Thai public supports use of military drones, automatic weapons: Nida Poll
A Nida Poll shows over 90% of Thais support using drones for military operations, citing safety and efficiency, with more than half backing automatic weapon systems.
Most Thais support the military’s use of drones and automatic weapons to defend national territories, according to a recent opinion survey.
The survey was conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida Poll) among 1,310 respondents nationwide between November 5 and 7.
When asked for their opinions on the use of drones for military and national security operations (multiple responses allowed), the top five answers were:
- 91.08% agreed with the use of drones for military and security purposes
- 57.25% said drones help reduce risks to personnel
- 51.50% said they improve operational efficiency
- 48.08% said they enhance precision in target attacks
- 21.50% said they enable better use of technological advantages
When asked whether they believed the use of drones in military and security operations is important, respondents said:
- 80.50%: Extremely important
- 17.33%: Quite important
- 1.50%: Not very important
- 0.25%: Not important at all
- 0.42%: No comment
Regarding who should be responsible for operating automatic weapon systems for military and national security (multiple responses allowed), the top five answers were:
- 43.92%: Commanders of the armed forces
- 38.92%: Commanders of automatic weapon system units
- 26.33%: The prime minister
- 24.58%: The defence minister
- 12.75%: Designers and programmers of the weapon systems’ coding
When asked whether they agreed with the use of automatic weapon systems for military and security operations, respondents said:
- 51.33%: Strongly agree
- 22.42%: Somewhat agree
- 12.50%: Somewhat disagree
- 11.25%: Strongly disagree
- 2.50%: No comment
On their knowledge of automatic weapon systems:
- 48.50%: No knowledge at all
- 41.25%: Some knowledge
- 10.17%: Good knowledge
- 0.08%: No comment
The poll also found that 78.47% of respondents knew about drones but had never used them, while 13.13% said they had used drones. Among those who had, 43.02% said they used them for photography and video recording, 29.07% for agricultural purposes, and 20.35% for entertainment.
