CHAPTER 3 DRONE WARFARE
3.4 Contemporary Drone Systems and Technology
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areas for twenty-four hours.380 The Global Hawk has both broad-area and spot-area coverage due to its built-in high-resolution sensors. Consequently, this drone is able to track and follow targets persistently, providing high image quality and targeting capacity.381
3.3.4 Taranis – the "God of Thunder" Drone
Not much material can be found about this extensive ten year test programme conducted by the BAE weapon systems company under instruction from the UK Ministry of Defense, other than the fact that it was a successful demonstrator programme as to unmanned (fully autonomous) combat aircraft systems.382 The concept aircraft supposedly presents the pinnacle of UK aeronautical design and technology and the information gathered from its test flights will be utilised to develop the first fully autonomous combat drones.383
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The first relevant group of contemporary drones to be discussed here are those that are currently in deployment.386 The first drone worthy of mention is the PD-100 Black Hornet, a nano-drone weighing a mere 18 grams, designed to offer infantry units with highly inconspicuous and comfortably portable reconnaissance abilities.387 This children's toy-sized drone assists soldiers to see around corners or over walls to recognise potential dangers.388 The CH-4 Rainbow is China's substantially impressive and affordable version of the Reaper drone, which can easily be utilised by way of its anti-tank capabilities, such as those displayed by the Iraqi Air Force in 2015 when they carried out attacks against the Islamic State.389 Maritime drones, such as the 770kg Knifefish drone, are an increasingly popular development in the drone arena, since this particular drone, as employed by the US Navy, can be used to detect and locate sea-mines.390
The drones in the second set are still under development. Firstly, a drone which the US Navy hopes to deploy by 2020, is the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, abbreviated as LDUUV.391 This drone will operate both independently and with a high level of autonomy, and will be capable of carrying out several missions simultaneously, such as continuously collecting intelligence information and delivering several payloads.392 Probably the most impressive of current developmental drone technologies is the X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a drone developed for hypersonic flight, allegedly capable of reaching a speed twenty times
386 For a full review of all drones that are inactive, in deployment or under development, see Michel
& Gettinger 2016 http://dronecenter.bard.edu/publications/drone-revolution-revisited/.
387 Michel & Gettinger 2016 http://dronecenter.bard.edu/publications/drone-revolution-revisited/.
This drone has been employed by UK troops in Afghanistan since 2013; see UK Government 2013 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/miniature-surveillance-helicopters-help-protect- front-line-troops.
388 UK Government 2013 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/miniature-surveillance-helicopters- help-protect-front-line-troops.
389 Michel & Gettinger 2016 http://dronecenter.bard.edu/publications/drone-revolution-revisited/.
See further US Government Publishing Office 2013
https://www.uscc.gov/Research/china%E2%80%99s-military-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-industry.
390 US Naval Institute 2016 https://news.usni.org/2016/04/07/stackley-rmmv-cusv-knifefish-will-all- play- a-role-in-lcs-minehunting-not-a-competition.
391 US Naval Institute 2017 https://news.usni.org/2017/04/04/navy-splits-lduuv-into-rapid- acquisition-program-at-peo-lcs-rd-effort-at-onr.
392 US Naval Institute 2017 https://news.usni.org/2017/04/04/navy-splits-lduuv-into-rapid- acquisition-program-at-peo-lcs-rd-effort-at-onr. See further Michel and Gettinger 2016 http://dronecenter.bard.edu/publications/drone-revolution-revisited/.
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faster than the speed of sound for the sole purpose of delivering weapons to objectives thousands of kilometres from the US and in doing so establishing a combat system capable of striking any target on earth within 60 minutes.393 A prime example of systems developed independently that may have a great impact on current drone development is the "fuzzy logic AI" called "APLHA" created in 2017 by Psibernetix (a US ''artificial intelligence''394 development company).395 This AI is capable of besting expertly skilled pilots in "simulated aerial combat" where two opposing aircrafts attempt to shoot each other down.396 Developments such as this could potentially have an immense impact on the development of fully autonomous drones.
One of the main weaknesses of drones, their air-time capability due to their small size, is now potentially an issue of the past. Luminati Aerospace has developed an aircraft that is able to remain in flight indefinitely.397 Their Substrata solar-powered aircraft is capable of staying aloft in the stratosphere for an indefinite period of time by way of "automated vortex-seeking formation flight".398 The concept of vortex formation flight was developed from observing the manner in which geese fly in formation to conserve energy.399 By employing this innovative technology, the aircraft will not only be able to obtain a double-energy harvest by flying in diamond- formation, but will also be able to carry a larger payload, and better distribution thereof, amongst other things, are also fortunate consequences.400 The benefits and potential of perpetual flight-time in terms of armed conflict are evident. This may be regarded as an immense step forward in terms of contemporary drone technology,
393 DARPA 2016 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2016-06-24.
394 Hereafter AI.
395 Walker 2017 https://www.techemergence.com/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-uavs/.
396 Although this AI has not been integrated into military drones, its development indicates the military potential thereof for especially fully autonomous drones; see Walker 2017 https://www.techemergence.com/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-uavs/.
397 Huber 2018 https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2018-08-02/luminati- perpetual-solar-powered-flight-possible.
398 Huber 2018 https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2018-08-02/luminati- perpetual-solar-powered-flight-possible.
399 Huber 2018 https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2018-08-02/luminati- perpetual-solar-powered-flight-possible.
400 Huber 2018 https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2018-08-02/luminati- perpetual-solar-powered-flight-possible.
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although currently this technology will be used only to provide internet access to the remaining unconnected parts of the world.401
From the above information, one may conclude that drones have changed and are continuing to change the nature of warfare. They are becoming an important part of successfully initiating, controlling and defeating the enemy in combat situations. As such, it is questionable why such advanced weaponry, and especially the development and use thereof, have not been subjected to international regulation in recent years.