Obviously, drones used to support humanitarian relief in a disaster zone have a very different purpose from drones used to target and kill enemy combatants in a battle-field. However, the logistical and operational challenges are similar. When the US military lost one of its stealth drones over Iran in 2011, the Iranians claimed that they had hacked into the vehicle’s comms system, so cutting it off from its remote pilot, and seized control to safely land it in one piece. Since then, there has been a rush to develop autonomous drones as a safeguard against the threat of electronic hijacking. All of this suggests that in a disaster where first responders are victims of an information black-out, autonomous drones would come into their own. For the military context, see