Zaenglein 1

Adam Zaenglein
Professor McGriff
ENC 1102
7 November 2016
A Socioeconomic Approach to UAVs
Within the past decade commercially available UAVs have exploded in popularity. These
small remotely controlled aircraft have revolutionized entire industries. This increase in UAV
popularity has ushered in some concern for their safe use and operation of these craft. The
increased availability of consumer UAVs has forced society to consider the impact of drones on
the North American societies well-being and the economy.
Throughout this paper the terms UAV and drone will be used interchangeably. UAV is
considered a common abbreviation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Cusack). U.A.S. is another
term given to drones, it stands for, Unmanned aircraft systems (Quentin).
1. Government and military use of drones creates privacy and safety concerns.
November 2, 1986 six coast guard members died during a service mission in their HH-3F
Pelican helicopter (KTVA CBS 11 News). Had a matured UAV industry been in place this
accident could have likely never happened. UAVs can benefit the government, its agencies and
the military by providing air support without requiring a pilot to be present within the airframe.
Despite the many benefits of UAVs there has been a push against their use from the public. This
pushback is likely caused because law enforcement is currently increasing their UAV fleets and
UAVs can control the public.
Policy advisor Ben Acheson states in his article Military Use Gives Peaceful Drones a Bad
Reputation, Even When Drones Eliminate legitimate targets, their use sparks fervent public

Zaenglein 2

outrage. This means that Acheson believes the public usually disagrees with UAV killing even if
the UAV kills the bad guys. If Achesons statement is correct, then what about killer drones
irritates the public? Henry M. Sayre may have found an answer from the philosopher Thomas
Hobbes, people are driven by two things the fear of death at someone elses hands and the
desire for power (360). The remote killing capabilities of drones provoke the notion that anyone
can be killed at any time without warning from these aircraft.
1.1 Law Enforcement
Law enforcement can often be found using aircraft to monitor and assess critical situations so
that ground units can better understand the nature of the situation. However, this advantage
requires high cost aircraft and specialized crew. With UAVs becoming more cost effective and
available will they be able to replace larger aircraft?
Anna Mulrine, a staff reporter for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, states in Drones
over America: Public Safety Benefit or creepy Privacy Threat, the price tag for a small UAV
is about the cost of a tricked-out new police cruiser at $50,000. Mulrine also stated, Buying a
turbine engine helicopter, however, would cost $25 million. Given such a large price gap
between the purchase of a helicopter and purchasing a UAV it seems to be almost a no-brainer
for law enforcement agencies to purchase UAVs in place of helicopters.
However, here may be a problem stocking UAVs in every law enforcement agencies arsenal.
Dennis Cusack, an author for Forefront wrote this in his article FAA Clears Drones for Takeoff,
drones must be under line-of-sight control. Remain less than 400 feet of the ground, and cannot
fly above people who are not operating them. (6). This means that law enforcement may have a
difficult time using UAVs under many situations. If they lose sight of their aircraft, they will be

Zaenglein 3

in violation of the FAAs rules and may be subject to penalty. If they accidentally fly the craft
above the suspect or civilians, they may be legally liable as well.
Anna Mulrine wrote, The program was being considered for search-and-rescue operations
and some criminal investigations, but was referred to by protesters as flying government robots
watching their every move. This means that the public is not ready for the integration of such a
diverse monitoring tool yet. With the public opposition, it may not be a good idea for law
enforcement to use UAVs despite their unique features. This blatant aggression against the use
of UAVs may prohibit the abilities for law enforcement to save lives. Using UAVs for
investigations may pose a threat to citizens privacy rights.
1.2 Public Control
Since the beginning of human societies there have been dissenters who eventually start
protests, riots, or revolutions. On March 6, Attorney General Eric Holder may have reinforced
such fears.....when he refused to rule out the use of armed drones on US soil in an emergency To
protect the homeland. (Mulrine). UAVs with their increasing utility may likely be weaponized
in the future to control the public.
Whitehead imagines a day when drones equipped with sound cannons (Mulrine). If
UAVs are to be armed with crowd control weapons organized protest could become difficult or
even dangerous. While UAVs are being designed to protect citizens, corrupted governments can
easily use them. This begs the question, Do the benefits of law Enforcement UAVs outweigh the
potential dangers of corrupted operators?
2. Drones May Lead to Increased Terrorism

