Drone Strike Investigations & Visualisations

US drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan kill at least 28 people. Image: Aljazeera

Forensic Architecture is working with the UN SRCT, human rights and legal justice organisations in both Pakistan and the UK to develop an online platform that visualises drone strikes over Pakistan, Afghanistan,Yemen, Somalia, and Palestine. Using information derived several data aggregators, this platform allows users to examine the overall patterns of drone attacks from 2004 onwards as well as specific strikes such as the March 17 2011 attack on a Jirga (community gathering) which resulted in the death of 43-50 people.  Over time this platform will be expanded to include information on strikes in Yemen. We are also working with The Rendition Project at Kingston University to visualise the ways in which the US program of secret prisons (rendition) which was wound down by the Obama administration in 2009 and the subsequent acceleration of the targeted killing program (drones) combine to produce the global war on terror. 

To explore this platform click here.

Knock-on-Roof, Gaza, January 2009

Typical drone debris (fragments from a logic board, missile casing, copper wire)

Targeted Killing (spike missile with fragmentation)

In conjunction with our drone strike investigation we have also developed an online archive detailing examples of different kinds of destruction produced by drone attacks. This inventory functions as a useful tool to assist people in identifying infrastructure damage, blast radius, and munitions debris as a result of a drone strike.

To view this archive click here.

Aftermath of Hellfire Drone attack (Jaar, Yemen) taken by Chris Cobb-Smith.