Policy and Doctrine Impacts of Semi and Full Autonomous ISR and Weaponized RPA

Abstract

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) have performed a myriad of missions in their brief service history--from initial Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) support operations in the Balkans to performing kinetic strike missions in todays counterterrorism struggle. Innovative mission sets are continually being introduced such as RPA airborne communication data relays.2 The revolutionary capabilities that RPA deliver have not been without problems, namely in the realm of Command and Control (C2), the sheer variety of RPA operations, and in the acquisition process. Despite this, RPA are here to stay--their numbers have increased from an estimated 167 in 2003 to 5331 in 2008 with the trend expected to continue.3

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2010
Accession Number
AD1019545

Entities

People

  • Douglas Gaeta

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Business Administration
  • Combat Vehicles
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Executives
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Procurement
  • Space Systems
  • United States
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control