Eight years ago, reporting for the BBC from Mosul, Iraq, I witnessed firsthand the chilling impact of ISIS weaponising hobbyist drones. What was once a technology used globally for positive ends, delivering medicine, supporting conservation, aiding law enforcement, was being turned into a tool of terror.

In Mosul, drones were deployed with lethal precision, targeting terrified civilians sheltering in Iraq’s second-largest city. This not only challenged the principles of international humanitarian law but also disrupted traditional power dynamics on the battlefield, allowing non-state actors to command airspace in ways previously unimaginable.

At the time, Don Rassler at the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point began mapping this shift in drone warfare. Together, we asked: how long before we saw similar trends on the African continent?

Since then, I’ve continued to explore this question through my writing for the Institute for Security Studies, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and my affiliations with the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and SIGLA in South Africa. It has become increasingly clear that in parts of Africa, particularly the Sahel, the Horn, and West Africa, armed groups are using drones for intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance, and propaganda.

Worryingly, these capabilities are evolving. We’re now seeing drones in Africa adapted to carry explosive payloads and loiter over targets, echoing developments in Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, Yemen, and elsewhere, as a new global arms race in drone warfare unfolds.

While I am not a drone technologist, my interest lies in the humanitarian and policy implications of this trend. Drawing from my years reporting from conflict zones and working with generous colleagues across disciplines, I’m honoured to have contributed a chapter to the newly published book Drones in the African Battlespaces.

The book offers insights into the military applications of drones in Africa, explores the geopolitical and strategic context, and examines the future implications of drone warfare on the continent. It comes at a time when international recognition of this emerging threat, particularly within bodies such as the United Nations, remains limited.

I hope this publication sparks interest, dialogue, and a greater demand for research into this urgent issue.

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