The role of civilian drones in disrupting order and security

drones are a useful tool and even fun at times. But along with many applications, they will have wide threats. The current research was carried out with the aim of investigating the role of civilian drones in disrupting order and security.The current research method was mixed-exploratory. The research data was compiled in the field and through semi-structured interviews in the qualitative part and the distribution of questionnaires in the quantitative part. The validity of the quantitative part of the questionnaire was confirmed through face validity and its reliability was reported as 0.89. The participants in the qualitative part included 14 experts from Faraja, the Revolutionary Guards, and other security agencies until the theoretical and socio-statistical saturation was reached. They have directly and indirectly used drones in their crimes. In order to analyze the qualitative data using the thematic analysis method, MAXQDA software was used, and SPSS software was used for the descriptive and inferential analysis of the questionnaire data. The interview with experts led to the identification of the functions of civilian drones in disrupting order and security in the form of 38 basic themes, 7 organizing themes, and 2 comprehensive themes. The results showed that UAVs can cause disturbances in order and security through intelligence measures (protection and care, location, covert collection) and operational measures (transfer, combat, and suicide, forest, combat, and intelligence support).