The MQ-1 Predator, developed by General Atomics, entered U.S. military service in 1995 as the first operational armed unmanned aerial vehicle. Remote-controlled from thousands of miles away, it transformed warfare by removing human pilots from the immediate battlefield. The drone raised profound ethical and philosophical questions about distance, agency, and violence that have been explored by contemporary poets writing on modern conflict.

The introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles, or Predator drones, in 1995 raised ethical questions about warfare that permeated 21st-century poetry and literature. Poets like Warsan Shire began to explore themes of surveillance, violence, and the human cost of modern conflict in their works.