Before developing the argument of the book, this chapter gives an overview of the contexts where combat drones have been deployed as a basis for the study. The description of the contexts in which drone operations have been conducted extraterritorially against non-state actors by the US, the UK, and France follow a chronological sequence, and draw some general common and diverging features of the different legal rationales crafted by these states.

This chapter examines the new architecture of air power enabled by remote warfare. The development of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) such as the Predator and Reaper, combined with global communication networks, manned aircraft, and precision-strike capabilities, created a far-flung kill web that exploited permissive skies to target pernicious threats. Leveraging local surrogates and special operations forces along with increasingly sophisticated sensors and weapons, RPAs rendered high-value terrorists, enemy concentrations, and military infrastructure visible and vulnerable in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Somalia. Persistent surveillance-strike capabilities reduced risk to US and allied forces and fostered rapacious demand for RPAs as contemporary air warfare became increasingly remote, digitized, and precise. As the kill web’s architecture evolved, RPAs became vehicles of political expediency. Yet new questions emerged about the allure and efficacy of remote warfare and air power operations in countries not at war with the United States.