EPISODE: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Regie: Vincent Verweij
Eindredactie: Fred Sengers
Voice-over: Sven Kockelmann
VO:
1: 00:02:01:05 00:02:07:19 06:14
They are Obama's favourite weapon:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones.
VO:
5: 00:02:22:21 00:02:27:11 04:15
What’s next for these robots of the battlefield?
TITLE:
6: 00:02:39:15 00:02:41:20 02:05
Attack of the Drones
VO:
7: 00:02:41:23 00:02:45:17 03:19
We're in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
8: 00:02:45:20 00:02:51:08 05:13
The US Air Force have invited the media
to Holloman Air Force Base.
9: 00:02:51:11 00:02:55:22 04:11
The main attraction is the Reaper,
an unmanned aerial vehicle.
10: 00:03:06:16 00:03:10:13 03:22
First we meet the squadron commander.
TITLE: COLONEL KEN JOHNSON – SQUADRON COMMANDER 03:44
TITLE: MAJOR TREY – DRONE PILOT 04:34
TITLE: LIEUTENANT LOGAN CLARK – ADVISORY OFFICER 05:00
VO:
11: 00:05:34:21 00:05:40:01 05:05
The Americans claim the drones are vital
in combating terrorism.
QUOTE: KO COLIJN – CLINGENDAEL INSTITUTION:
12: 00:05:40:04 00:05:42:07 02:03
They're much cheaper and easier.
13: 00:05:42:10 00:05:45:04 02:19
You can do some serious damage
with them.
14: 00:05:45:07 00:05:49:00 03:18
They want to suppress Al Qaeda
that way.
VO:
15: 00:05:52:15 00:05:58:03 05:13
This is Anwar Al-Awlaki. The CIA say he was the leader
of Al Qaeda in Yemen.
16: 00:05:58:06 00:06:00:18 02:12
Yemen and America are not at war.
17: 00:06:00:21 00:06:06:13 05:17
But the US sent a drone after this man
and three fellow passengers anyway.
QUOTE: NATHAN FREED WESSLER – ACLU LAWYER
VO:
18: 00:06:20:09 00:06:23:21 03:12
ACLU, a civil rights organisation
in New York...
19: 00:06:23:24 00:06:30:03 06:04
...is currently suing the state for
summary executions with drones.
20: 00:07:12:23 00:07:17:02 04:04
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are controlled
from these containers in America.
21: 00:07:17:05 00:07:20:21 03:16
The pilots don't go
into the war zone at all.
22: 00:07:20:24 00:07:23:05 02:06
They drive to the base in the morning...
23: 00:07:23:08 00:07:26:11 03:03
...kill some Al Qaeda
or Taliban fighters...
24: 00:07:26:14 00:07:29:24 03:10
...and go home for dinner
at the end of the day.
QUOTE: SERGEANT JOSHUA – DRONE PILOT 07:33
VO:
25: 00:07:59:23 00:08:05:19 05:21
But are drones precision weapons,
or do they cause civilian casualties?
Obama soundbite
26: 00:08:46:00 00:08:51:08 05:08
Mistakes like these, when an American
chopper pilot shot Iraqi civilians...
27: 00:08:51:11 00:08:54:18 03:07
...should now occur less frequently.
28: 00:08:54:21 00:08:58:08 03:12
Drones are said to be more precise.
29: 00:09:00:14 00:09:03:15 03:01
But that turns out to be
not entirely true.
QUOTE: CHRIST KLEP – UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT THE NETHERLANDS:
30: 00:09:04:15 00:09:07:11 02:21
Shit happens,
that's what they say in war.
31: 00:09:07:14 00:09:09:20 02:06
Murphy's Law. Things go wrong.
32: 00:09:09:23 00:09:13:23 04:00
And that goes for UAVs
as well as aircrafts.
33: 00:09:14:01 00:09:19:18 05:17
You think you've cornered
an Al Qaeda fighter on a farm.
34: 00:09:19:21 00:09:23:16 03:20
So you send a rocket out there
to kill him.
35: 00:09:23:19 00:09:31:03 07:09
When it's about to hit, whether from
a manned or a unmanned aircraft...
36: 00:09:31:06 00:09:34:23 03:17
...his wife comes out the door.
What do you do?
