[MilCom] UAV ROADMAP 2005-2030

[GrayGhost]

The anticipated development of unmanned aerial vehicles and
associated systems over the next twenty-five years is the subject
of a new planning document released by the Pentagon this week.

"As the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) enters its fourth year, the
contributions of unmanned aircraft (UA) in sorties, hours, and
expanded roles continue to increase," the new report states.

"As of September 2004, some twenty types of coalition UA, large and
small, have flown over 100,000 total flight hours in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their once
reconnaissance-only role is now shared with strike, force
protection, and signals collection...."

"UA systems (UAS) continue to expand, encompassing a broad range of
mission capabilities.... UA, and unmanned systems in general, are
changing the conduct of military operations in the GWOT by
providing unrelenting pursuit without offering the terrorist a high
value target or a potential captive."

The term Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been superseded in the
new report by the phrase Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to
encompass ground stations and other supporting infrastructure.

The UAS Roadmap was reported in Inside the Pentagon on August 11.

A copy of "Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap 2005-2030," Office of
the Secretary of Defense, August 2005, is available here (213 pages
in a very large 9 MB PDF file):

   http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/uav_roadmap2005.pdf


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