Drone as a Target of Terrorist Attack and a Weapon Against Terrorism – Analysis in the Light of International Law

Abstract

Unmanned aircraft vehicles (or “UAVs”) have became a symbol of modernity and development of aviation, both in its civil and military sector. Stronger connection of UAVs with air industry means not only many advantages for air travellers and military forces, but also potential involvement in terrorism. Unmanned aircraft serving civil air transport can become target of terrorist attack. On the other hand, such a device can also be used as a handful weapon in fight against terrorism. The aim of hereby article is to study both such aspects of usage of UAVs from legal perspective in order to answer a question whether provisions of international law currently being in force accurately reflect the reality of fight against terrorism. For that purpose, applied is research based on a method of analysis of relevant legal acts (conventions forming Tokyo-Hague-Montreal-Beijing system and documents related to international humanitarian law) and critical commentary thereto, enriched with practical review of real and current cases involving unmanned aircraft vehicles.