Expendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles for Strategic Offensive ...

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The problem with the figure 1 view is that it is out of date since differenttypes of vehicles now overlap more than one category. New technologyoften prompts the revision of original meanings and the appearance ofnew acronyms. For example, cruise missiles were initially only capable offlying a single, preprogrammed route. Recent technologies now make itpossible to perform changes during flight, either via human or autonomousinputs. Also, drone is an older term that initially did not referto a remotely controllable vehicle. Today, Webster’s Ninth New CollegiateDictionary defines it as a pilotless vehicle “controlled by radio signals”;however, this is not always the case.Literature on unmanned aircraft (UMA) includes many different termsused to describe them. Some, such as UMA 6 and unmanned vehicle(UMV), 7 never gained wide acceptance. The most recent acronyms, UCAV(uninhabited combat air vehicle) and URAV (uninhabited reconnaissanceair vehicle), were developed “to distinguish the aircraft enabled by the newtechnologies from those now in operation or planned.” 8Classes of Aerial VehiclesThis study uses some of the more widely used terms in order to delineateclasses of aerial vehicles not having a pilot on board. For the purposeof this study, the following terms and meanings will apply.DefinitionsDefinitions are primarily author-derived and not based on any onesource. The attempt was to use terms and meanings from which thereader could logically distinguish one from the other.Aerial Vehicle. The all-inclusive term applied to a self-propelled airpowerconveyance designed to operate without a human physically residingon board but capable of being directed by a human and/or directingitself during flight. Three major categories under UAVs are drones, cruisemissiles, and RPVs.Drone. The category of UAVs possessing preprogrammed autonomousflight control capability. Drones can be recoverable or expendable.Cruise Missile. The category of UAVs designed to have preprogrammedautonomous flight control capability but may possess limited data inputand/or output interaction with a human controller to guide it. Cruise missilestraditionally carry destructive payloads and are expendable.Remotely Piloted Vehicle. The category of UAVs designed to have somedegree of interaction with a human controller via a data link but may possessautonomous flight control capability. An RPV receives data to influenceits flight and mission operations. It transmits data to provide flightsensor information, as well as mission information from any number ofinformation-gathering sensors carried on board the vehicle. RPVs can berecoverable or expendable.3
UAVs were more easily defined when they could be positively categorizedas either expendable or recoverable and either remotely or automaticallycontrolled (as illustrated in fig. 1). Terms and definitions are morelogically categorized according to the degree of remote and/or automaticcontrol. In this manner, the family of drones consists of strictly autonomous(automatic control) pilotless aircraft. A cruise missile and anRPV can have internal automatic navigation control systems as well ashuman reliance control characteristics; however, they are distinct accordingto the degree of control they typically require.Table 1 shows the relationship of primary UAV types used throughoutthis document. Unlike figure 1, the author does not categorize UAVs as eitherexpendable or recoverable. This study contends one should not useexpendability as a classification, but rather as a characteristic in the samemanner that stealth is a design option. This study primarily focuses onRPVs for strategic offensive airpower roles and explores the value of expendabilityas a design option.Table 1Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Types and Control MechanismsUAV TYPEDRONECRUISE MISSILERPVCONTROL MECHANISMAUTONOMOUS CONTROLAUTONOMOUS CONTROL REQUIREDHUMAN OVERRIDE CONTROL OPTIONALHUMAN CONTROL REQUIREDAUTONOMOUS CONTROL OPTIONALAs noted earlier, original terms and definitions often evolve when peopleconceive new ideas with no existing words to adequately describethem. We could view the concept of an expendable RPV as a remotely pilotedcruise missile, particularly in an attack role. This study, however,describes fusing kamikaze (suicide aerial attack), RPV, and cruise missilecharacteristics into a single system resembling more of an RPV. The followingcoined terms and definitions clarify hypothetical concepts on howoperators could remotely control this vehicle in the future.Cybornautics. The technological concept of using cybernetics, or communicationand control theory, to integrate a human controller with an RPV.This technology takes current advanced concepts such as virtual reality controlto a theoretical level of man-machine interface. In essence, the human isremotely linked to the machine in such a fashion that the person experiencesa degree of being part of the vehicle (as opposed to an experience as a separateentity within the vehicle). For example, the operator would not visually4
Page 1 and 2: Expendable Remotely PilotedVehicles
Page 3 and 4: ContentsChapterDISCLAIMER . . . . .
Page 5 and 6: AbstractThe future holds an acceler
Page 7 and 8: AcknowledgmentsI thank all the stud
Page 9: aircraft. Incorporating the added d
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 4 answers the question: Why
Page 15 and 16: Chapter 2History and BackgroundWe h
Page 17 and 18: The Wright brothers are deservedly
Page 19 and 20: aerial bombs), the British took the
Page 21 and 22: UAVs during World War II to a few g
Page 23 and 24: On 27 October of that year, another
Page 25 and 26: United States to look beyond reconn
Page 27 and 28: ary 1996, Gen Ronald R. Fogleman, A
Page 29 and 30: 29. Shaker and Wise, 28.30. Michael
Page 31 and 32: Chapter 3Strategic Offensive Airpow
Page 33 and 34: ombs, as well as a high sortie rate
Page 35 and 36: It thus follows that future air cam
Page 37 and 38: possible for small formations to ac
Page 39 and 40: spite the successes, it is easily p
Page 41 and 42: The transmissions used by a control
Page 43 and 44: 33. Air Force Scientific Advisory B
Page 45 and 46: diverted 75 percent of its B-29s aw
Page 47 and 48: Table 6Remotely Piloted Vehicle Adv
Page 49 and 50: million dollars each. The unit flya
Page 51 and 52: Relative Ranks for Fewer Design Con
Page 53 and 54: mission) the open bomb bay doors si
Page 55 and 56: Relative Ranks for Flight Noise Are
Page 57 and 58: Owens also stated that the military
Page 59 and 60: All forms of manned and unmanned ai
Page 61 and 62:
Relative Ranks for Reliability Area
Page 63 and 64:
KEY: ● Major Advantage Counterba
Page 65 and 66:
7. “Report: Military Crashes Down
Page 67 and 68:
62. McGonigle, 34.63. Ibid., 33.64.
Page 69 and 70:
expendable RPVs, American political
Page 71 and 72:
cybornaut activates engine thruster
Page 73 and 74:
Chapter 6ConclusionConstant evaluat
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one role. A countless combination o
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