Artificial Intelligence, Drones and Cyber Warfare: Ethical and Anticipated Ethical Issues

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence plays an active role when both drones and Cyber Warfare are introduced into kinetic wars. The importance of drones for kinetic warfare points to the importance of cyber warfare for countering drone warfare. A drone that flies, reroutes, and avoids threats without human interaction no longer operates as a remote-controlled vehicle. Instead, it acts autonomously in combat situations. Small quadcopters in Ukraine were equipped with AI navigation packages, enabling them to complete their missions even after Russian troops had jammed their GPS signals. Programs in the US, such as Darpa Evade, are deploying Sikorsky's autonomy MATRIX software in vertical takeoff drones, which nominally have the capabilities of flight and fight without communication with an operator, while they have situational awareness, and continue to achieve their objectives. The most contentious application of AI in targeting military drones is the recognition of targets. Using deep learning models trained on massive amounts of image data, drones can recognize vehicles, artillery, or even people. The AI models utilize visual patterns and infrared signatures to help identify and distinguish between an enemy armored vehicle on a battlefield, hidden in a field, or a civilian tractor, also hidden in the same spot. Russia's KUB loitering munition features an AI visual identification module designed to enhance its search range and accuracy. The Bayraktar TB2 features onboard targeting systems that provide unified target designation and tracking. The TB2's follow-on munition, the Kamankes loitering munition drone, is advertised to have AI-guided optics that enable it to loiter, identify, and autonomously kill any targets (Aviacionline, 2023; Baykar Technology, 2026). A drone that could perform all of these activities could loiter for hours, detect a missile launcher or armor target, and kill without verification by human input at any point. Ukraine's advances in AI are even more unprecedented when factoring in that they are using modular AI kits to sever the "last mile" of the target kill chain, reducing the time from hours to minutes. AI proponents argue that accuracy enables speed and precision with minimal risk of unintended consequences. Critics caution that algorithmic-driven lethal decisions can go wrong if an object is incorrectly identified, leaving the laws of armed conflict with challenging and fuzzy questions of moral, legal, and professional liability. This analysis is concerned with identifying how AI can be applied in the context of cyberwarfare to counter the capabilities of AI being employed to enhance the capabilities of Drones as they are currently employed in military operations. In addition, this analysis will focus on ethical and anticipated ethical issues related to how AI can be applied in the context of cyberwarfare operations to counter the capabilities of AI being employed to enhance the capabilities of Drones as they are currently employed in military operations.