And that's where both the press and government seem to have a blind spot. Flying a drone autonomously for thousands of miles has been done in university-level projects, years ago. How long before some cheap drone launched from heck knows where drops a small explosive on a government building in the US? What will we do? Launch a global war, lashing out against an unknown assailant? Put drones over our skies to hunt unknown Bad Guy drones?
Drone warfare is the worst kind of undeclared war: It's highly prone to backlash, but so cheap it is irresistible to politicians and military leaders.
