Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles: What Men Do in Aircraft and Why Machines Can Do it Better
Abstract
Commercial airplanes on autopilot take off, fly to a distant destination, and land; autonomous cruise missiles pound targets over a thousand kilometers from their launch point; unmanned space missions orbit satellites and explore other planets; yet the armed forces continue to buy aircraft that require an onboard pilot to guide them into enemy territory and carry out well-defined missions. On the other hand, the pilots and operational specialists who run those missions cannot begin to fathom an unmanned vehicle capable of the level of reliability and versatility that current manned systems enjoy. In their view, no suite of sensors and no array of computers or offboard guidance can substitute for a trained "pair of eyeballs" in the cockpit. However, defense institutions have recently begun to reject the latter philosophy in favor of the former. Today's fighter planes are scheduled for retirement in massive numbers starting in 2015. Planned replacements include the F-22 for air superiority and the Joint Strike Fighter for interdiction and close air support. But recently the U.S. Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also began an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. All the major aerospace players competed designs for this program, and Boeing walked away with over one hundred million dollars to push its efforts into a Phase I program. If the program is carried through, the U.S. could have an operational fleet of UCAVs as early as 2010.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA520346
Entities
People
- David Bookstaber
Organizations
- Air and Space Power Journal