Are UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) the Future of Our Military Essay

Are UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) the Future of Our Military - Essay Example onclusion might have been, the US Air Force has come out to close the debate once and for all by declaring that UAVs are the way to go in the future, through their Flight Plan 2009-2047 (USAF, 2009). The question that might come to the mind of the reader is â€Å"What are the factors that made the US Air Force turn completely from rejecting the UAVs as a viable technology in the 1970s to declaring them as a key to the future of this countrys defenses?† My own views on UAVs is that they definitely are the future of our military, and this discussion will give a technological overview on why I think so and why the Air Force has gone for it too. Also, it will discuss what aspects of the future might it take hold upon, clearly showing what UAVs are good for and what roles in aerial warfare will still be manned. The focus of our military is to have the best possible control on all aspects of warfare. The focus, then, is on technology. Technology and cost go side by side. Economic comparison of UAVs with manned aircraft is also done in the study to put everything into perspective. Following are some reasons for which UAVs are the future of our military in the light of technology and economy: Warfare is the name of knowing what your opponent might do next. Whoever knows that has a higher chance of winning the war than the ignorant party. UAVs provide the best technological solution for constant surveillance – even better than satellites. UAVs have flight times over days. Even if manned aerial vehicles has such endurance, the human can never stay in flight for so long. Thus, this gives UAVs an edge in their surveillance capability and ease of operation over manned systems. A plane can stay in flight over enemy territory only for as long as the enemy cannot shoot it down. The only way to prevent that is to be invisible to radar. The low speeds along with very high flight altitude of UAVs, makes them that (Pappalardo, 2010). Airframes can be designed to magnanimous