DRONE - Untamed Weapon of Precise Destruction
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Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles used for warfare since World War 2. It would have continued to be used as yet another military technology silently.
Still, it gained prominence with public vocabulary as smaller versions are now available for journalism and hobbies like aerial photography.
Moreover, it has led to more curiosity in technology and a quest to know why drones are necessary for the country’s defence.
The countries must have total control and surveillance of their airspace. Ideally, it is done by the Air Force using a sophisticated radar system and fighter jets flown by an experienced pilot.
In case of an intrusion by a hostile aircraft, these fighter jets scramble to intercept the intruder. During a war, tactical sorties are conducted. They are an expensive piece of equipment flown by an experienced pilot whose training is also costly.
The planes require an elaborate maintenance depot and an intricate supply chain of spare parts and ground support infrastructure. To keep the pilots and aircraft battle-ready, they frequently exercise dog fights. Overall, it’s a costly affair for the country.
The Air Force also has to make provisions for maintenance downtime, accidents and loss of life. Due to changing threat types, there are frequent upgrades in technology or technology tailoring. Aircraft operations necessarily require runways, airports, towers, even at remote locations, if they are strategic.
Though they are not the fancy ones like the usual commercial airports, they require a high degree of sophistication and intensive maintenance to keep them running in all situations.
Indian Air Force operates in one of the harshest conditions of cold Siachen Glaciers, hot deserts of Rajasthan and high-altitude terrains where rarefied air makes flying difficult.
Similarly, the air force of other countries like Russia, the US, China and Canada too face extreme weather conditions while keeping their flying machines battle-ready.
During the reconnaissance mission, these aircraft, both fixed wings and rotary wings, face limitations of flying time risk of getting detected. In addition, the altitude at which they operate is also limited.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), popularly known as “drones”, overcome nearly all the limitations of conventional military aircraft in one stroke. Drones also cover mainly all their functions safely and cheap.
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Over the years, the drones have quickly turned itself into a highly sophisticated new age weapon of prime importance.
Over the years, drones have quickly become a highly sophisticated new age weapon of prime importance. Any country that has an active military possesses them. If the government is capable enough, they are all developing and manufacturing it indigenously.
Drones are much cheaper to make compared to traditional fighter jets. This economics encourages the governments to pursue the program of either making drones themselves or purchasing it from plenty of manufacturers available across the world.
A small military-grade drone is available for $400,000, while a fighter jet costs about a hundred million dollars. To make an effective air defence strategy, those have to be bought in dozens or more.
The cost of a typical F35 is in the range of $100 to $135 million apiece, including the spare parts and ground support equipment and maintenance depot. The aircraft’s life cycle is 66 years, and it will cost about $1.6 trillion to operate and sustain the aircraft.
The drones can be manufactured with as many variations, and usually, the buyer has the flexibility to customize their purchase highly.
The drone’s size ranges from large aerial vehicles like the US-made MQ9-Reaper to very small flying objects which can imitate birds or insects.
They also have a long flying time and can range up to 25 days like the Zephyr, which flew for 25 days at an altitude of 70,000 feet. Similarly, the UAV version of the United-40 flew for 120 hours, carrying a payload of 1000 kilos at an altitude of 23,000 feet.
These vehicles are highly undetectable and have sophisticated instruments like thermal imagers, laser designators, range finders, infrared sensors, and lethal weapons and missile systems.
They also need a very short take-off and landing strip, and in a few cases, they may lift off from an unprepared surface.
These flexibilities make it a favourable weapon delivery vehicle for the state actors and non-state actors. In the hands of non-state entities, drones are a severe risk and will be an uncontrolled devil if this practice is uncurbed now.
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The greatest advantage drones provides to the owners is its cost of operation and the zero risk it carries for the operating personnel.
The most significant advantage drones provide to the owners is their cost of operation and the zero risk it carries for the operating personnel.
The operators can fly the UAVs into the enemy territories from a remote location without risking their lives. Furthermore, if the drone gets shot down, there is no risk of the pilot getting captured or killed.
Compared to the conventional use of a fighter jet, this ability to fly a risk-free mission gives the operator an advantage of taking additional risks inside the enemy territory.
Moreover, the financial loss due to losing a drone is also tiny compared to conventional flying machines. Hence the Department of Defence in all countries welcomes these UAVs with open arms.
Since the UAVs are available in all sizes ranging from the US MQ9-Reaper to as small as a hummingbird, military strategists are stretching into creative applications. All military wings have found their usefulness and explored new game-changing war strategies.
Compared to the fighter jets, the manufacturing time is also less. As a result, the customization required for the buyer is much easier than what it would take for the fighter jets.
Over the years, as communication like 5G and beyond gets more sophisticated, the controls for these unmanned aerial vehicles will become much cheaper and more powerful. Also, in future, as efficient fuel technology develops like hydrogen cells, drone flight times are going to increase exponentially.
Like the nuclear submarines, when drones can fly with a nuclear reactor suitable to their size, days are not far when these aerial combat vehicles will be manning the skies forever.
The landscape and the shape of the future warfare up in the skies will change as if straight out of science fiction into reality.
There is a severe downside. Even the non-state players, like terrorist organizations and rebel groups, have been using it against the state.
For the non-state players, these aircraft can remain unidentifiable; therefore, even if it gets captured or lost in their operation, the group can deny responsibility.
We have seen these situations in recent attacks on the Abu Dhabi oilfield and the Saudi Arabia oil depots. If none takes ownership of these flying vehicles, it is tough to trace back their origin.
With small size aerial vehicles, the targets can be as specific as a keyhole. The military can use it to target and destroy an object or a person with abilities to face recognition. To top it up, a new phase in warfare would appear on the horizon with stealth drones.
If droves of drones, cheap and small, approach a precise target, it would be difficult for the current defence systems to take down so many of them at a time.
The most effective defence system currently consists of anti-missile domes detecting those approaching rockets. Their calculations are based on their trajectory and the direction from which it is coming. In the case of drones, all these parameters would be variables, difficult to capture.
Drones with artificial intelligence will be able to manoeuvre past those detection systems at a very low altitude.
Probably it could happen that the drones were inside the territory for days before attacking the target. The possibilities the drone technology brings to warfare, both from outside the borders and inside the home sky, will make the world a complicated place.
The entire military strategy of a country has to be reconfigured and recreated.
By removing the life of a pilot from the equation of warfare, the future will be more of technology warfare. Those nations with technological advancement will win a war against enemies, be it state or non-state actors.
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By removing the life of a pilot from the equation of warfare, the future will be more of a technology warfare.
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