King 52, the first #HC130 designed for #AirForce rescue, retires after 50 years of faithful service @45thSpaceWing… https://t.co/ARETYOX0yt Rock to Recovery serves as ‘musical medicine’ to many, including #WoundedWarriors. #Airmen & #Marines hone tactical recovery skills. Japanese soldiers partner with #USAF #Airmen & @USNavy #Sailors to improve communications. From flights over the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to surveilling the fight ag... RT @TeamEglin: More #Warthog brrrtttttttttt & the @USNavy MH-60R Seahawks #helicopter at #TeamEglin #A10 #AirForce #Navy #Exercise https:/… RT @TeamFairchild: Check out Team Fairchild's 75 years of heritage and partnership. On this day in #AirForce #History https://t.co/OyxxNs0mS8 #Yokota welcomes first C-130J Super Hercules @PACAF. #Airmen of the 407th Air Expeditionary Group ensure aircrews take off without delay, provide vital ground support.… https://t.co/Jb1ieNr0Wd We are back at it today with more ‘Know Your #AirCraft.’

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We cannot win without it. RT @AirMobilityCmd: A MC-130J Commando II receives fuel from a #KC135 during @USSOCOM exercise #EmeraldWarrior17 at @Hurlburt_Field, Florid…best ar drone hacks RT @SportsCenter: Middle Tennessee's Reggie Upshaw got a senior night surprise from his brother Gage, a cadet at the Air Force Academy.http…ar drone price in canada RT @GenDaveGoldfein: We must systematically develop our #Airmen to continue to serve in joint positions & to be leaders in the joint fight.…ar drone 2 feet Tech. Sgt. Rainier Howard, 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, perfo... On this day in #AirForce #History https://t.co/GVEhVz6mnm What’s your favorite healthy snack? We can finally put the #Oscar2017 confusion to rest!

It wasn’t La La Land or Moo... On this day in #AirForce #History https://t.co/P729G62rnu Here’s the full story of an #AirForce doctor who solved the @NASA poop problem. “Everybody on the flight line plays a big ole role” – SrA Hunter Reynolds. It's #AirForce #WeekInPhotos time! Acting #SecAF Lisa Disbrow just released this great 70th #AFbday video at #AWS17... Watch LIVE: In just a few minutes, Acting Secretary of the Air Force Lisa S. Dis... No one does it better than our #Airmen and no one ever will. This year’s Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium starts today! We have decided to do a seven-day ‘Know Your #Aircraft series. Each weekday at 7... Another successful launch at 30th Space Wing (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.) Emerald Warrior boasts 10 years this year as military partners come together for... Initial success or total failure, it’s not just an Explosive Ordnance Disposal m... These #Airmen are fearless in everything they do.

Directing air traffic in hosti... Drones are quickly becoming one of the U.S. military's primary weapons as the U.S. counterterrorism shifts from engaging in traditional, specified armed conflicts to targeting and killing individuals regardless of their location. Here's what you need to know. David Smith / Flickr Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as “drones” are aerial systems that can be remotely controlled for short and long range military and civilian purposes. Drones are usually equipped with a camera and can also be armed with missiles. While surveillance drones lead to privacy and civil liberties concerns, FCNL focuses primarily on the use of lethal drone strikes. The use of drones by the United States government is constantly evolving. Currently, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) oversees the targeted killing program which utilizes drones to strike individuals across the globe including in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and the Philippines.

According to recent reports, the Pentagon now has some 7,000 aerial drones, compared with fewer than 50 a decade ago. The fiscal year 2016 budgetincluded $2.9 billion for drone research, development, and procurement. This figure represents the known costs; it does not include funding that may be classified. The CIA has about 30 Predator and Reaper drones, which are operated by Air Force pilots from a U.S. military base in an unnamed U.S. state. The Department of Homeland Security has at least ten unarmed Predator drones, costing approximately $62 million a year. The cost per flight hour varies by type of drone. Predator and Reaper drones cost about $2,500-3,500 per flight hour; larger armed systems such as the military’s Global Hawk cost about 10 times as much: approximately $30,000 per flight hour. Drone strikes typically target individuals who have been placed on a “kill list” by the administration in a secret process that is not subject to oversight or transparency.

Other strikes known as “signature strikes” are based on vague, suspicious patterns of behavior such as being a man of a particular age or being in a particular location. News reports typically fail to investigate descriptions such as “militants” when describing the known victims of drone strikes. Upon closer inspection, the rationale often crumbles. For example, one official told the New York Times that the CIA could see “three guys doing jumping jacks” and consider them to be a part of a terrorist training camp. Congress’ primary role with respect to the U.S. drones program has been funding research and development and procurement by the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security. Congress has exercised little or no oversight related to the tactical or strategic use of drones. Written immediately after the attacks on September 11th, the 60 words that make up the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) gave the executive branch unprecedented war powers, and has been used to justify drones strikes across the world.

Congress has subsequently failed to adequately question the administration for information regarding drones. In 2014, Senator Ron Wyden led the effort to ask for more transparency on U.S. drone policy, but only two other Senators—Mark Udall and Martin Heinrich—signed onto his letter. As a comparison, there were nearly 50 members of Congress on the pro-drones caucus last year. It is now chaired by Rep. Joe Heck (NV) and Daniel Lipinski (IL). At the National Defense University in 2013, the President reminded Americans that the current decision to use drones will ultimately “define the type of nation—and world—that we leave to our children.” According to press reports, however, President Obama personally oversees a so called “kill list” that details who is to be targeted. While the President has called for “strong oversight of all lethal action,” the administration has yet to release details regarding the aforementioned list. In particular, the administration has failed to share what criteria is currently being used to place individuals on the list, how “signature killings” meet that criteria, and who ultimately approves that list.

With the lack of overarching strategy, many mistakenly see drones as a low cost—human and financial—alternative to war. By deviating from conventional authorized and specified wars that start and stop, the drones program allows the U.S. to remain in a constant state of endless war. This shifts the strikes into covert operations with little or no congressional or public oversight, and operating outside of legal norms. Evidence suggests that the trauma of living under drones causes anti-American resentment and aids in the recruitment for violent extremism. According to a former State Department official, for every drone strike, the U.S. generates roughly forty to sixty new enemies. Such long term damage is known as “blowback” – incidents that arise in later years as an unintended consequence of actions taken today. This new form of war has also had unprecedented effects back home; not only do drone pilots experience mental health problems at the same rate as their counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan, recent studies suggest that drone pilots may be experiencing a new form of psychological strain—a long distance version of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

Despite working thousands of miles from the battlefield, many drone pilots experience anxiety, depression, and severe stress. Moreover, citing extraneous hours—often between 900 and 1,800 hours a year, compared to the maximum 300 hours that regular Air Force pilots work—drone pilots are quitting in record numbers. It is time to pause and evaluate the potential outcomes of this policy. Currently, hundreds of companies are developing small and large scale drone technology. At last count, more than 50 countries are developing drones, and more than 70 countries have already acquired various types. Experts suggest that every country will possess the ability to create or acquire armed droneswithin ten years. This February, the Obama administration announced that it would soon allow for the export of armed drones to allies. If drones lower the threshold for war, what happens when everyone has drones? What happens when the United States no longer has a monopoly on this technology?