Will We Have an Unmanned Armada?

Posted on: Nov. 1st, 2005 || Source: afa.org | E-mail Article | Print Article

Will We Have an Unmanned Armada?

Unmanned aircraft will perform a remarkable range of missions over the next two decades. No longer mere reconnaissance platforms, these systems will be, in some cases, near-sentient robots able to carry out airlift, long-range strike, and even air-to-air combat missions.

That, at least, is the forecast and plan that is outlined in the Pentagon’s new “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap: 2005-2030,” released in August.

Robotic aircraft—formerly called “unmanned aerial vehicles” but now called “unmanned aircraft systems,” or UASes—are sure to elbow aside many manned airplanes that now conduct endurance missions of many hours; this has long been expected. However, the report’s confident prediction of more dynamic and autonomous roles suggests that a broad reshaping of the US military aircraft fleet may be in store.

In fact, the Defense Department may have been cutting back on manned aircraft programs—particularly fighters such as USAF’s F/A-22 and the joint service F-35—because defense leaders believe that equally powerful but cheaper unmanned replacements could be around the corner.

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