Air Power Association President, Air Marshal (Ret’d) Greg Bagwell CB, CBE examines the growing importance of unmanned aircraft systems, a much-misunderstood part of modern warfare.
COLUMN
Commander’s Update Briefing
LAST MONTH I explained why the F-35 is such an important aircraft for the future delivery of air power. But as controversial as that aircraft might be in some eyes, it is probably not subject to such heated debate as operations by unmanned aircraft systems (or UAS), or, as they are more commonly known: ‘drones’. They make the news for all sorts of reasons and they are becoming more commonplace in the commercial, civilian and military sectors. Their proliferation in general use is something that will increasingly warrant attention, but I will keep my observations here to their military application.
There are many different unmanned systems now in service with militaries around the world, ranging from the strategic (eg RQ-4 Global Hawk) to the tactical (eg Boeing Insitu ScanEagle) in terms of operating range, and from those employed purely for surveillance to increasingly sophisticated weapons platforms. They have proven invaluable for persistent surveillance in relatively benign environments…
