Abstract/Summary

Drones have emerged as an established feature of contemporary global battlefields. Comprising a growing ecosystem of diverse platforms, attention is increasingly paid to the rising interest in and deployment of small, commercially-available off-the-shelf (COTS) drones. In recognition of growing non-state actor usage of COTS drones in surveillance and weaponised capacities both in and beyond the battlefield, concern continues to grow around the potential portability and expansion of drone-enabled harm. This chapter examines drone threats in domestic urban locales in the age of the small drone. It proceeds in three parts. First, it outlines a four-part typology of current urban drone threats. Second, it reflects on spaces of innovation and imagination which may inform the extension of such drone threats. Third, it emplaces the drone within the context of evolving airspace to consider five areas of potential future urban drone threat.