Advances in additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence\u00a0and composite materials; improved energy densities in gel fuels; new energy-reflecting coatings; and nanoexplosives mean there are powerful, autonomous, stealthy drones in our immediate future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, commercial firms are creating drones that use a variety of sensors to autonomously execute tasks ranging from aerial spraying to ocean surveillance to air freight. With minor modifications, these drones can become improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that hunt autonomously. And as commercial systems, they are available to almost anyone. \u00a0
First will be the loss of immunity to attack from small states and non-state groups. Very long-range drone aircraft and submersibles will provide even small states the capability to strike air and sea ports of debarkation \u2014 and perhaps even embarkation. This will create major political problems in sustaining a US\u00a0military campaign both domestically and internationally. Domestically, will the US\u00a0public support distant actions if they result in a significant threat to the nation?\u00a0 Is the US nited States <\/span>prepared to provide the level of defense required to protect key targets across those nations providing interim bases and facilities in the Middle East and Europe? Would those nations allow it to try?\u00a0 Drone swarms may make defense tactically dominant in ground, air, and sea warfare. The Department of Defense needs to run rigorous experiments to understand the character of such a conflict. Currently, DoD is testing various approaches to deal with the exponential increase in targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is imperative that these systems be tested against a thinking, reacting opposition that employs creative but practical countermeasures. If the experiments show defense to be tactically dominant, DoD will have to work out how US\u00a0forces can still achieve their inherently offensive operational and strategic missions.\u00a0 In contrast, additive manufacturing is inherently flexible, since the product produced depends only on the materials the machine can use and the software that is loaded. Thus, as additive manufacturing assumes a greater role in industry, the possibility of industrial mobilization will re-emerge. Can the Pentagon manage such a mobilization? Success will require significant peacetime planning. The diffusion of power will also greatly complicate US\u00a0responses to various crises, reduce its ability to influence events with military force, and should require policymakers and military planners to thoughtfully consider future policies and strategy. Advances in additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence mean powerful, autonomous, drones are in our immediate future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":66,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[66,33,17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1929],"class_list":["post-15374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-home","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"W5YVTL2JPJCT7FAJSVSUXNOMYI","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2016\/02\/15\/commentary-technology-converges-power-diffuses\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n