How Drone Sector Evolution Is Transforming New Age Warfare

The 21st century has seen military developments that have not only reduced casualties but also generated ethical concerns about their usage and deployments. 

No other technological innovation in the military has invited consternation and acclaim than the use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs). Both its advocates and detractors have strong claims regarding its usage in conflict zones.

The history of UAVs

A statement by a World War II US Army Air Force General, Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, acquired a prophetic claim that turned true decades later. ‘The next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at all’. 

Drone
AFP/Representational image

Ahmed S. Hashim and Grégoire Patte writing in the Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses Journal figure that 33% of aircrafts in the US military are unmanned; it was 5% in 2005. The budget for UAVs in the US military is 10%. The predator drone costs around US $ 10.5 million and is cheaper than aircrafts that require manning. To put it into perspective, An F-22 Raptor fighter jet costs the same as 14 UAVs. 

The first country to engage in Research and Development(R&D) of UAVs was the United States in 1917. The second war saw extensive research in the field of drones but the efforts materialised only during the Vietnam war when the US developed an unmanned reconnaissance drone, AQM- 34 Firebee, to gather intel for the army. 

Becoming a world of drones?

Shortly after, Israel began researching the capabilities offered by drones in the 1970s and invested in its R&D.  During the 1982 Lebanon war, Israeli efforts bore fruit when unarmed drones were used to collect information on Syrian and Palestinian forces. 

In the 90s, the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency(DAPRA) developed the MQ-1 Predator drone and an unarmed version was used by NATO to gather information about Serbian forces.

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AFP/Representational image

The Predator was armed in 2000 when its reconnaissance and Surveillance capabilities weren’t enough and the target had to be eliminated along with gathering information. Osama Bin Laden provided the spur to arm the drones. And the US army obliged in 2000 by beginning the research into arming the drones. 

The IAI Heron, developed in Israel, was intended to compete with the Reaper. As per a database published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel shipped 41% of all UAVs between 2001 and 2011. For a short period of time, such activities were mostly carried out by the United States and Israel (which has its own considerable drone industry). Things have, however, transformed dramatically.

A new phase of drone warfare has already begun, with a slew of new players. China is a growing drone producer and exporter, and its more flexible export policy has helped to fill market gaps. Pakistan, Iraq, and Nigeria all carried out strikes in 2015 using military drones provided by China or developed in collaboration with it.

The future of combat is increasingly becoming remote-controlled and with UAVs doing reconnaissance, surveillance and taking out particular targets, human intervention and threats to personnel lives are being increasingly minimised. 

Russia-Ukraine Drone Warfare:

A war that started with Russian tanks barreling across the Ukrainian border, tunnels dug into the ground in the style of World War I, and Soviet-made artillery thumping the landscape now has a more modern attribute: soldiers observing the battle zone on a small satellite-linked display while their palm-sized drone hovers out of sight.

The conflict started by a land grab befitting an 18th-century ruler has evolved into a digital-age race for technological mastery in the air, one that military history will note as a pivotal moment. Each day, hundreds of reconnaissance and military drones fly over Ukraine.

Drones were frequently utilised by one side to detect and strike targets in previously uncontested airspace during conflicts, notably in American operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Drone
AP/Representational image

Drones are used at every stage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which features large fleets, air defences, and jamming systems on opposing sides. Experts reportedly believe — D rones, that allow Russia and Ukraine to see and attack one other without ever getting close, are the essential method of bridging the divide in a fight where the enemy is frequently kilometres away.

Drones are now so crucial to surviving battles that they are sometimes used to target other drones.

Early in September, a Ukrainian surveillance drone flew through a space between two jamming systems close to the Russian border, just days before Ukraine launched an offensive to drive Russian forces from its northeastern Kharkiv region. It entered Russia, went north, and travelled via the Belgorod region, where Russia maintains equipment to support its conflict in eastern Ukraine.

While aerial combat drones have garnered a lot of attention, Ukraine has successfully used drones against Russian ‘naval assets’ in occupied Crimea. Marine drones, which function like more conventional torpedoes, were coordinated with aerial drones in this attack.

The widespread and extremely effective deployment of tiny commercial drones, many of which are piloted by volunteer civilians, to gather intelligence is another relatively recent development in the conflict in Ukraine. This has helped Ukrainian forces better understand their surroundings, recognise Russian positions, and keep tabs on troop movements.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Russia and Ukraine have used a wide variety of military and commercial drones. However, their deployment is becoming more frequent and effective, which points to a potential new stage of escalation with significant ramifications for Ukraine and its western backers.

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