Expendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles for Strategic Offensive ...

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phase and weapons support officers would receive control to perf o rmattack operations. 4 2Relative Ranks for Better Performance in Hazardous,Boring, or Fatiguing Conditions AreaManned AircraftCruise MissilesReusable Remotely Piloted VehiclesExpendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles◦●●●Flight NoiseIn a 1994 speech, General McPeak addressed flight noise as an areawhich required greater attention. “Surprise conveys almost overwhelmingcombat advantage,” he stated, “so it is very important that we continue to‘quieten’ aircraft, as we have submarines.” 43 Various measures are beingused to decrease the noise of jet engines; however, some level of outputwill always exist.Strategic aircraft, such as the F-117 and the B-2, have engines whichgenerate a great deal of noise. The F-117 may attack at higher altitudesmaking them more difficult, but not impossible, to hear. The B-2, redesignedfor low-level attack, is more vulnerable in the area of flightnoise. Despite this, these assets were designed for single-ship operations—making large formations (and the high levels of noise they generated) athing of the past.Air Chief Marshal Armitage addressed how RPVs can offer lower noisesignature design possibilities. He states that “only small and lower poweredpropeller driven aircraft are likely to offer extremely low acoustic signatures.”He continues, “many small drones and RPVs take advantage ofthis factor.” 44RPVs may actually be more effective as noise generators on certainmissions. For example, decoy drones may purposely want their pre sence known as they conduct 24-hour-a-day harassment missions. Thiswould not only affect the morale of the enemy but also force the enemyto expend re s o u rces to deal with it. This was the case with the V-1 BuzzBomb: “One of the ironies of the Luftwaffe’s ‘buzz bomb’ (which cost afraction of the V-2) was that not only did its noisiness create more terror, the fact that it could be shot down diverted much more Allied eff o r tinto stopping it.” 4 5All unmanned aircraft were assigned an advantage rank in this area becausethey offer the design potential to have lower acoustic signaturesthan manned aircraft. General McPeak acknowledged this as he continuedto address the aircraft quieting requirement. He stated, “really lowsignatures may require removing the pilot.” 4649
Relative Ranks for Flight Noise AreaManned AircraftCruise MissilesReusable Remotely Piloted VehiclesExpendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles●●●Airspace SafetyAirspace safety is a major area of concern for all aircraft. It would be agreat tragedy if any two aircraft inexplicably collided with each other duringflight. Airspace deconfliction can be a problem; and it would be bestto ensure separation, in time or space, and between manned and unmannedassets. RPVs offer the potential capability to fly above other aircraftat operational altitudes of 85,000 to 125,000 feet. 47 They also offerthe option of flying at very low altitudes. (Reusable RPVs have a disadvantagein that they must be recovered; this makes airspace deconflictiona return flight concern.) RPVs offer the flexibility of being recovered awayfrom manned aircraft bases.In the Gulf War, airspace restrictions limited combat operations formanned aircraft. “Airspace was the primary limitation for air refueling inDesert Storm. It was also a major factor for Proven Force operations. Duringheavy flying periods in the AOR, additional tankers, regardless of configuration,could not have been used because of airspace congestion.” 48There was one midair collision during Desert Storm, but equal concernlies with the near misses: “the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center received37 NMAC [near mid-air collisions] reports for Desert Storm. It is estimatedthat reported NMACs equaled only a small fraction of those actuallyoccurring.” 49Relative Ranks for Airspace Safety AreaManned AircraftCruise MissilesReusable Remotely Piloted VehiclesExpendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles●●Safety of Ground Personnel and FacilitiesSafety of ground personnel and facilities is an advantage for cruise missilesand expendable RPVs. It poses a considerable disadvantage formanned aircraft and a lesser degree of negative aspects for reusable RPVs.UAVs, which are intended for one-use missions, do not require the significantnumber of personnel and facilities to recover and turn vehiclesaround for continuing operations.50
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 and 10: aircraft. Incorporating the added d
Page 11 and 12: UAVs were more easily defined when
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: mission) the open bomb bay doors si
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
Page 75: one role. A countless combination o
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