Unmanned Military Weapons Systems and the Future of...

The art of war is simple...kill your enemy, destroy their resources, and eliminate their ability to wage war against you and your interests. How we accomplish those goals and objectives is more complex and difficult due to political, logistical, and moral complications. In today’s day and age, with the emergence of communications technology, the social stigmatism countries face when innocent non-combatants are killed or injured weighs negatively on the country’s ability to wage war in a very important area of successful warfare, the psychological aspect. The ability to project armaments on intended targets with minimal collateral human and unintended material damage is critical to winning the hearts and minds of the average person. The†¦show more content†¦The ability of global positioning systems allowed military operators to pinpoint impact points with accuracy within yards of their targets, greatly minimizing the risk of collateral damage and inflicting undo harm on innocent civilians. Projectiles have been around for many years, from the early days of the catapult to our present day long-range missiles. Although â€Å"pilotless drones† were developed for target practice after World War I, when we think of unmanned military weapons systems, it is easy to correlate them with the missiles and bombs most of us are familiar with. However, one main difference is that missiles and bombs are the actual detonating device whereas an unmanned system can deliver the payload and return to base intact, ready to reuse again. These systems are more in-kind with an airplane that delivers munitions, with the major difference being airplanes are limited in flight not only by fuel, in absence of in air re-fueling, but the pilot’s aeronautical ability and physiological limitation. This comes into play from a political and psychological perspective when pilots and/or crews are killed or captured as we discovered during Operation Restore Hope, the Battle of Mogadishu i n 1993 that left 18 dead and 84-wounded (PBS) and the loss of Navy Pilot, Captain Scott Speicher in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. Capturing pilots have been used as psychological warfare decreasing theShow MoreRelatedUnmanned Military Weapons Systems And Future Of Warfare1928 Words   |  8 PagesUNMANNED MILITARY WEAPONS SYSTEMS AND FUTURE OF WARFARE INTRODUCTION 1. Unmanned Military Weapons Systems are expected to become the climax of new generation military and counter terrorism operations. 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