Strike drones: persistent, precise and plausible: Unmanned aircraft are becoming America's strike system of choice, not only in dealing with fleeting counterinsurgency targets, but also in actions of dubious legality, where the use of conventional aircraft could have worse political consequences. Their success has been a major factor in limiting US Air Force purchases of fifth-generation fighters.

Summary

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Drones: armed

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Strike drones: persistent, precise and plausible: Unmanned aircraft are becoming America's strike system of choice, not only in dealing with fleeting counterinsurgency targets, but also in actions of dubious legality, where the use of conventional aircraft could have worse political consequences. Their success has been a major factor in limiting US Air Force purchases of fifth-generation fighters.

Lightweight air-to-surface missiles now under development will open the ground-attack role to far greater numbers of drone platforms. This in turn will pave the way for heavier, stealthy, dedicated unmanned combat air vehicles (Ucavs).

History

The first armed projects were America's WWII radio-controlled bombers: the US Army Air Force's Operation Aphrodite using Boeing B-17s, and the US Navy's Project Anvil with Consolidated PB4Ys. Neither programme was successful.

Armed drones next appeared at the time of the Vietnam War. The US Air Force carried out weapons trials with the Ryan AQM-34...

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