Evaluating the argument

Drones are a great boon to warfare, and we should put them to use whenever possible. Not only do they make wars cheaper and less dangerous for our own soldiers, but their precision and low-profile operation also enable us to minimize collateral damage, as well as public attention and outrage.

Because drone warfare is, in various ways, so much less costly than conventional warfare, it makes war too easy. So, unless we’re prepared to wage more and more unjust wars, reprehensibly causing untold numbers of unnecessary deaths, we must strictly limit the use of drones in war.

It’s wrong to conduct war through remotely controlled aircraft operated by pilots sitting safely and comfortably in a room perhaps thousands of miles away, hunting down targets on their screens like it’s a video game, without genuinely understanding the moral gravity of their actions.

Drones are just another weapon of war, not fundamentally different from tanks, submarines, long-range missiles, or anything else. There are important ethical questions to ask about when and how to use drones in war, but drones don’t raise any significant ethical concerns that don’t also apply to other weapons.