Drones Aren’t New to Warfare

Early aerial drone

We may think of the use of drones, or UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) as something from modern warfare. But as this recent article in Wired explores, the use of drones has been around for quite a while, with the United States experimenting with them in the beginning of the 20th century.

Read more about the history of drone use in this Wired article, and in the new book by MIT Press:  Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II.

Discovery of WWII-Era Bomb Causes Evacuation of West German City

WWII era bomb found in Dortmund, GermanyNearly 25,000 residents are being evacuated from parts of the west German city of Dortmund as experts get ready to dispose of a massive bomb, left over from allied efforts during World War II.

The bomb, which weighs about 4,000-pounds was found while historians analyzed aerial photographs while searching for unexploded ordnance.

German government officials hoped that the evacuation would only last a few hours, and that residents would be able to return to their homes by Sunday evening.

Unexploded WWII-era bombs are regularly discovered in parts of Europe, and especially in Germany. However, most of the bombs found are much smaller than this one.

Two years ago, a similar unexploded device was found in the nearby city of Koblenz, which required an evacuation of roughly 45,000 people.