Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles
Commercial aircraft with autopilot take off, travel to a far-off destination and finally land. Autonomous cruise missiles hit targets more than 1000 kilometres away from their point of launch. Unmanned space missions can orbit satellites and investigate other planets. Yet, the military continues to purchase aircraft that need an onboard pilot who can guide them into hostile areas and perform well-defined tasks. However, the operational specialists and pilots that conduct those missions can't imagine the unmanned vehicles that can provide the reliability and flexibility that human-operated systems enjoy. According to them, no set of sensors and an array of computers or offboard guidance can replace an experienced "pair of eyeballs" in the cockpit. However, some defence organizations are now beginning to reject this view and favour the earlier. Fighter planes of today are set to retire with a massive number of aircraft beginning in 2015.2 The replacements planned include the F-22 for air superiority and the Joint Strike Fighter for interdiction and close air support. Recently, however, they announced U.S. Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also launched an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. The major aerospace companies participated in the design competition, and Boeing was the winner with more than 100 million dollars to propel its efforts towards a phase I program. If the plan is carried through, it is possible that the U.S. could have an operational fleet of UCAVs by as early as the year 2010.
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