English

DTIC ADA445081: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap, 2005-2030

As the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) enters its fourth year, the contributions of unmanned aircraft (UA) in sorties, hours, and expanded roles continue to increase. As of September 2004, some twenty types of coalition UA, large and small, have flown over 100,000 total flight hours in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF). Their once reconnaissance- only role is now shared with strike, force protection and signals collection, and, in doing so have helped reduce the complexity and time lag in the sensor-to-shooter chain for acting on actionable intelligence. UA systems (UAS) continue to expand, encompassing a broad range of mission capabilities. These diverse systems range in cost from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars, and range in capability from Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) weighing less than one pound to aircraft weighing over 40,000 pounds. UA, and unmanned systems in general, are changing the conduct of military operations in the GWOT by providing unrelenting pursuit without offering the terrorist a high value target or a potential captive.

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