military operates a large number of unmanned aerial
systems (UAVs or Unmanned Air Vehicles) 7,362 RQ-11 Ravens; 990 AeroVironment
Wasp IIIs; 1,137 AeroVironment RQ-20 Pumas; and 306 RQ-16 T-Hawk small UAS
systems and 246 Predators and MQ-1C Grey Eagles; 126 MQ-9 Reapers; 491 RQ-7
Shadows; and 33 RQ-4 Global Hawk large systems. Rapid advances in technology are
enabling more and more capability to be placed on smaller airframes, which is spurring
a large increase in the number of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) being
deployed on the battlefield. As the capabilities grow for all types of UAS, nations
continue to subsidize their research and development, leading to further advances and
enabling them to perform a multitude of missions. UAS no longer only perform
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, although this still remains their
predominant type. Their roles have expanded to areas including electronic attack, drone
strikes, suppression or destruction of enemy air defense, network node or
communications relay, combat search and rescue, and derivations of these themes.
These UAS range in cost from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars, with
aircraft ranging from less than one pound to over 40,000 pounds.
US believes that there should be regulations to some extent over the export, use, trade
and transport of UAVs so that these weapons do not fall into the wrong hands. USA has
been a manufacturer of UAVs and has had regulations on the sale and export of UAVs.
Furthermore, there should be an internationally binding framework that specifies laws
regarding the use of drones in conflict zones. USA believes that UAVs should be made
entirely legal and states should have national laws regarding their use of UAVs which
should be implemented by the states.