More on the UAVs in the pipeline

Esquire:

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Details of this new UAV development are limited — the Air Force Research Laboratory released a 78-page briefing last month, sketching out individual plans for a number of drone-related systems. The briefing, first obtained by Air Force Times but reviewed this morning for Esquire.com, offers the first detailed glimpse at an American military strategy that has adapted to conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan and "incorporates a vision and strategy... that focus on delivery of warfighting capability" with new robots.

Perhaps the most significant concept in the briefing is a UAV called Suburb Warrior, which would carry a new kind of smaller, precision-guided missile. Another project, called Sniper, is a targeting system that can lock on to multiple targets, allowing a single drone pilot to coordinate the attacks of a squadron of robots — or a single UAV to hit a group of enemies. Picking through the dozens of systems in this briefing, many of which will be flight-tested within five years, there's a clear set of goals: build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields. And hunt as soon as possible.

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Theoretically, the smaller missiles launched by Suburb Warrior would wreak less havoc in crowded battlefields. In asking for proposals for a "Miniature Weapon Demonstration," the Air Force described the new weapon as an "air-launched, precision miniature munition capability," which would provide a "mobile target kill capability against a broad set of targets in a suburban environment." In the new briefing, the system is described as "for application in a dense, all environment urban battlespace."

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Instead of dropping Hellfires or a 500-pound bomb on an insurgent hideout, one or more Suburb Warriors could fire a volley of mini-missiles at confirmed targets, without vaporizing the wedding reception next door. The drone is slated for flight tests by 2014, and Sniper is scheduled to begin tests in cruise missiles and UAVs within two years. The Air Force is reviewing white papers for miniature munitions now, and a contract could be awarded as early as September.

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There was a link to a cool Air Force video on Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). While these are concepts that are not expected in operation for another six or more years, they still look pretty primitive. This is going to be an area of rapid development in the coming years and I expect an accelerated development that will probable exceed the expectations given in the article. I think it will be on about the same develpment curve as the personal computer with each generation getting smarter and smaller.

What these vehicles do is give our war fighters persistence as well as a force multiplier. I know I constantly harp on the need for an adequate force to space ratio, but these machines help us achieve that ratio in a less obtrusive way and for the enemy a very scary way.