Drone! is an audio adaptation of Drone War: Vietnam, a nonfiction book about the world’s first robot war. By David Axe, a filmmaker and reporter for Forbes.

Episode one

A botched Predator strike in Afghanistan in 2001 was not, contrary to popular opinion, the first time U.S. military and intelligence agencies sent aerial robots into battle.

 

Episode two

Bob Schwanhausser and his crew battle the weather, unreliable hardware, a labyrinthine bureaucracy -- oh, and communist troops -- as they struggle to make a new technology work in some of the most brutal conditions on Earth.

 

Episode three

Being expendable, Model 147 drones help extend U.S. air power over even the most dangerous corners of North Vietnam.