General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator was introduced in the mid-90s and collected intelligence in the Balkans in the later portion of the decade. But when it was first equipped with Hellfire missiles in 2001, modern warfare was changed forever. No longer did a pilot have to be put at risk to track or strike a target. Instead, he or she could accomplish the mission stateside using a remotely-controlled aircraft.
The military has pumped billions of dollars into the development and purchase of unmanned systems since the War on Terror began, particularly unmanned aerial systems (UAS), and has been operating them in increasingly sophisticated ways. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus famously said in 2015 that he believed the F-35 would be the Navy\u2019s last manned fighter jet. Whether that\u2019s true is yet to be seen, but it\u2019s clear that the military\u2019s current use of unmanned systems is only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The physical technology underlying modern unmanned aerial systems is not revolutionary, though the improved control capabilities that make unmanned operations possible are,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense strategy and budget expert with the American Enterprise Institute. “The real innovation is conceptual in this realm. For instance, the marriage of a slow-flying aircraft with remarkably advanced intelligence equipment and increasingly small munitions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and service-led research labs have hurtled toward making some of that conceptual innovation a reality, prioritizing the development of autonomous and artificial intelligence capabilities that can be funneled into the next generation of unmanned systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defense Department\u2019s Strategic Capabilities Office has been investing in autonomous capabilities that could be made available to the military in the short term. This fall, its director William Roper demonstrated to reporters a small UAS called Perdix, which can be fired from the flare launcher of the F-16 or F\/A-18 and group together with other Perdix drones in a swarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
SCO isn\u2019t the only government agency developing swarming technology. In 2014, the Office of Naval Research tested unmanned high-speed boats with software enabling them to group together to escort ships or attack larger targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other examples of future unmanned technologies include the Air Force\u2019s “Loyal Wingman” \u2014 a UAS that will accompany fighter jets into war \u2014 and laser-armed unmanned planes being built by DARPA that can vertically take off and land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rise of unmanned systems in the military led to increased interest in autonomy and machine learning in the civil sector, said Eaglen, pointing to recent research in driverless cars. Although the military no longer has a monopoly on unmanned capabilities, it can benefit from the investments made by commercial companies and further develop them for warfighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n