How IS is using consumer drones

Cheap off-the-shelf drones are changing how so-called Islamic State and other groups are fighting - and the world's militaries are racing to catch up

A small drone rises into the air. The operator checks its bird's-eye view on a screen before nudging a control and sending the drone buzzing across town.

This could be an enthusiast anywhere in the world.

The global market for small camera-carrying flying machines has gone from a few thousand a year in 2010 to many millions.

But in places like Iraq, consumer drones have also become weapons of war.

Off-the-shelf drones began to be used by so-called Islamic State in 2014. At first they used them to film propaganda videos from the air. Then they became scouts.

A drone video of a Syrian military base was released shortly before the base was hit by multiple suicide bombings that targeted its weak spots, suggesting that the drone had been sent in on a surveillance mission.

Other IS drones have been used to guide armoured truck bombs to their targets in real time.

And according to US military sources, IS are now using drones in Mosul to watch where mortar rounds are falling so they can adjust their aim.

IS are not the only ones with drones. Several other groups in Syria and Iraq are now flying them, including Hezbollah.

Even Iraqi army units have deployed consumer drones in the battle for Mosul, spotting car bombs and carrying out tactical reconnaissance.

But now such drones may be more than spies. IS have started turning cheap drones into lethal guided missiles by fitting them with explosive charges.

So far there have been few casualties but the tiny, low-flying weapons are a growing problem.

What's more, the world's militaries are struggling to keep up.

To maintain their edge in the face of easily obtained commercial hardware, armies are going to have to change the way they equip themselves.

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