This article has been sourced from the fortnightly Bulletin of the Air Power Development Centre of the RAAF, Pathfinder Issue 91, June 2008

In the complex and high density modern battlefield, missile armed uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) have become an accepted and ubiquitous presence over the past few years. What these platforms offer is long loiter times compared to manned equivalents, demonstrating a persistent on-call precision strike capability. However, they do not have autonomy or any other combat characteristics, or even the aerodynamics needed to operate as a dedicated air-to-air fighting platform.

These are fundamental characteristics required in a true uninhabited combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). So the question is whether or not the concept of an operational UCAV is too far fetched to be converted to reality in the near to mid-term future?

As in the case of most air power concepts, the UCAV concept was developed almost in parallel to the early flights of unmanned drones. The confirmed success of uninhabited flights and their immediate maturity for battlefield use gave rise to the popular concept of them being employed in combat duties. The advantage of such a combat, platform especially in carrying out dull, dirty and dangerous missions that would place aircrew under unacceptable risk, was readily recognised. However, until recently the technology required to develop platforms with the necessary capabilities were either not available or were only in their initial development stage. There are, however, a number of issues to be addressed before this dream can become a reality.

The first issue, as in the case of all cutting edge developments, is the cost factor. An autonomous UCAV will cost a great deal more than the currently operational UAVs. Further, any design that incorporates stealth will make the cost of development as well as the unit price of the platform go up even more. Under these conditions, the affordability of the UCAVs – in the numbers that are being predicted – would perhaps remain a question mark, thereby restricting their operational employment to few air forces.

Second; the need for high speed capability in UCAVs, because of their perceived use to defeat sophisticated air defences in the first day of war with minimum attrition. This requirement translates to more powerful engines, greater fuel carrying capacity and larger number of dedicated weapons, which in turn will make the vehicle a much larger platform than in any of the current UAVs. The technical and operational sophistication required to employ UCAVs will also increase the logistical foot print correspondingly.

The third issue, which may be the most difficult to overcome, is the fact that future UCAVs are conceptually meant to operate in hostile air spaces, whereas the current UAV operations are almost completely  restricted to benign and uncontested airspace. The characteristics of the vehicles required to operate in both these situations are very different and extremely difficult to incorporate into a single entity.

Even in circumstances where only limited numbers of friendly UCAVs are operating, a critical issue that is yet to be resolved is the need for the UCAVs to be able to communicate effectively with each other and manned aircraft both to avoid collision and to disseminate data that has been gathered by their on-board sensors ahead of the manned package arriving in the battlefield.

Even with all these teething problems, UCAVs will become a reality sooner rather than later. However, their lack of spatial awareness and judgement inherent in a manned aircraft will continue to limit their employability.  At least for the foreseeable future, application of air power will be most effective and efficient when carried out with a human in-the-loop.