At the beginning of the “Global War on Terror,” launched by President George W. Bush in 2001 following the attacks of 9/11, the United States had a virtual monopoly on drones. According to data compiled by New America, as of December 2013, 82 countries owned some type of drone, although only a small number of those nations possessed armed drone aircraft. The United States, United Kingdom, and Israel are the only nations that are confirmed to have used armed drones against their adversaries, although other members of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, such as Australia, have “borrowed” drones from Israel for use in Afghanistan.

When the United States first invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, the Pentagon had fewer than 50 drones, and had never used armed drones in combat. By late 2012 it had around 7,500, and was launching regular drone strikes against suspected al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and Yemen. The first US armed drone attack, which appears to be the first such strike ever, took place in Afghanistan in mid-November 2001, which killed Mohammed Atef, the military commander of al-Qaeda. Since then, the CIA has used drones equipped with bombs and missiles hundreds of times to target suspected militants in Pakistan and Yemen.