Search: drones
18 Nov The Use of False Acoustic Signatures by Submarines: Perfidy or Ruse of War?
...has a unique “acoustic fingerprint.” Its engines, machinery, and propellers produce a pattern of sound that naval intelligence agencies catalog and use to identify vessels. Just as a flag signals nationality on the surface, an acoustic signature signals identity underwater. Traditionally, submarines sought to minimize their noise to evade detection. But advances in underwater drones and acoustic technology now make it possible to mimic another submarine’s signature. A vessel could project the sound of a different submarine—or use a decoy unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) to create confusion. This raises a...
19 Sep When the World Looks Away: How the Iran–Israel Conflict Diverted Focus from Ukraine
...While Russia and Iran do not have a formal military alliance, their strategic partnership has strengthened considerably. Moscow benefits from Iranian drones and missile technology on the Ukraine battlefield, while Tehran gains diplomatic support and political cover from Russia amid the Israel-Iran conflict. This nuanced cooperation allows both adversaries to exploit Western distraction and advance their regional and global agendas. Iran’s weapons exports have become a lifeline for Russia’s war machine, helping to replenish its depleted stockpiles and sustain offensive operations. In return, Russia provides Tehran with valuable geopolitical backing,...
17 Aug The Best Available Self-Defense: Article 51 and the 2026 Iran War
...missiles aimed at Al Udeid in Qatar, at the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and at Al Dhafra in the UAE struck United States military objectives, and their legality turns on precautions owed to the host population. Iranian drones striking the Habshan gas complex in Abu Dhabi, a Saudi pipeline, facilities in Kuwait and a hotel in Dubai are different. No theory of self-defense reaches the territory of states that did not attack Iran. As a defensive matter, the strikes are indefensible. The Tolled Strait Iran closed the Strait of...
20 Jul Symposium on Cyber, International Law and Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict: Introduction
...to Iran. Examples include AI-enabled drones, autonomous and semi-autonomous defense systems, machine-learning tools used in targeting, AI-supported cyber operations, generative AI in information operations and cognitive warfare, and many others. All of these developments raise an urgent question: how does international law, and especially international humanitarian law (IHL), regulate these technologies, and what limits does it impose on their development and use? This symposium brings together four perspectives on distinct aspects of that question. It also offers an early glimpse of the forthcoming Oxford University Press volume International Law and...
10 Dec Symposium on Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law: Looking Down and Looking Away – The Aerial Perspective in Investigations of Armed Conflict and Genocide
...juxtaposing the work of Forensic Architecture with the US military’s assessments of civilian casualty allegations. The aerial perspective is powerful and seductive, but it also has important limitations. First, bird’s eye view is unfamiliar to human eyes: we are not used to seeing from above. As a consequence, when we look at images taken by satellites or drones, we often rely on explanations contained in captions, annotations, and arrows superimposed on images. Second, the view from above is associated with abstraction, power, and dehumanization. The drone does not see faces....
12 Jun Prize Law Revisited: Between Permission and Regulation
...as good prize and transferred ownership over the vessels to the state. This is despite credible evidence that the means used to enforced the blockade against the Flotilla were unlawful, including the alleged use of drones before interception and the mistreatment of detainees afterwards. More recently, Israeli Finance Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has publicly released footage of the clear mistreatment of members of the Sumud Flotilla’s subsequent May 2026 attempt to much international condemnation by various heads of state. The Haifa court’s proceedings regarding this more recent Flotilla will take time,...
06 May The Closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran: Considerations over the Law of the Sea and Law of Naval Warfare
...attack against Iran, at least three tankers were struck by missiles or drones. On March 2, 2026 the US flagged oil tanker Stena Imperative was hit while at port in Bahrain resulting in the killing of one shipyard worker and injury of two others. Art. 51 and 52 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions regarding the general protection of civilians and civilian objects applies to the law of naval warfare. According to the San Remo Manual Rules 40-41, the merchant vessels including the tankers flying the US...
23 Feb Aerial Incident of 25 December 2024: Issues of Russian Responsibility
...The question remains whether that notification is a jurisdictional bar or a procedural requirement. Interestingly, ICAO first announced its decision on 12 May 2025, 130 days before the Russian lawsuit. Defenses Russian officials may claim that the plane was misidentified during the heightened period of military tension and drone attacks. Russia has implemented a closed-skies protocol to combat Ukrainian drones, and a plane was mistaken for a drone during that period. However, the black box revealed that the AZAL plane was damaged several minutes before the airspace was shut down....
09 Dec Symposium on Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law: The Production of Visible Evidence in the Gaza Genocide
...for Hamas use of the hospital. Such polarizing effect of social media, as well as the coalescing of traditional media forms with advanced militarized optics, such as satellite and drones, are both common tropes when it comes to media and war. The binary distribution of life and death that underlies the IDF claims, sanctioning death for Palestinians for the sake of the alleged defense of Israelis, is constitutive of the structure of Israeli aggression and is part of what Achille Mbembe construes as the necropolitical nature of Israeli sovereignty. What...