Zaenglein 4

Terrorism has been a large concern for countries since the so called, War on Terror
began. UAVs carry a diverse set of capabilities that can help militaries fight off terrorism.
However, UAVs may be a double-edged sword as they can provide a cost-effective tool for
terrorist, spy on unsuspecting individuals, create public threats when misused and increase the
support for terrorist organizations.
2.1 Guns and Drones
When people think of drones they usually think of Hobbyist toys that are used for
photography and recreation. However, these small aircraft can easily be armed and used against
large populations remotely. This gives terrorists an edge without spending a lot of money on their
equipment.
Patrick Hruby, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University states in his article
Weaponized Hobby Drones Are Inevitable, Mr. Stanley also noted that defense experts have
warned for years that small, commercially available drones could be used as weapons. This
means that any toy drone could be armed if modified to do so. With officials giving careful
attention to the weaponization of UAVs civilians should mindful of their capabilities. UAVs can
be acquired easily online or at local stores and with some modifications can carry weapons or
explosives. Hruby supports this by stating, Last month, a 27-year-old Massachusetts man was
sentenced to 17 years in prison for plotting to attack the Pentagon and the Capitol with a remotecontrolled model aircraft rigged with explosives.
It cant be cheap to rig such aircraft with new equipment and weapon systems. According
to an interview Hruby gave to a Youtuber named Milo, who built a weaponized drone at home,
The entire project, he said, took no more than a dozen hours and cost less than $2,000.

Zaenglein 5

2.2 Drones Used to Spy

With the accessibility of modern UAVs its no surprised that people are becoming
worried about drone spying. Many modern UAVs are equipped with cameras and can send live
footage back to the users mobile devices. Rachel Janik and Mitchell Armentrout state in their
article Commercial Drones Have Endless Potential, But the anxiety over potential privacy
abuses surfaced when a false rumor surfaced that celebrity gossip site TMZ was applying for a
drone of its own, presumably to get stealthy paparazzi shots of unsuspecting stars.
According to Robert Lambrechts a company has now offered a way for people to shoot
down drones. Snake River Shooting Products and Consulting, Inc. is selling ammunition
specifically for removing Remote Controlled Aerial drones form the sky (Lambrechts). This
product can give consumers some hope that UAVs wont ever fully invade their privacy rights
without being threatened of being shot down.
2.3 Drones Create Public Threats When Misused
While UAVs have the potential to usher in an era of cheap Arial photography or novelty
fun they pose a threat, to everything. UAVs have a very limited capability when it comes to
flight range and battery life. With limited sensor capabilities operators are often left blind to most
of the UAVs surroundings.
In the case of delivery drones this is what James Brumley had to say in Delivery Drones
Are a Bad Idea, Unlike failures in airplanes where the plane at least has a shot at being glided to
safety, a failure on a couple (or more) of the delivery drones eight rotors means a five- pound
package-in addition to the weight of the drone itself becomes a rock falling out of the sky.
This means that drones have little to no chance of safely falling out to the sky. This creates a

Zaenglein 6

major threat to any property or civilians that are on the ground from the operation of everyday
drones. Although this isnt an intentional form of terrorism it may still cause fear for civilians
that live and work under future drone delivery routes.
2.4 Drone Use May Increase Terrorist Activity
While drones protect soldiers by being able to perform missions remotely without a
soldiers presence they may increase the support for terrorist activity. This is a bit of a
contradiction since UAVs used in combat are supposed to suppress terrorism by removing key
targets in criminal organizations.
According to Plaw et al in The Drone Debate, After a drone attack in late 2012 survivors
were furious, Following the attack, the two survivors and relatives of six victims expressed
willingness to support or even fight alongside al-Qaeda. This kind of reaction from U.S. drone
support may actually hurt the American cause in the War on Terror. If the number of terrorist
supporters increases then the danger to U.S. soldiers must inherently increase. This may cause an
increase in conflict tensions resulting in more American loses and suffering.
This leads to the question If drone strikes against U.S. targets increases the number of
potential targets what alternative uses are there for drones in foreign conflicts? Mark Jacobsen
,founder of the Syria Airlift Project, may have a unique answer, It occurred to me that advances
in drone technology might open up a new paradigm: using large numbers of small drones to slip
past air defense systems and deliver small packets of cargo.(27). Jacobsen believes that drones
can relieve victims of war by providing food and supplies when their supply lines have been cut
off. This kind of giving would likely increase foreign support of the U.S. cause and in turn
decrease the overall danger soldiers would have to face from enemies.