37: 00:09:35:01 00:09:38:08 03:07
The scenarios for such actions
are unchanged.
38: 00:09:38:11 00:09:42:17 04:06
A drone might be
a few inches more precise...
39: 00:09:42:20 00:09:44:23 02:03
...but the consequences are the same.
Interview with US soldier
QUOTE: CHRIST KLEP – UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT THE NETHERLANDS:
40: 00:10:31:07 00:10:33:15 02:08
It's just a big computer game.
41: 00:10:33:18 00:10:38:17 04:24
It's funny how these pilots,
although they are 'desk pilots'...
42: 00:10:38:20 00:10:43:03 04:08
...still wear flight suits,
to make them look like real pilots.
US interview
QUOTE: KO COLIJN – CLINGENDAEL INSTITUTION:
43: 00:11:03:03 00:11:09:00 05:22
In a way the Americans already
reached a turning point in 2009, 2010.
44: 00:11:09:03 00:11:14:01 04:23
They trained more screen pilots...
45: 00:11:14:04 00:11:18:17 04:13
...than pilots physically
inside an aircraft.
46: 00:11:18:20 00:11:25:17 06:22
And they purchased more unmanned
planes than manned ones.
47: 00:11:25:20 00:11:29:24 04:04
Which is not surprising
since they're much cheaper.
48: 00:11:30:02 00:11:32:17 02:15
Reporter:
So it's not science fiction,
it's everyday reality?
49: 00:11:32:20 00:11:35:02 02:07
It's everyday reality.
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROHDE – JOURNALIST 00:13:19
QUOTE: CHRIST KLEP – UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT THE NETHERLANDS:
50: 00:14:50:16 00:14:54:21 04:05
A lot of people thought:
Obama is in power now.
51: 00:14:54:24 00:15:01:15 06:16
He's not such a cowboy as Bush was.
He probably won't do such things.
52: 00:15:01:18 00:15:05:24 04:06
But precisely because
unmanned systems are so clean...
53: 00:15:06:02 00:15:11:09 05:07
...and outside our scope, and able to
hunt down individual terrorists...
54: 00:15:11:12 00:15:17:19 06:07
...many Americans think: Go ahead,
do it, and don't tell us the dirty details.
55: 00:15:17:22 00:15:21:02 03:05
So even a liberal president does it.
56: 00:15:21:05 00:15:24:20 03:15
He probably thinks:
This is already a controversial war.
57: 00:15:24:23 00:15:28:22 03:24
I'd better not endanger
my pilots and my special forces.
58: 00:15:29:00 00:15:32:20 03:20
What else do I have?
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Deploy them.
VO:
59: 00:15:36:12 00:15:39:16 03:04
Drones aren't only popular
with the army.
60: 00:15:39:19 00:15:44:21 05:02
Police and security services also
use them on their own territory...
61: 00:15:44:24 00:15:49:12 04:13
...to find criminals
and combat illegal immigration.
62: 00:15:49:15 00:15:55:19 06:04
A privacy organisation from San
Francisco is suing the state for this.
Interview with Jennifer Lynch
VO:
63: 00:16:36:14 00:16:39:18 03:04
Privacy is an issue
in Europe too.
64: 00:16:39:21 00:16:45:04 05:08
If our air forces buy drones,
the police can use them too.
65: 00:16:45:07 00:16:52:03 06:21
In the Netherlands last year a small drone was deployed just
to find a pyromaniac.
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER LYNCH – ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 00:16:57
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROHDE – JOURNALIST 00:17:26
VO:
157: 00:26:50:01 00:26:52:09 02:08
And these robots are advancing.
158: 00:26:52:12 00:26:57:15 05:03
The Air force, army and navy are
all using them more and more regularly.
159: 00:26:58:15 00:27:05:10 06:20
This is a small spying vehicle
with four cameras and night-glasses.
160: 00:27:08:20 00:27:15:20 07:00
And this is a sort of pack mule
carrying communication equipment.
Soundbite
161: 00:27:32:18 00:27:37:13 04:20
Chris Anderson is the editor-in-chief of
<Wired,> a big technology magazine.
162: 00:27:37:16 00:27:43:02 05:11
Every month it discusses the advance
of robots in the military.
Soundbite
163: 00:28:23:08 00:28:26:15 03:07
Anderson's company is called
DIY Drones.
