HOW DRONES CHANGED MODERN WARFARE By Selva Ganesh K mysticquill.blogspot.com We always assumed "drone" was a modern word. But the first drone used in war dates back to 1849. During the First Italian War of Independence, Austrian forces launched 200 incendiary balloons over Venice, each carrying 24 to 30 pounds of explosives. Humans have understood unmanned weapons since the 18th century. Austrian forces launched incendiary balloons over Venice in 1849 — history's first recorded drone attack. But nothing prepared the world for what happened in 2020. During the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia, drones played a decisive role for the first time in history. Azerbaijan deployed a sophisticated fleet of Israeli and Turkish drones that systematically dismantled Armenia’s Soviet-era defense system. Everyone predicted the war would last months. Maybe years. It ended in 44 days. The Bayraktar TB2 drone — deployed by Azerbai...