The resulting drone crash action-adventure documentary would be geared for the everyday viewer primed for the economies of disaster, of pleasurable violence transmitted on private screens -- sites where drone games are played and drone missions consumed. Its trailer might go something like this. Ground control operators have suddenly lost control of an armed Reaper flying a combat mission over Afghanistan. A manned U.S. Air Force fighter is dispatched to shoot down the renegade drone before it flies beyond the edge of Afghan airspace. (In the world of robotic warfare, human pilots are apparently still good for something: shooting down wayward drones.) The tension builds: disciplined man against chaotic unmanned.
The fighter plane arrives too late. The renunciant Reaper, speeding headlong into its own future, crashes into the side of a mountain. Abstracted in a shower of engine oil, smoke, lost data, and crushed metal, its dissipating fuselage drops. Amplified in a rush of sensation and adrenaline, its absorbing body elevates.
In 2003 CTheory published an essay by Jordan Crandall on embedded reporters, predator drones and "armed perception" that pretty much knocked me out of my chair and has coloured my thinking on military technology and representation ever since. That essay is vital – go read it. Once you've done that, turn your attention to "Unmanned" (excerpt posted above), which Crandall shared on the nettime mailing list this week. This recent essay is a gloriously thorough consideration of UAVs, failure and state of the art military imaging technology ("operational media" in Crandall's parlance) and is undoubtedly my 'poolside reading' pick of the summer – fans of Virilio, Der Derian and Danger Room take note.
Chema Cobo
Marc Chagall
Chema Madoz
