Hi sammies,
Here's something to chew-on for a slow Saturday morning :p
Thanks in large part to the ongoing global War on Terror, many of us have a schoolgirl crush on drones.
As a result, we love to put an excessive emphasis on theory based, technological solutions to problems
and the search for military platforms that do everything under the sun and remove as many humans from
the loop as possible to cut costs and reduce footprint.
To many, drones are “aircraft of the gods” because they are (perceive to be) cheap, stealthy, easy to rapidly
deploy anywhere in the world and expendable with no human pilot.
The reality is for all they are capable of presently doing, drones are not aircraft of the gods, they are still
nascent technology.
To those who think that border can be defended by hundreds of propeller powered MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1
Predator drones (or their equivalents) in place of traditional manned, high performance jet aircraft, they are
sorely mistaken.
Until a drone has the artificial intelligence and manoeuvrability to independently operate against manned, high
performance aircraft, any military with a reasonable traditional air defence infrastructure can easily stop a
military equipped with only drones.
An enemy power with surface to air missiles, AWACS and third to early fourth generation aircraft will make
mincemeat of a military armed only with drones.
Lesson 1
Drones do not have the agility or speed nor the payload of a manned combat vehicle, expensive complicating
factors for drones technology.
Due to weight and design constraints, today UAVs mostly cannot detect and evade threats reliably for lack of
sophisticated airborne radar and ECM apparatus , let alone shoot back, to survive in denied or contested airspace.
Lesson 2
A question no one ever seems to ask is what happens if an enemy nation, equipped with anti-satellite missiles,
destroys the communications satellite that links the air operations center to its drones?
Or what happens if an old yet still reliable third generation fighter aircraft flies between gaps in AWACS and sea or
ground-based radar coverage to engage ECM and/or ECCM to blindside the controller of the drones?
Lesson 3
Like any computer programming, drone artificial intelligence programming and control can be interrupted and hacked
as demonstrated by the Iranians in their two recent hijacking and capturing of American drones.
Lesson 4
The shooting down of an U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator in Turkey on September 18, 2012 by an unsophisticated
Kurdish rebel group using handheld weapon is an awakening call for military planners on the future of unmanned
combat aerial vehicle.
Also, the shooting down of the drone by the Israeli Air Force F-16, a 1970's design and build aircraft should teach us a
powerful lesson about the danger and weakness of a future dominated by pilotless planes.
Here's something to chew-on for a slow Saturday morning :p
Thanks in large part to the ongoing global War on Terror, many of us have a schoolgirl crush on drones.
As a result, we love to put an excessive emphasis on theory based, technological solutions to problems
and the search for military platforms that do everything under the sun and remove as many humans from
the loop as possible to cut costs and reduce footprint.
To many, drones are “aircraft of the gods” because they are (perceive to be) cheap, stealthy, easy to rapidly
deploy anywhere in the world and expendable with no human pilot.
The reality is for all they are capable of presently doing, drones are not aircraft of the gods, they are still
nascent technology.
To those who think that border can be defended by hundreds of propeller powered MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1
Predator drones (or their equivalents) in place of traditional manned, high performance jet aircraft, they are
sorely mistaken.
Until a drone has the artificial intelligence and manoeuvrability to independently operate against manned, high
performance aircraft, any military with a reasonable traditional air defence infrastructure can easily stop a
military equipped with only drones.
An enemy power with surface to air missiles, AWACS and third to early fourth generation aircraft will make
mincemeat of a military armed only with drones.
Lesson 1
Drones do not have the agility or speed nor the payload of a manned combat vehicle, expensive complicating
factors for drones technology.
Due to weight and design constraints, today UAVs mostly cannot detect and evade threats reliably for lack of
sophisticated airborne radar and ECM apparatus , let alone shoot back, to survive in denied or contested airspace.
Lesson 2
A question no one ever seems to ask is what happens if an enemy nation, equipped with anti-satellite missiles,
destroys the communications satellite that links the air operations center to its drones?
Or what happens if an old yet still reliable third generation fighter aircraft flies between gaps in AWACS and sea or
ground-based radar coverage to engage ECM and/or ECCM to blindside the controller of the drones?
Lesson 3
Like any computer programming, drone artificial intelligence programming and control can be interrupted and hacked
as demonstrated by the Iranians in their two recent hijacking and capturing of American drones.
Lesson 4
The shooting down of an U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator in Turkey on September 18, 2012 by an unsophisticated
Kurdish rebel group using handheld weapon is an awakening call for military planners on the future of unmanned
combat aerial vehicle.
Also, the shooting down of the drone by the Israeli Air Force F-16, a 1970's design and build aircraft should teach us a
powerful lesson about the danger and weakness of a future dominated by pilotless planes.
