UAVs and the dawn of post‐modern warfare: A perspective on recent operations

Air Chief Marshal Brian Burridge is Commander-in-Chief Strike Command. This article is based on his address to RUSI's Unmanned Vehicle Systems conference on 15 July 2003 Introduction The development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), like so many aspects of military capability, has been accelerated at times of conflict, when warfare pushes humans to develop new technologies to meet immediate needs. Invariably, the experience provides valuable lessons to apply to the future. The capabilities and contributions of UAVs have been propelled forward in this way and, most rapidly, during operations of the last ten years — none more so than during the recent Iraq war. Of course, since man first flew, one hundred years ago, there have been those that have theorized about the potential and possibilities of taking the man out of the machine. Actual progress was relatively modest early in the last century, until the US and the Israelis began to pay closer attention to the concept during the Arab-Israeli and Vietnam wars. In fact, it was the Israelis, thirty years ago, who first tested Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) using AGM 65 missiles. By the time of the 1991 Gulf War, the US had developed tactical UAVs as battlefield-intelligence gathering platforms the Pioneer and it became obvious to the Americans that the UAV concept would eventually have much much more to offer. During the Bosnian conflict, the US pressed on further with the introduction of the Predator which gave the burgeoning US UAV programme a significant boost, alerting an 'awakening' of support in the Pentagon for programmes. Its ability to monitor troops and humanitarian activity, seek targets, and provide post-strike BDA showed its flexibility in the increasingly complex post-Cold War force environments. The UK introduced its first operational UAV system during the Kosovo conflict, which was also the conflict which spurred the US into using their UAVs for laser designation of A-10s, when commanders realized they had a Predator looking at a target, but were unable to get that information, other than verbally, to the attack aircraft. During the recent war in Afghanistan, Predator and Global Hawk UAVs provided persistent recce support. They undertook a variety of missions achieving effects from the tactical to the strategic. They proved themselves to be one of the key elements in the development of Time Sensitive Targeting. Historically perceived as Information Surveillance Target Acquisition Reconnaissance (ISTAR) assets, it was also during this post-11 September era that the arming of UAVs really came of age. Only a few years ago, the US defence community had been theorizing about the possibility of UCAVs now UCAVs have become a reality. Having first test-fired Hellfire anti-tank missiles in the US in February 2001, senior American Officers sitting in the Pentagon, only months later, were able to watch video footage sent back from a Predator UAV which was tracking a Taliban convoy and then destroyed it using a Hellfire missile. The US also used Predator to prosecute a Hellfire attack against Al Qa'ida terrorists in Yemen. Predators not only fired their own weapons in Afghanistan, but also orchestrated air-to-ground attacks by other aircraft. On one occasion, a Predator directed an attack on a site that included a mosque, sending pictures live to an AC130 and assisting