Unmanned Aerial Vehicles the Weapon of the Future

Israel Rafalovich

The war in Afghanistan will be remembered for the pilotless aircraft that cruised silently and most of the time unseen above the Afghanistan landscape. The aircraft, known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are in their infancy but will become a crucial weapon around the year 2020. Making long high loops over a battlefield, will provide live video of enemy forces, even peering through dense jungle foliage. Other will eavesdrop on communications, drop precision bombs or land rugged terrain to re-supply the forces.

In Afghanistan, a Predator drone fired a Hellfire air-to-ground rocket and streamed real - time video to American war planes, allowing pinpoint targeting. Another drone, the Global Hawk, made its debut last fall 65,000 feet over Afghanistan, lingering up to 35 hours, tracking enemy vehicles and transmitting photos to American commanders.
The air operations over Afghanistan have focused attention on the growing intelligence role being played by UAV's in today's conflicts. The upsurge in interest in UAV's in the last years has been due to their ability to provide real-time intelligence to commanders and policy makers. It shows the versatility of these aircraft. While satellites can perform this function, it takes time to shift their orbits. And even once the orbits are changed, the UAV can still obtain imagery of a finer resolution due to their operation at lower altitudes. It also highlights the desirability for long endurance UAV's like the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Due to its range, it can be operated from every remote locations. As it name implies, the Global Hawk provides surveillance capabilities even in the remotest locations. The Global Hawk is large enough to carry signal intelligence systems and associated satellite uplinks to feed the material to analysis centers.

The major problem with UAV employment has been the small number of air vehicles available. The American Air Force has fewer than two dozen Predators, only a fraction of which are the RQ-1L version with wing de-icing suitable for use in winter months. Also, there are only a handful of Global Hawks ready, since the program has still not reached the procurement phase and serial production is years off. The program is currently contracted by the Air Force. The American Navy also plans to procure Global Hawk to demonstrate maritime surveillance capabilities to the fleet.
The American reconnaissance UAV's have been examples of UAV technology in action, tactical programs are still mired in delay after many false starts. UAV's have broad support, but there is a need for further experimentation. The American Defense Department plans to spend $5 billion to research develop and buy drones over the next five years, nearly doubling the money spent in the past decade. Informed sources say that besides providing round the clock battlefield surveillance, $35 million Global Hawk, or smaller drone, is less expensive than manned aircraft, which can easily cost twice as much, and there is no risk to aircrews. Pilotless aircraft can tackle the most dangerous missions, such as attacking air defences. The manned aircraft can move in to finish off the enemy.

But technical hurdles remain, and the military remains cautious. By 2015, military experts say that about 10 percent of combat strike aircraft will be unmanned, operated by ground controller tapping away at a computer terminal. Up to 40 percent of American intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft will be pilotless, replacing the fabled U-2 and other manned planes that have spied high in the skies for decades. While the Predator is the size of a Cessna light plane and Global Hawk has 116-foot wingspan that exceeds that of a Boeing 737, futuristic surveillance drones under development are expected to be small enough to fit in a soldier's pack.
Although remote-control aircraft had their beginnings in World War II, it was not until the early 1980s that the Israelis made the first sustained use of drones, employing them to watch Syrian and Palestinian forces in Lebanon's Bekka Valley. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, American unmanned aircraft kept an eye on Iraqi forces. And in 1995, the Predator flew operationally for the first time, over Bosnia.

The American Defense Department sees in the development of UAVs a key part of its efforts to pull the American army into the 21st century, shedding Cold War arms such as heavy tanks and artillery. The mantra of the American Chief of Staff has been stealth, mobility, long-range bombing and superior intelligence - the crucial information that can come from the constant presence of a UAV over the battlefield. Pressing ahead with the development of drones that involve the technical-developing more sophisticated sensors and transmitting information to commanders and combat pilot at lightning speed - and the cultural - that is, overcoming the affection of American uniformed military for the tried-and-true.
Initially, the U.S. armed services were reluctant to devote money and effort to drones, American defense officials said, out of uncertainty how pilotless aircraft would fit into their war plans and concerns that new technology would drain funding from other weapons. It took long convincing talks, in order to convince the American Armed Services that there is a place for the drones on the battlefield. According to informed sources at the American Defense Department, it is the Army , that is making the best use of the burgeoning technology, with plans to purchase 66 Shadow surveillance drones for its active and reserve units during the next few years. The Shadow which has a 13-foot wingspan and can be controlled from a Humvee, will give the American Army units an "over the hill" view of the enemy.
But technical challenges lie ahead. Though the pace of the technology is moving along some are less certain. Military experts say, that the American armed services have yet to develop the sophisticated software and the more advanced communication links that will be needed to convey data to decision-makers. Furthermore, sceptics note that some Predators have crashed because of bad weather and icing. Automatic de-icers have been added. Other critics say that some low-flying and slow-moving drones are susceptible to an enemy with a sophisticated air defense system. High-ranking military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that they wish that more drones had been available in Afghanistan, and American strategist are working them into long range plans.

The lack of drones is making life difficult on the battlefield. European militaries have begun to show considerably more interest in UAV's than in the past, in no small measure due the their utility in the Kosovo mission. With European NATO forces focusing increasingly on such missions as their future assignments modernization of their UAV force has assumed a new priority. European countries have been very fast to adopt UAV's. This is due, in part, to the relatively low cost of such systems and their immediate benefit to the type of operations which faced European armies in the Balkans.
In spite of the consolidation of the European aerospace industries and the frequent pleas for multinational programs, there is an amazing lack of coordination in the UAV efforts. In the case of vital systems needed in the short-term, individual countries have opted to either local procurement, or procurement of an off-the-shelf solution. Europe's largest aerospace firms could help fill a post September 11 niche by selling systems technology and unmanned aircraft to nations fighting terrorism. The growing interest in unmanned surveillance vehicles is another opportunity, and EADS hopes to compete head-to-head with American companies for global market share. Besides the proliferation of tactical UAV efforts, the Europeans have begun to explore their requirements for endurance systems.

The countries with a stronger sense of global roles, such as France and Britain, have been the first to state a need for such systems. The joint effort will focus on the technologies and research needed to field an array of new air combat platforms and systems, including avionics, command-and-control and propulsion. France has selected the Israeli Heron for its short-term requirement, though French firms are offering indigenous designs to serve as an equivalent of Global Hawk. Britain is still defining its requirements under Watchkeeper. The British Defense Ministry will soon select two final competitors for its 500-million-pound Watchkeeper program . The United Kingdom currently operates the Phoenix UAV, which is rail-launched from a truck. Watchkeeper will likely consist of two types of UAV. A short range vehicle and a medium-endurance UAV. Transforming any nation's air operations to a viable mix of manned and unmanned aircraft will require time, national will and budget commitments.
This will determine whether the visions of today will become the reality of tomorrow .

Druckversion | Seite empfehlen

bookmarken bei...