Expendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles for Strategic Offensive ...

Manned aircraft require basing facilities and support personnel, whichare prime targets for attack. In the 1994 speech referenced to earlier inthis chapter, General McPeak highlights air base vulnerability as anothermajor Air Force concern:We sent about 55,000 airmen to Desert Storm to support a relative handful ofactive air combatants. We created a very nice target array for the other guy. Wewere lucky and got away with it, although the Army was on the receiving endof an example of what might have happened when that Scud missile hit theirdormitory in Dhahran. We must find ways to reduce the density of the targetarray we present to the opposition. 50In one respect, the ability of strategic aircraft to fly great distances, withair refueling support, offers an optional measure of protection. On theother hand, highly specialized aircraft are traditionally based at locationsthat can support and service their special needs. The B-2 bomber is basedat one continental US location. “The Whiteman facilities built to supportthe B-2 were designed and constructed bearing in mind that the B-2 hasa very long life expectancy.” 51 No matter how well protected, “putting allyour eggs into one basket” poses a highly undesirable security risk notjust to facilities but also to specially trained personnel.Vertical take-off and landing aircraft can provide the capability for dispersaland basing at more discreet locations. Reusable RPVs currently canbe launched from air-, land-, and sea-based assets and recovered by fullyautomated means. Cruise missiles and expendable RPVs do not requirepersonnel and facilities for recovery operations. Thus, they have an advantagein this area over manned and unmanned assets, which mustsafely return for recovery.Relative Ranks for Safety of Ground Personnel and Facilities AreaManned AircraftCruise MissilesReusable Remotely Piloted VehiclesExpendable Remotely Piloted Vehicles◦●●Development CostsThe extremely high development costs for manned systems is an area ofdisadvantage and is actually contributing to recent calls for alternativeairpower means such as UAVs. The more systems an aircraft requires, thehigher the cost and inevitably the more numerous the acquisition programproblems and development delays. Although certainly not inexpensive,the cost to develop cruise missiles is more stable than RPVs due toabsence of controller requirements.Before retiring as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, AdmiralOwens stated that UAVs could replace several manned aircraft, resultingin savings for the services of “hundreds of million [dollars] per year.” 5251