  Attacks by drones (i.e., unmanned combat air vehicles) continue to generate
heated political and ethical debates. Here we examine the quantitative nature
of drone attacks, focusing on how their intensity and frequency compare with
that of other forms of human conflict. Instead of the power-law distribution
found recently for insurgent and terrorist attacks, the severity of attacks is
more akin to lognormal and exponential distributions, suggesting that the
dynamics underlying drone attacks lie beyond these other forms of human
conflict. We find that the pattern in the timing of attacks is consistent with
one side having almost complete control, an important if expected result. We
show that these novel features can be reproduced and understood using a
generative mathematical model in which resource allocation to the dominant side
is regulated through a feedback loop.