Zaenglein 7

3. Increased Production of Drones is Creating New Job Markets

When new technologies are introduced to markets they generally bring a plethora of sub
markets with them. Drones are no exception to this idea. Drones have ushered in a wide variety
of new markets that may change how certain tasks are accomplished.
According to Hardy Quentin in Drones ascend From Novelty to Economic Tool, A
British company BioCarbon Engineering that hopes to plant 1 billion trees a year in deforested
areas by using drones. This new market will not only create jobs for engineers, manufacturers
and drone pilots but will improve the environment. This kind of action would be beneficial to not
only the economic well-being of the United States but will have a positive impact on the
environment. The trees planted may even be later harvested creating jobs for lumberjacks and
carpenters. The carpenters will sell their products to retail stores creating more jobs for sales
associates and stockers. Those products may then be bought by the engineers who first designed
the tree planting drone. This example shows just how many markets can be effected from the use
of UAVs.
3.1 Drone Delivery Could Be Around the Corner
It has been hot news for the past couple of years. Amazon has talked about their grand
plan to eventually have drones deliver their products to customers. The FAA has constantly shot
similar ideas down. With all the regulation surrounding drones it seems like they will never be
able to transport cargo.
While drones may not be able to transport commercial cargo for awhile they can transport
medical supplies. Christa Avampato wrote in her article Delivery Drones Are a Good Idea,
Those affected by drought and famine in the developing world can go months without food,

Zaenglein 8

proper drinking water, and medical items. UAVs can solve this problem by immediately
delivering food and medical supplies within hours of a catastrophic event. This can minimize
damage to lives not only in North America but the world. Future drones may even be able to lifeflight victims to hospitals miles away from a destroyed town within minutes of injury.
3.2 Thousands of Jobs are Being Created
With the recent boom in UAVs thousands of jobs are expected to be made over the next
several years. According to Ben Wolfgang in Drones as economic Engines; Industry report
predicts creation of 70,00 new jobs, UAVs Au will create more than 70,000 jobs over three
years and will pump more than $82 billion into the U.S. economy by 2025. Those numbers
honestly seem high however, they emphasize the fact that UAVs are bringing work with them.
Something to consider is that UAVs are displacing jobs that used to be filled by manned
aircraft. While the UAV market is slowly starting to boom markets that pertain to manned aircraft
will begin to shrink. It may seem like lots of new jobs will be available for new workers but in
reality those jobs will probably be filled by workers who lost their jobs in markets effected by
UAV expansion. Overall this seems to be a case of the Aviation market evolving instead of
expanding. This will allow U.S. markets to compete with European markets that have begun
undercutting U.S. manufacturing by targeting a fresh niche market.
Concluding Thoughts
The boom in UAVs has a lot of potential to benefit the U.S. economy and social
wellbeing. People must consider not only the negative impacts UAVs may have but the positive
ones as well. UAVs may threaten people but with well-placed legislation and enforcement
UAVs will change the way many tasks are performed.

Zaenglein 9

Works Cited
Acheson, Ben. Military Use Gives Peaceful Drones a Bad Reputation. Drones (2016):
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Avampato, Christa. Delivery Drones Are a Good Idea. The Impact of the Tech Giants (2016):
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Benjamin, Medea. The Dangerous Seduction of Drones. Drones (2016):
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Brumley, James. Delivery Drones Are a Bad Idea. The Impact of the Tech Giants (2016):
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Cusack, Dennis M. FAA Clears Drones for Takeoff. Forefront Sep. 2016: 6-7. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Hardy Quentin. Drones Ascend From Novelty to Economic Tool. New York Times (2015):
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Hruby, Patrick. Weaponized Hobby Drones Are Inevitable. Drones (2016): Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Iannotta, Ben. How Drones Are Used to Fight Terrorism Requires Public
Debate. Drones (2014): Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct.
2016.

Zaenglein 10

Jacobsen, Mark. The Promise of Drones. Features. (2016): Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Janik, Rachel, and Mitchell Armentrout. Commercial Drones Have Endless Potential. Drones
(2016): Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
KTVA CBS 11 News. US Coast Guard honors 6-man crew killed in 1986
helicopter crash. KTVA Alaska. 2 Nov. 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
Lambrechts, Robert. The Drone Revolution. The Computer & Internet Lawyer 33 (2016): 1-9
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct. 2016
Mulrine, Anna. Drones Over America: Public Safety Benefit or creepy Privacy Threat?
Domestic Surveillance (2015): Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Plaw Avery, Matthew S. Fricker, Carlos R. Colon. The Drone Debate. New York: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2016. Print.
Prupis, Nadia. Law Enforcement Drones Spur Public Backlash. Drones (2016): Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Sayre, Henry. Discovering the Humanities. New York: Pearson, 2016. Print.
Wolfgang, Ben. Drones as economic engines; Industry report predicts creation of 70,000 new
jobs. The Washington Times (2013): Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Oct.
2016.