From David Hambling
Reader R. T. Lewis notes that I say that “persistent drones could sit on buildings or trees and keep watch indefinitely” and asks: “When is a drone that sits in wait for its victim not a military mine?” (Letters, 28 May). If there is a human operator in the loop controlling the drone, it does not count as a mine. This is why the US is replacing anti-personnel mines with networked munitions, which are operator-controlled rather than activated by victims.
However, if communications fail, or the drone is designed to be autonomous and selects a target without human input, then it is legally a landmine. And of course not all nations have signed up to the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines: those not signing include the US, Russia and China.
London, UK
