Drones: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Essay -- UAVs Technology Essays

Like much of todays technology, Unmanned atmospherelike Vehicles attribute their creation to the military. The idea of using faze aircraft has long been a dream for the military -- scouting planes without any casualties to report should something go wrong, air strikes with only time and money to lose, and the ability to wage war without losing a single life. Well the third one may perhaps not be realistic as Afghanistan has shown, lack of ground troops leaves certain(p) entities unchecked.1 However, it may be argued that they represent a significant step toward the eventual(prenominal) automation of the battlefieldone in which teleoperated or robotic systems replace numerous soldiers.2 Either way, these machines do create a less dearly-won and more dispensable alternative to conventional air battles. This creates obvious good issues, as the country with such technology is no longer as tentative to engage in armed combat. UAVs can do many a(prenominal) things that conventi onal aircraft cannot. As Steven Ashley puts it, Traditional aircraftfast photo/ reconnaissance fighters, high-flying U-2s, and sensor-laden patrol planesnor the classified orbital spy satellites can do the job of the simple, prop-driven unmanned aerial vehicles.3 These advantages, coupled with their low expense, place them in majuscule demand. As Ronald R. Fogelman (U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff) states, We are now impress by the convergence of technological advances in computers, flight controls, lightweight materials, move electric motors, and communications packages that will make modern UAVs extremely effective.4UAVs are not only to be used for such uncertain moral circumstances as war these vehicles can provide a plethora of services in the commercial market. H... ...chanical Engineering 125 (2003) 11.52 Steven Ashley, Robot Spy Planes accomplice Over the Horizon, Mechanical Engineering 118 (1996) 91.53 Brian P. Tice, Unmanned sprightly Vehicles, Airpower Journal 5 (199 1) 48.Works CitedMax Boot, The freshly American Way of War, Foreign Affairs 82 (2003) 41.Brian P. Tice, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Airpower Journal 5 (1991) 41.Christopher M. Centner, Consigning Air Bases to the Dustbin of History, Airpower Journal 12 (1998) 100. legerdemain Degaspari, Flying Blind, Mechanical Engineering 125 (2003) 10.Steven Ashley, Robot Spy Planes Peer Over the Horizon, Mechanical Engineering 118 (1996) 84.Tom Clarke, Flying Free, Nature 417 (2002) 582.http//www.fas.org/irp/ political platform/collect/uav.htm = infohttp//uav.wff.nasa.gov/ = infohttp//www.twofaces.net/newpage/1337hum1r/ = background