164: 00:28:26:18 00:28:31:06 04:13
It produces small helicopters with
manual and automatic controls...
165: 00:28:31:09 00:28:34:00 02:16
...and a recording camera.
Soundbite
TITLE: ZURICH – SWITZERLAND 00:29:03
166: 00:29:04:05 00:29:07:10 03:05
The Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Zürich...
167: 00:29:07:13 00:29:09:21 02:08
...is working on the latest flying robots.
168: 00:29:09:24 00:29:14:19 04:20
They perform complex tasks without
any human intervention at all.
169: 00:29:14:22 00:29:18:15 03:18
These drones can build a tower
on their own.
TITLE: RAFFAELLO D’ANDREA – PROFESSOR ROBOTICA 00:29:22
VO:
170: 00:29:56:15 00:30:00:04 03:14
Drones also learn to dance
to music here...
171: 00:30:04:14 00:30:07:06 02:17
...play a game of tennis...
172: 00:30:12:22 00:30:16:13 03:16
...perform a task
working together as a trio...
173: 00:30:23:07 00:30:26:13 03:06
...and obey their master.
174: 00:31:37:15 00:31:41:18 04:03
The Japanese army
developed this flying ball.
175: 00:31:46:20 00:31:51:19 04:24
And the Americans are working
on drones that operate in swarms.
176: 00:32:40:04 00:32:42:21 02:17
In fact the arms race
has already started.
177: 00:32:42:24 00:32:46:00 03:01
China and Turkey have UAVs.
178: 00:32:46:03 00:32:51:21 05:18
And Iranian president Ahmadinejad
recently presented his first drone.
179: 00:32:56:14 00:33:03:04 06:15
It looks like a Thunderbirds rocket,
but it hits distant targets with deadly accuracy.
180: 00:33:04:16 00:33:09:22 05:06
Iran also laid hands on this
American espionage drone.
QUOTE: KO COLIJN – CLINGENDAEL INSTITUTION:
181: 00:33:10:00 00:33:15:20 05:20
It crashed or was brought down.
Some even say it was hacked.
182: 00:33:15:23 00:33:19:17 03:19
That would explain its gentle landing
in Iran.
183: 00:33:19:20 00:33:24:08 04:13
The Iranians are very interested,
and perfectly capable...
184: 00:33:24:11 00:33:27:07 02:21
...of copying the technology.
TITLE: JENNIFER LYNCH – ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 00:33:36
QUOTE: KO COLIJN – CLINGENDAEL INSTITUTION:
185: 00:33:44:11 00:33:49:17 05:06
Is this the start of a new arms race?
- Yes. In this respect too.
VO:
186: 00:33:49:20 00:33:53:15 03:20
Future drones will be able to independently
search for targets...
187: 00:33:53:18 00:33:56:09 02:16
...and decide whether or not to attack.
188: 00:33:56:12 00:33:59:19 03:07
The software is being developed
in America right now.
TITLE: RAFFAELLO D’ANDREA – PROFESSOR ROBOTICA 00:34:00
TITLE: NATHAN FREED WESSLER – ACLU LAWYER 00:34:19
TITLE: CHRIS ANDERSON – CHIEF EDITOR ‘WIRED’ 00:34:41
QUOTE: CHRIST KLEP – UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT THE NETHERLANDS:
189: 00:34:56:11 00:34:59:01 02:15
Soldiers must always know exactly
what they're doing.
190: 00:34:59:04 00:35:04:14 05:10
If you give 90% of that responsibility to
an autonomous robot, that's a problem.
191: 00:35:04:17 00:35:08:06 03:14
You need new regulations
at the very least.
192: 00:35:08:09 00:35:13:12 05:03
I think ethically and operationally
it's a bad thing.
193: 00:35:13:15 00:35:20:12 06:22
It makes war so remote, it becomes
a game, an electronic spectacle.
194: 00:35:20:15 00:35:26:06 05:16
The one thing that should be able
to limit war...
195: 00:35:26:09 00:35:30:01 03:17
...is human logic and human morals.
196: 00:35:30:04 00:35:32:24 02:20
If you overrule that,
it will get easier...
197: 00:35:33:02 00:35:36:24 03:22
...to leave the killing to technology.
That's a bad idea.